I recently heard a story from an intelligent and trusted friend about a woman who had major thyroid problems and was very overweight because of it who lost a bunch of weight (50+ pounds without even trying) while she was pregnant because the baby's thyroid gland functioned for her. (She gained it all back after the kid was born, of course.) I told my sister about this. She was recently diagnosed with thyroid disease, as was I (goiter and nodules and underactive.) My sister lost a bunch of weight (about 25 pounds) when she was pregnant too (7 years ago.)
I am d@mn sure not planning on having babies to "fix" my thyroid problem. My sister, who already has a kid, well I hope she's not planning that either, jeez, I hope not. (She told me herself she's not ready.)
(I can't help but wonder, too, if the kid's thyroid will give out on it at some point in it's life due to having the strain of functioning for both itself and mom before birth - this brings up questions of nature vs. nurture which are beyond the scope of my question, for sure.)
Just wondering if anyone had any info on this phenomenon. Is this a documented scientific fact?
I started feeling a "tightness" in my chest in August. Not pain per se, or even difficulty breathing, just a "tightness". So off I went to my Dr and though he, like I, thought it was stress to play it safe he sent me for an ECG. I got the results yesterday, and in the words of my Dr, "contrary to popular belief, you have a heart, and it is just fine."
Good news on that front. But it only brings home what I've known for a long time - I have a stressful job. At least I am not alone. A few weeks back, a co- worker asked to everyone around her, and no one in particular, "Anybody got some Tums?" The Six people in the stations around her all reached out, tums in bottles and rolls in hand, all in unison. I swear, the whole thing was just like we rehearsed it. It was a surreal moment.
I suppose that since stress is now manifesting in a physical sense, Iam going to have to learn how to manage it.
These days I am paying more attention to my health than I ever really did before (can't imagine why - not) and it is a strange thing. The only thing I can liken it to is that I am learning to take care of myself, something I never really got the hang of until now. Before, for the most part, it was "suck it up and move on."
I have tomorrow off, and work again on Monday. This is the week I change my days off. I will have Thursday Friday and Saturday off. Not going to be an easy week, because I find that by the morning of day 4 of 4 10 hour days, I am pretty tired. However, I shall persist.
I had my follow-up appointment today with the Women's Health folks - I can't bring myself to use the word "professionals," with one or two exceptions - at UNH. It wasn't *quite* as bad as the last time, but it was still pretty fucking irritating.
Basically, they think I've probably got PCOS, and they want to do all the tests to make sure.
And then to add insult to injury, the doc said that based on my symptoms, I'm probably sterile half the time anyways. Well, why not finish the fucking job?
The best part? The doctor tells me that they need to send me to an endocrinologist, as well, since it appears I may have abnormally high levels of male hormones in my bloodstream. Now that's just sweet, sweet irony. Guess that explains why I'm the butch in our communal house... ;) Less facetiously, though, I've been thinking seriously for a couple years about gender identity and genderqueer issues. I don't know if I will ever want to live full-time as male, but I've been thinking hard about trying to pass more. I don't know if to mention this to my doctor would help or hurt my quest for sterility. I know there are a few transfolk out here on this list, can anyone advise?
I'm tired and sick of getting jerked around all the time by these doctors. My insurance (and thus my time) is running out. I just want a normal life where I don't have to be so paranoid. Does anyone have experience with NH/MA/VT/ME Planned Parenthood or have OB/GYNs they could recommend? I'm getting desperate.
Sorry for the length; I needed to get that off my chest. Crossposted, slightly edited, to my LJ and to CF_hardcore
Anyway, off to the IWK for the results this morning. The resident came in with the results - the biopsy showed nothing, and the CT scan was clear.
Dan just about melted into a puddle with relief. It took me a while longer, but about half an hour or so later, I felt like a puppet when the strings are cut.
It is over, for now. My next follow up will be January 9, 2007.
I think tonight, I will be able to sleep deeply and well for the first time in weeks.
I really did well, on Tuesday, getting in for the scan, talking to the staff, prodded with the needle with the dye, quite chipper really.
Then, at the end of it all, the tech and the dr wished me well with a "we hope everything turns out ok". I don't know why, but those few words gave me a dreadful sinking feeling right in the pit of my stomach. To be honest, I have been hanging on by my fingertips ever since.
I've been working every day since and on the first day, I made a couple of stupid mistakes, and they just really got to me. The combination of a job that is hardly stress free to begin with and the pressure of the waiting just isn't pretty. Things that I would usually shrug off, but somehow I just couldn't and I was almost in tears a couple of times. Since then, its been 1/2 a Lorazapan before work, and before bed to help me keep things in some form of balance.
The thing is, that even if this current crisis turns out to be nothing, it is the first of what likely will be many over the course of time. After all, this sarcoma was not limited to my endrometrium - it has spread to my lungs. To date, fortunately, those leisons seem to have shrunk a bit and stabilzed. I expect, that since it has spread, and the fact that what I have is so very rare, I am going to be kept on a relatively short leash as it were.
I don't think I will ever get used to it.
I think I have been losing a little weight over the last weeks; the one ring I wear all the time, a reproduction of a 15th century posey ring that Dan gave me, seems to be getting looser on my finger. Not that I mind really, i, like many people could stand to loose a few pounds. I certainly haven't stopped eating, well, maybe a little. Odd, I have mixed reations over this, when usually I would be pleased. Wondering if this weight loss may be a symptom of something else.
I wonder if I will ever truly learn to live with this.
My first post here, and a bit of an introduction. I have a form of cancer that is so rare that most gyno-oncolgists have never heard of, let alone any concept of how to treat. I had surgery for it two years ago this Sept. They removed my ovaries, among other things at that point in time. The cancer (or rather sarcoma) is in my lungs, but seems to be holding stable.
So yesterday, I was off to Halifax for my four month follow up.. All in all I am feeling fine. Which is good. I'v lost almost 6 lbs, since my last follow up (May). This is also good.
They found something suspicious
Not good.
They biopsied it on the spot - not a particularly comfortable experience- especially considering the rather intimate place it was found.
Apparently it doesn't look like what a recurrance would look like. Hopeful.
But they want to be sure, so I will be CAT scanned again, soon.
I'm worried. I jogged a bit on Monday to try to catch a bus. I've noticed that I have a lot of bruising near the top of my scrotum. I've been on Vicodin for prolapsed hemorrhoids, so I'm oblivious to scrotal pain most of the time. But when I do hurt, I hurt front and back right in the middle.
How much bruising is normal following a vasectomy?
After my bout of wooziness yesterday after drinking the VISO Will Cranberry Grapefruit Sugar Free Energy Drink yesterday and also today (still have almost 1/2 of it left after starting the bottle at 8:30 AM), a little lightbulb went on over my head, and I remembered something about Lipitor (a cholesterol drug I'm on) and grapefruit juice... so I went looking online for information.
What should I avoid while taking Lipitor? • Grapefruit and grapefruit juice may interact with Lipitor. The interaction could lead to potentially dangerous effects. Discuss the use of grapefruit and grapefruit juice with your doctor. Do not increase or decrease the amount of grapefruit products in your diet without first talking to your doctor.
From another medical webpage: Patient Interaction Information: Clinical studies show that grapefruit juice has a moderate interaction with atorvastatin. Patients are recommended to avoid consumption of grapefruit juice while being treated with atorvastatin.
Seems it wasn't just the caffiene and vitamins making me woozy, as grapefruit juice increases the intenstity/amount of drug absorbed in the system, as well as making it last much longer in the system as well.... so I was OD'ing on Lipitor!
I've recently been diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X or Insulin Resistance) and have found out I need to drop 100lbs in order to reduce my risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This is going to be one hell of a challenge, given that this syndrome causes issues with weight loss/gain - which explains why I've had problems my whole life with my weight. Included in the syndrome quite often is chronic fatigue - which I do have. Also standing in the way are a few medications that I'm on.
The first, which I'm being weaned off of, is Seroquel - an anti-psychotic with side-effects that are used to treat my severe insomnia. The second is the birth control pill. While I know people might dispute this, the fact remains that when I first went on BCP, I gained 80lbs in 9 months. My doctors at the time didn't find anything odd with that amount of weight gain on a low-dose pill. I was switched to two different pills after that and I've been on Alesse for about two years, give or take a few months.
I have a new family doctor who finally took me seriously when I explained all of my symptoms, even the swelling of my legs and feet to the point where I'd been admitted overnight into the hospital so they could run tests. He ran a whole whack of tests and finally gave me this diagnosis. I go see him next week or the following week to get a referral to an internist who can hopefully confirm or deny the diagnosis.
I also have a new ObGyn - my third in three years - who I can hopefully convince to give me a hysterectomy. I've got such severe scarring from endometriosis that my uterus is misshapen and smaller than it should be. If I did get pregnant (immaculate conception, anyone?), it'd more than likely be ectopic as my tubes look like sausage links due to scar tissue. My last ObGyn was 99% sure that I'm sterile already, but I still have a whole lot of pain associated with my cycle. I hope this new one won't bingo me to hell and back while I explain to him that I am sure I don't want kids - and if I did, I'd adopt before attempting a dangerous pregnancy - and that I won't change my mind later. I see him on February 23, so I'm trying to get my ammunition gathered and ready to use if necessary. If I do get the okay for a hysterectomy (tying my tubes wouldn't resolve the endo growing everywhere), I'll be off the BCP and out of chronic pain, which will enable me to exercise more.
So starts the long haul of dropping 100-115 lbs and staying healthy.
Oh, the worst thing about one of the new meds I'm on in place of Seroquel - Risperdal is it's name - is that I may start spontaneously lactating. Yeah. Fun for all. If I were a different type of gal, I'm sure I could make some extra money on that! (sorry if you've seen that bit about Risperdal before, it has been posted in CF_H as I'm quite horrified by the thought)
tired
relieved
pensive