Friday, May 18, 2012

Follow-Up Appointment with Dr. D May 2012

I just had my one month phone follow-up with Dr. Dahlgren. It was pretty short this time and there are no big changes. I told her some of the good stuff going on like the fact that I have days where I feel joy and happiness without trying so hard, sleeping through the night some nights, and even being able to exercise some days.

Next I mentioned the not so good stuff like the horribly swollen eye lids I had during the cruise and how red and burning my eyes were. I thought it may have been the climate change, but she thinks it's because I had mold in my room. I can totally see how that's possible in a cabin on a big ship with different people in it every week and horrible humidity. 

I mentioned that I get a burning sensation like the start of a bladder infection if I don't drink copious amounts of water. She said it's either because I have a low grade infection in the lining of the uterine wall or that it's metals being released. Since it goes away when I increase my water intake there is nothing she wants to do about at the moment.

Last I pointed out that my blood sugar goes up really fast but takes a long time to come down. Last Saturday, on my birthday, I had a little bit of a vegan cheesecake made with honey, cashews, and zucchini. I wish I had taken my blood sugar that night but didn't. Sunday I was back to eating VLC but ate quite a few calories. Monday morning my blood sugar was 119 which is way too high. She confirmed that this is insulin resistance and is usually due to viruses affecting the pancreas. She said this is something that will clear up as we continue to work on healing the body overall. I asked if there is a supplement I can take in the meantime that would help and she said she really likes Diabenil by Thorne. I am not sure yet whether I am going to get it or not. Chances are I will buy it and next time I go see her and she muscle tests me it will test as blocking. I will go ahead and go back to monitoring my blood sugar for a few days again and if it's not too bad with eating VLC I won't get it. In addition, she had put me on Valtrex back in January due to a high viral load of EBV and some other viruses but then said to go ahead and stop it during a phone consult because I felt that I was depressed on it. I asked her if Valtrex could help and she feels that it could and to go ahead and start back up with 500 mg at night.

While I was there in April, which you can read about here, here, and here, she said I can go ahead and make an appointment with Dr. Klinghardt for July. She feels if I can tolerate Alinia, the next anti-parasitic which I am supposed to start next week, that I will be ready to see Dr. Klinghardt next. When I called the other day to make the appointments Ron told me that he has either one appointment for September or two appointments in one week for December. I asked Dr. D which she prefers and she said to go ahead and come in September and I am really excited and glad she feels one appointment is enough. Dr. K charges quite a bit for an hour appointment and the appointments in December were at noon on Monday and Friday. Due to the time difference between WA and TN and available flights, I would have had to fly in on Sunday and stay until Saturday. Plus I am eager to go see him and see what he has to say about my health issues.

She would like me to get my thyroid checked because she recommended some changes in my thyroid medication. I do have a lab slip but have not made those changes yet. The plan was to reduce Cytomel a bit and increase Naturethroid from 1 grain to 2 grain, but I did not want to make this change before going on vacation. I really don't want to make this change now either because I don't want RT3 issues to return, but it would certainly help with the heart racing.

Last but not least I mentioned that I finally have the stress EKG scheduled for next week but that I was concerned about starting Alinia and doing a stress EKG. Since I also have not had chest pain in 4 to 5 weeks I asked if it's still necessary. Unfortunately she feels it is. I was hoping she would say I can skip it since this will also go against my deductible. As for Alinia she said to just start it after the stress EKG. Bummer! I was hoping I could get out of it for financial reasons AND because I have no desire to sit around a doctor's office for 3 to 4 hours first thing in the morning, walk on a treadmill, and be injected with some crap all WITHOUT CAFFEINE!!

No comments:

Post a Comment