Tuesday, July 2, 2013

6 month check up

Looks like it's been about 6 months since I blogged here. The last blog post pretty much sums up the last 6 months. I had my sleep study: I have sleep apnea. I now have a CPAP I lovingly named Fergie. I'm still tired. I still hurt. I did a candida cleanse because I thought I had a candida yeast overgrowth. I'm pretty sure I did. The cleanse took care of that. I'm still tired. I still hurt. As part of the cleanse I cut out all gluten and dairy (and a host of other things) and I stayed gluten and dairy free for 2 months. Then I finally went to the Dr. because I am still tired and I still hurt. The pain has just been getting worse, and I seem to have a lot of things going on that might all be related. It was time to see the Dr. I had a chest x-ray to check for sarcoidosis (which my mom has, though her chest x-rays have always been clear) and it was fine. I had a rheumatoid panel done on my blood. It was normal. I do have a vitamin D deficiency, but I'm on supplements to help that. I get rechecked in about a month. After all of that came back normal, my Dr. put me back on gluten to see if I have celiac disease. I had that blood work done yesterday and should hear the results soon.

Today I'm exhausted. I went to bed at 9 last night and got up at 5:15 this morning. I've been going to Jazzercise 6 times a week. I'm still tired. I still hurt. I'm still gaining weight. I did manage to lose about 12 lbs while on the candida cleanse, but then I plateaued at 12 lbs. And then at least half of that decided to climb back on while I was on gluten. WHILE I was burning an extra 2400+ calories a week through exercise. Today it's all I can do to function. I'm moving in slow motion. I'm grumpy as all can be. Actually, I'm referring to myself as "angry and sad" today. I'm mostly sad (which is weird, because I have nothing to be sad about, except that my head hurts and I just don't have the energy to muster an emotion beyond sad) with occasional bursts of irrational angry. I don't know where the anger is coming from, but all I want to do is scream. It's strange. And annoying.

That pretty much sums up where I'm at. My house has settled into a functional disaster. I hate it. I want to get up and clean and have a happy, sparkling home! The most I can muster is clearing the table. Occasionally.

According to my Dr, the fatigue and chronic pain could be auto-immune. It could be vitamin D related. It could be celiac. It could just be my stupid hormones.

I requested copies of my medical records so I could see if there were trends over the years that could give me some answers. I should be getting those soonish. It would be nice to have answers. Yes, answers would be nice.

In pondering what is causing the fatigue and pain, I thought that perhaps it's the flouride in my water. I'm not sure I drink enough water for the flouride to be a problem, but the crazies out there think that could be it. But, then, I'd have to go buy a fancy water filter and use it. Meh. As of today I'm back off gluten and dairy, so maybe I'll start to feel better, celiac or not.

1 comment:

Susan Beth said...

I'm here. You got my attention with your comments on my neglected blog.

My heart goes out to you! I remember feeling similar a few years ago, but I think I got a definitive answer much quicker than you are getting - you've been at this for years.

Based on my experience, I'm wondering what "off Dairy" means to you. Are you making sure you are not getting any whey protien? It is hidden in many items, and can easily cause the symptoms you described. And it is not something that shows up in regular or even most specialized allergy testing, but if you are allergic to it and continue to consume it, you begin to feel like you are just going to run down to the point where you are too tired to even breath, and then you assume you will finally die. Sound at all familiar?

Also, and probably more importantly, go to your Elders and ask them to pray for you as directed in James 5:14 - in all likelihood they will be delighted that someone has come to them and asked for this. If they aren't you need a different church, but that is my unrelated commentary.

Do you want me to come clean your house - I can scrub bathrooms, mop floors, wash scuff and hand prints off of walls, get the kitchen clean beyond just the dishes, that kind of basic stuff without getting into your organization and functioning. I am willing to do it as long as you are sick. I'm serious about this offer. Please consider it.

You are loved, and I hope that you are feeling it and being poured into so that discouragement doesn't take root and breed bitterness or other negative feelings.