Not a pity party but,

[bargain]

letting my friends know that I'm going through extreme medical issues. I thought about this a long time before posting and prayed over it to. This is not a pity party, but a way to share some info about what I've learned.

First off listen to your symptoms and if you get "poo pooed" or patronized by the medical caregiver, go to another one. If you think you have bone problems, you likely do, or heart problems, there's something probably there.

Do all you can for healthy eating, exercise, lowered stress, a spiritual belief, helping others, keeping brain active please...Your life depends on it.

I have chronic repetitive lung issues, Now am fighting a really big one that I had in 2005 through 2007. It recurred. It took me over 6 months this year to find a doctor that would test for the issue and yes I was right it was back.....So added 3 meds - strong super antibiotics to my pill practices.

Okay about 2 months ago, heart palpitations, weakness, tenderness, extreme loss of breath, unpredictable leg swelling, blurred vision and squeezing kind of pains, etc, so finally broken down and made another specialist appointment - cardio this time. Yup right again on where the problem was and it wasn't eating all those Fresh tomatoes grown in the garden this year. At first I was discounted as wow, you're thin and healthy and have the right life style and then the tests said ohhhhhhh there's something wrong with your heart.

Weird growths on back...okay you guessed it dermatologist and I was right again skin cancers

Hand cramps - you guessed it rhematologist, but it was really a vitamin D deficiency - weird as much time as I spend in the sun - so mega prescription VItamin D for me

You are your own best diagnostician! My parents were lovely people and I miss them and look forward to being reunited at some time down the road, BUT my gene pool just is rotten. Glad to be on a farm where we raise 90% or more of our food supply...Wish I had been ft farmers years ago but so happy and blessed to be doing that now.

Why did I post this?
mmmmmmmmm....To forewarn you to listen to your body
To be proactive about your health
To keep searching and learning until you find medical issues and remedies/cures/etc
To NOT give up.
To ask for prayer for us for healing, health and fortitude to keep on going when we just want to sit down and have a pity party.

So I want to turn my hurts into helps for you all..... Love and prayers to all of you. Nancy

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Thank you for posting this! It's always good to get a reminder that we have to listen to our bodies no matter what the doctors say. A really good doctor will listen to their patients and take what they say seriously no matter how things "seem" based off just a shallow way of looking at it. I've been suffering some medical issues myself (not life-threatening or anything but certainly not great either) and it does help me to hear these sorts of things, especially because a lot of people and doctors seem to assume it's just this or just that when I insist that's not how it is. Your thoughts help me keep a good perspective and continue striving to be as healthy and happy as possible.

It certainly sounds like you've been through a lot lately! Sending lots of good wishes for a recovery your way.

May things look better for you from here on out! I am taking your advice to heart and I really appreciate it.

 

[ibpboo]

Good job on listening.
Prayers sent you way.

 

[turney31]

Prayers and hugs!

 

[TigerLilly]

I totally agree with the OP. Health is the only thing that keeps us going; that & God. Some of us are getting "up there" & I swear I never felt so good AND so bad at the same time! I know you are dealing with worse issues than I--I'm just getting old & refusing to deal with the aches & pains that come with it, but never have I been to the doctor more than in the last year or so. Guess I'm on a maintenance plan...
Thoughts & prayers go out to you & I wish you a speedy recovery.

 

[gritsar]

 

[EweSheep]

Well in my case, when you are limited in so many doctors, we had to suffer a bit until the care is acute or needed ASAP. So I had to say, snap out of it and keep going thru the pain because there is NO cure. Whatever ails me, antibotics would be on hand for infections but not virals. If viral infections, let it run its course.

I have not had the big C yet, nor anything bad except MVP and on two meds. I just can not visalize how many RX a human body can take, even my parents got five to seven RX, either two pills for one problem or one problem per pill. Genetics really sucks!

Lets have a HUG festival!

 

[bargain]

Prayers, hugs, love and laughter are some of the best remedies ....okay chicken noodle soup, sunrises and sunsets I'm feeling better already! You all are so sweet and nice. And I'm an optimist. We have babies hatching out of the incubator and 2 more incubators (styro's running) so you know I am motivated to get well, so I can play with my babies!

 

[cmjust0]

You're right -- we are sometimes our own best diagnosticians. We know us better than anyone else, right? Aside from saying GOOD LUCK! and that I hope everything turns out OK, there was one thing that really caught my eye...

Quote:
Megadoses of Vit. D (like, the 50,000iu doses they want you to take once or twice a week, etc) usually come in the form of Vit. D2, which is *not* a very bioavailable form of Vit. D. My mom was diagnosed with a really, really low Vit. D level and they put her on the megadoses months and months ago. Her numbers went from like 8 to 14, then back down to 11 or something like that. And, again, this is after MONTHS of treatment....

I just learned about her condition recently, and I've done *much study* on vitamin D on account of other....issues. It didn't make any sense that she'd be taking that much D and not be DEAD, let alone not even seeing any improvement.. Her script just said "Vitamin D 50,000 units", so I had her call the pharmacy right then to ask what exactly she was taking.. She's a nurse, but she's like "Ok, so, what am I supposed to be asking them again?!?"

I told her to ask if she's taking D2 or D3.. She had them on speakerphone at the time, and the pharmacist had to look it up..

Pharmacist came back and said "It's D2."

My mom whirled around with her eyes as big as saucers like "HOW'D YOU KNOW THAT?!?!?"

I just said "Ok, so there's the problem."

I went and bought her a 100ct bottle of 5000iu D3 gelcaps for $6, right off the shelf at Wally World. She was skeptical, still, so I think she's going to make another appointment with her doc soon to have her levels tested again and pretty much tell him she's going to start OTC D3 @ 5000iu/day and ask for a restest in like a month or so. When the levels come up, well...hopefully the doc will have a little "Aha!" moment and be able to help more people.

I will admit, though, that she looked a little perturbed when I told her to make absolutely sure her doc was running the 25-hydroxyvitamin-D and NOT the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D test...but she agreed to make sure.

Seriously, though.. Make sure the docs are running the 25-hydroxyvitamin-D test and, if it's low (lower than 50ng/ml IMNSHO), make sure you're taking D3 instead of D2 and test often. D3 will help you. D2?...probably not.

Just wanted to throw that out there.

ETA: Good on the Rheumy for testing vitamin D, though, even if it turns out that they've put you on the wrong supplement. The fact that they'd even test it indicates to me that they understand Vitamin D's role as a POTENT anti-inflammatory prehormone and that they probably understand the role it plays as an immunomodulator.. Rheumies are immune-system docs, ultimately.. So, that's really good that they're "with it" enough to recognize all that..

Running the right tests and prescribing the rights meds is really just dotting the i's and crossing t's.

 

[cassie]

I have a friend who, when she was in her early 20's, kept telling her doctor she thought there was something wrong in her abdomen. He pooh poohed her concerns and told her there was nothing wrong with her abdomen and that her problems were all in her head. Fortunately she had the good sense to see another physician. The diagnosis? Stage III ovarian cancer. Stage III!!!! With aggressive treatment and a lot of luck she was cured. That was over 30 years ago. If she had stayed with her original physician she would be long dead by now. The lesson? Listen to your body.