Category Archives: Health

Finding Some Good In Life (or This Feels Like A Turn Compared To The Beginning Of The Week)

Posted on December 16, 2022 | Comments Off on Finding Some Good In Life (or This Feels Like A Turn Compared To The Beginning Of The Week)

I finally had a change for my week. I hated feeling like the week wasn’t a good week, but I also knew I just needed to get through it and things would be better. I’m not in a great mood and still have some negative things, but I’m so happy that I’m ending my week a lot better than how I started it.

I still have some bad pain and nausea, but that’s my normal and I’m used to this. I know it will get easier over the weekend and at the beginning of next week. And hopefully, by this time next week, I won’t have any of those issues to deal with for another few weeks. And the side effects from my injection are much better now. This is what I’ve been expecting since they usually go away toward the end of the week each week. Just feeling a bit better made a huge difference in my mood. And it also makes it feel like things are on an upswing compared to being in the middle of a frustrating time. I know that I will have the side effects from my injection again at the beginning of next week, but each week that passes brings me closer to hopefully not having any more of these bad side effects. It might be a month or two before I get to that point, but I’m closer now than I was before.

And I just had some silly random moments come up in the past day or so. Some of my friends have shared some ridiculous things that they knew would make me laugh. And there have been some really crazy things in the news in the last day that you couldn’t help but laugh at. I hadn’t had many random laughs like that earlier in the week and I really needed these. I didn’t have a ton of leisure time, but at least these little breaks in my day to look at something that wasn’t related to work made my work time a bit better.

I also ended up having a bit less work to do this week than expected. It was a really busy week because this time each month I have a few tasks that have deadlines. But I was originally supposed to add on another task to cover work for someone else. That changed and the extra work was covered in a different way. I had to modify a few tasks because of the change, but it wasn’t much more than I’m used to doing so that was good. And the modifications I have to do to my work might bring a few new workflows that I can use in the future that might make my regular work a little easier. I’m not sure if these processes will help, but it doesn’t hurt to see what other ways I can do my work.

And as I wrote yesterday, I’ve been working on focusing on what I can control and manage. Making sure I’m eating ok helps my mood and can sometimes help my pain and nausea too. And I’ve been continuing to work on getting more sleep since I know that can make the most difference in how my mood is and how I’m feeling.

Things aren’t perfect for me right now, but they are better. And I think it’s important to recognize when things aren’t going so great since sometimes that can mean that you could need more help than you thought. I have been dealing with stuff like this long enough that I knew I would be ok and wasn’t having a bigger mental health issue. But if I was, I wouldn’t hesitate to get help. And if you haven’t been going through this sort of thing, you might not be able to tell the difference. Mental health can be a slippery slope, especially when it’s combined with physical health stuff. But I’m glad that it seems like I’ve turned a corner and hopefully the second half of my month goes much better than this past week.

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Default ThumbnailThis Month Feels Like It’s Already Done (or I’m Not Going To Get All The Things Done) Default ThumbnailFinally It Feels Like Things Are Normal (or A Week Of Various Self-Care) Default ThumbnailPlaying Catchup (or Recovering From The Beginning Of The Week) Default ThumbnailStill Finding New Life Lessons With Dating (or Some Skills I’m Proud Of And Some I’m Not Sure About) Default ThumbnailNot Really In A Mood (or I Guess This Goes Along With Not Feeling Well) Default ThumbnailAdding A Little Control In My Life (or Finding Little Ways To Be Helpful)

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Trying To Not Keep Writing Negative Posts (or Doing What I Can)

Posted on December 15, 2022 | Comments Off on Trying To Not Keep Writing Negative Posts (or Doing What I Can)

I feel like every post recently has been something negative. I don’t like that at all. I know it’s being truthful and honest and I don’t hide how I feel, but I also don’t feel like all the negativity is really accurate with how my life is going. The things I’m going through sound a lot worse than they are. I know a lot of people in my life feel bad for me when I’m going through pain and nausea. And I do appreciate that my friends know that it can be really bad and don’t try to downplay what I go through. But at the same time, this is something I go through every month so I can usually tolerate it. Or if I can’t tolerate it, I have things I can do that help. It might mean I don’t do much with my time outside of obligations, but I know I will always get through the pain and nausea eventually.

I can’t necessarily control when I’ll be feeling this way, but I have a general idea of when it will happen and how long it will last. Sometimes I’ll be surprised and things start sooner or later than normal or the duration is different from normal. And it’s always a variable about how severe things can be on a particular day. But I’m grateful that at least I can plan a bit for when this will be happening. But between feeling sick and the other not-so-great things going on in my life, I’m really focusing on what I can control at this point.

I’ve been really trying to focus on making sure I take care of myself in whatever ways I can. I’m still not great about getting enough sleep, but I’m making more effort to work on this. I’m making sure I go to bed at the time I should, I just don’t always fall asleep quickly enough. And sometimes, if I’m reading in bed and almost to the end of a book, I’ll stay up later than I should so I can finish the book before going to sleep. I’m trying to be good about what I eat as well, but that’s a harder struggle than most things. But I’m still trying and making an effort to be thoughtful about my meal planning (even if that means my plan is to order food). I’m also making sure that I pick things that I know my body tolerates better than others because I know some food might make me feel worse. This is a bit of trial and error because the new medication has made me have different reactions to different foods, so I don’t always know if something will be ok or not. But I have to keep trying so I don’t get into a bad food rut. And when I do eat something that makes me feel a bit sick, I don’t get mad at myself because I know I didn’t know that would happen.

And I’m allowing myself to practice self-care in whatever way feels right. Sometimes that means spending my free time reading or watching tv and not doing much else. Sometimes that means trying to find a friend to talk to in order to get some feelings out there in the open. And sometimes that’s doing stuff that others might see as frivolous but I don’t really care because they are things I like or that make me happy.

I can’t exactly predict when I will be feeling better or at least more like myself. I have an idea of when the pain and nausea will end, but that’s not the only thing controlling my mood these days. But all I can do is make the most of what I can each day and continue to hope for the best. I know this feeling is temporary and soon I will be much happier and more excited about things. But for now, I’m just going through a moment of a low and I have to allow myself to work through this time.

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Default ThumbnailSleeping Away The Day (or Sometimes The Pain and Nausea Are Just Too Bad) Default ThumbnailSorry For A Quick Post (or Going Through A Tough Day) Default ThumbnailSometimes I Feel Cursed (or At Least I Think I’m Feeling Better) Default ThumbnailJust Dragging On (or Another Apology For Another Short Post) Default ThumbnailFeeling Normal and Less Anxious (or Sorry I Keep Writing About The Same Thing) Default ThumbnailA Low Key Post (or I Guess Things Come In Threes)

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Not Starting My Week Off On The Best Note (or When It Rains It Pours)

Posted on December 13, 2022 | Comments Off on Not Starting My Week Off On The Best Note (or When It Rains It Pours)

I knew that yesterday was likely to be a rough day for me. I had been dealing with pain and nausea over the weekend and I knew it would only get worse as this week went on. And I know that my worst day for side effects from my injections has been either Monday or Tuesday since I started them. So I had mentally prepared myself for how I would deal with those things.

Getting prepared usually means making sure I have foods I can tolerate and won’t make me feel worse as well as starting to take medications as soon as I might have any symptoms to stay on top of things. I don’t like to medicate when I don’t need to, but when my nausea gets really bad I usually need to take something before it gets to that point in order for them to help. If I feel horrible and then take them, they usually just take the edge off of things. But if I’m smart and take them early, then I can sometimes make it so I don’t feel things too much. Or maybe I’m just getting used to feeling rotten so I’m getting better and tolerating things. But over the weekend, I wasn’t feeling too horrible so I didn’t think I needed to worry about taking medication just yet. But of course, I should have known better when I had that thought.

When I woke up yesterday, I was pretty nauseous and that was before I had done my injection. But what made things worse was the extra pain that I was in. We’ve had a bit of rain lately and I thought it was done by yesterday. But when I got up, it was pouring outside. I’m not great about checking the weather and I don’t watch the news that often, so I was definitely unprepared. I’m lucky that I don’t have to be outside too much. And yesterday I only had to drive to go to my workout. But the bigger issue for me with the rain is how much pain I’m in during that type of weather.

My hip always does horribly in the rain or when the pressure in the air is different. I know this is something that a lot of people deal with. Typically, I think people who have broken a bone have this issue. For me, my hip surgery shaved off the top of a bone, so the way it healed was very similar to what a broken bone does. I’m guessing that’s why I have this issue. It’s not something that any doctor has been able to confirm with me, but it’s common enough that I feel certain that I’ve figured out why. But just because I figured out why doesn’t mean I know how to make it better. And often when I have this weather-related pain, it’s not helped by painkillers.

So yesterday was a triple-issue day for me. And that just made the day pretty miserable for the entire day. I did whatever I could to try to feel better, but things just weren’t helping. I hate when I feel so uncomfortable in my body and there’s nothing I can really do. I’m just lucky I work from home and can move around while I’m working. So if things feel better if I’m sitting on the ground, I do that. If I feel better laying in bed, I bring my laptop into my room and I can work just fine from bed. Ideally, I’m working at my desk, but that’s not always the best option for me to be productive.

I’m hoping this was just a one-day thing for me. I know the weather is getting better, so I won’t have to deal with the extra hip pain. And having that not affecting me will take the edge off of things a bit. But I know the pain and nausea are likely to get worse during the week and I have no idea what my side effects will do. So I just have to wait and see what happens and try to manage whatever issues come up as I figure it out. But even though the rest of the week could be worse, this really was an annoying way to start my week when I was expecting things to be rough but not this rough.

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Default ThumbnailEnding Some Pain and Starting Other Pain (or At Least I’m Stocked Up) Default ThumbnailPain Distracts From Other Pain (or The Rain Isn’t Too Bad This Time) Default ThumbnailOnly Knowing Some Of The News (or Several Rough Nights Of Sleep) Default ThumbnailIt’s Another Short Post Type Of Week (or Sorry About This) Default ThumbnailJust Being Lazy In The Rain (or Not Much To Write About) Default ThumbnailFeeling The Pain With The Weather (or The Full Story About My Hip Problems)

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Back To A Medication Routine (or Getting Some More Side Effects)

Posted on December 2, 2022 | Comments Off on Back To A Medication Routine (or Getting Some More Side Effects)

A few weeks ago, I discovered that one of the medications that I’m taking is having a shortage and I was unable to get a refill for it. I waited until I was late for taking that medication and then I emailed my doctor to see what she would like me to do. I was given a few options by the pharmacist, but the one that my doctor felt would be best for me would be to increase my dosage early since the higher dosage was available.

I was ok with this plan since I had been doing ok with the injections so far. I have had some side effects, but none of them were too bad or unmanageable. Normally, you have about 10 weeks of smaller doses before getting to the therapeutic dosage to get used to how you might feel. I had the first 4 weeks of the first step, but only 2 weeks of the second step before I couldn’t get a refill. So I skipped 4 weeks of the second step because the injection pen I was able to get could not do that lower dose.

Because of this shortage, it’s unknown if I’ll run into an issue getting an injection pen again, but hopefully, that shortage will be resolved soon. And I know that some people take this medication for much more serious reasons than I do, and they need these. While I want to take something that has been helping me, I can wait if I have to. But I’m glad that I had the option to increase my dosage early so I didn’t have to wait too long.

I’ve read online that the medication stays in your body for a few weeks, so I shouldn’t have felt a difference after missing a week. But I think because I was on a low dose that isn’t really supposed to work (mainly you do those to get used to the side effects), I did notice a difference from a week off. I also have noticed a difference from day to day and always felt like it worked more right after the injection and it faded away through the week. So I was glad I was able to start back up again after missing just one week.

I had prepared myself for having side effects again because I had the week off and because I was going to be taking a much higher dose. Technically, this was going to be double what I was taking before and 4 times what I started with, so it was a big difference. And I probably should have expected the side effects to increase more because that’s exactly what happened.

Some of the side effects were things that should happen because the side effects are what help me. But they were a bit more extreme than they were on the lower doses. Eating on Monday and Tuesday was very difficult for me. I was having a different type of nausea than I’m used to. This was a weird, uneasy, and queasy feeling. I felt really unsettled and couldn’t figure out how to feel better. So I just tried to be gentle on myself and I’m glad that toward the end of the week that feeling was starting to go away.

I also continued to have issues with low blood sugar and feeling lightheaded. This was to be expected and I’m still figuring out the best ways to manage those feelings. The biggest one that has helped has been to make sure I eat something before my workout. I still am having chocolate milk before working out since I don’t want real food in my stomach, but having something with some protein and calories has made a big difference. I also have been having some moments when I feel shaky, which I dealt with before, but it’s a bit more frequent now.

All of these side effects could be things that only happen for a few weeks before my body gets used to this medication. If it’s something that starts to affect my life, then I can discuss with my doctor what the best plan is moving forward. But I am still seeing positive effects from this injection, even just being back on it for this week. And I’m glad that I was able to get my prescription filled when there was a chance I could have to wait a few months to get it again. And now I have another 3 weeks of taking it before I have to see if I can get a refill again.

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Getting Sick Again (or Extending Some Of My Anxiety)

Posted on November 23, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Sick Again (or Extending Some Of My Anxiety)

I had a bit of a cold before I went to my family’s Fake Thanksgiving, but I made sure that I was feeling better before I went. I took multiple Covid tests, even though I was pretty confident that wasn’t it. It felt like a basic cold, and fortunately, I was doing much better before going on my trip. I knew I wouldn’t be contagious by that point, so that was good. All that I had left for symptoms by the time I went to Portland was a bit of congestion, which I know can take some time to get rid of.

After my trip, I was feeling ok for a few days outside of some nausea and other symptoms that I knew were unrelated to having a cold. But then I started to feel sick again. It seems like a few people in my family got sick after we were together, but I’m not sure who was the person who got us sick. I don’t think it was me because I was feeling better at that point, plus I got sick again. It doesn’t really matter who got us sick, I just know that a week later I was feeling worse than I had with the cold I had before the trip.

Before I knew that others in my family got sick, I was worried it could be Covid. So I did do more Covid tests once I had symptoms again and they all were negative. Now that I know it’s several of us, I feel certain that it’s another cold. It seems like a lot of people are getting sick right now and some bug is going around. This is just a regular part of life that wasn’t a big part of life recently because of how we were all isolating and wearing masks.

Being sick is really frustrating because I don’t always have the same mental fatigue as I do with physical fatigue. This time, I really was only out of it for a day or so and those days happened to be when I didn’t have much work. But even though I’m feeling a bit better, there were other things I had to consider for this past week.

I was supposed to go to the dentist this week. Because I knew that appointment was coming up, I was starting to have some panic and anxiety. This started pretty much right after my trip, so I had anxiety from flying that led right into anxiety about the dentist. But because I had gotten sick after my trip, I knew I should reschedule going to the dentist. I think even before the pandemic, I would have rescheduled if I felt like this. But with how things are now, it wasn’t even a thought that I should go. If it was an appointment where I could wear a mask, I might go if I was feeling better since I wouldn’t be contagious anymore. But being around people unmasked for an hour or so seemed really irresponsible. So I called my dentist to reschedule for next month.

As much as I don’t like going to the dentist, I wish I had gotten it over with. My anxiety is still here even though I have time before my appointment. I don’t think it will go away until after it’s done, so that means I will be anxious for a few weeks. I might hate having extended anxiety more than the dentist at this point. But changing the appointment was really the only option for me and I rescheduled for the soonest appointment that they had that worked with my schedule. So I did the best that I could.

I’m glad I’m feeling better after getting sick a second time back to back. I still have a few symptoms to deal with and I know I sound pretty sick because my throat is scratchy. But I think I’m at the tail end of this cold so I should be fine soon. And hopefully, I stay healthy until after my dentist appointment so I don’t have to push it back again and extend my anxiety any longer.

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Default ThumbnailThe Weirdness Of Being Sick Right Now (or Isolating Even More) Default ThumbnailAnother Sick Day Post (or Sorry For Two In A Row) Default ThumbnailA Quick Post (or I Really Hope I’m Not Getting Sick) Default ThumbnailGetting Sick (or Pushing Through The Sniffles) Default ThumbnailMy Cold Caught Up With Me (or I Guess I Was Due To Get Sick) Default ThumbnailBeing Sick (or Feeling Off)

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I Guess I’m Taking Some Popular Medications (or I’m Not Sure What This Will Mean)

Posted on November 22, 2022 | Comments Off on I Guess I’m Taking Some Popular Medications (or I’m Not Sure What This Will Mean)

While I don’t take a lot of medications, I do take more now than I did before. I remember when just taking one daily medication seemed like a lot to me. Now I have 2 daily medications, one of which I take 3 times a day, plus some weekly and sporadic ones. I use a pill reminder app so it’s not a big deal for me to remember to take them and I seem to have a good system down for staying on top of things. The only thing that I’m not always able to be on top of is ordering refills.

For some of my regular medications, you can’t order a refill until you are almost out of the prescription. This isn’t always a huge deal since I do have to go in for my prescriptions more often than I can get them mailed to me (plus I’m nervous about using mail order after one was almost lost in the mail). So I just have to order the refill through my insurance app and it’s usually able to be picked up within a day or two. I just have to prioritize going in to get them since I usually am ordering a refill when I have less than a week left before I need it.

About a month and a half ago, I started to take injections to help with my weight loss. Right before I did my last shot of the injection pen I had, I noticed I wasn’t able to order a refill until the next day. That would mean I would have 6 days between when I ordered the refill and when I would need it. This seemed ok to me and worked out with the timing of another refill I had to get that I always have to go to the pharmacy to pick up as it is considered a controlled substance. So I ordered both refills and figured I’d go to pick them up later in the week.

Then the next day, I got an alert that the injection pen was delayed and wouldn’t be available to pick up for 3 business days. I figured that would be ok and I could give it an extra day and go to pick it up on Saturday after work. I didn’t need the new injection pen until Monday so I wasn’t worried about getting it on Saturday.

When I got to the pharmacy on Saturday, I still hadn’t received an alert that the injection pen was available, but since I had gotten the alert that it was going to be available after 3 business days, I thought maybe I wasn’t supposed to get a new one. But that wasn’t the case.

I went to check in to get my prescriptions (which is how I always have to do things), and they told me that the injection pens weren’t there. They had a shortage and didn’t know when they would be coming in. They couldn’t tell me much more than that, so I waited for my other prescription to be ready so I could at least pick up that one.

And when I finally got to pick up the other one, they only gave me part of what I was supposed to receive. Typically, I get a 3-month refill each time. This time, I only got 30 days. I asked if there was a mistake or something because this was my last refill and my doctor wasn’t going to see me for 3 months, and they said that medication had a shortage so they could only give me 1 month at a time. But they did offer to send a note to my doctor to add additional refills so I could come back each month to get another 30 days of medication.

There wasn’t much else I could do since a shortage isn’t something my hospital controls. But as soon as I got home, I emailed the doctor from bariatric medicine regarding the injection pens. I don’t know if I have to start at the lowest dosage again or if there is a different plan. I also have no idea when I will be able to get that refilled. Right now, all I can do is call the pharmacy each day to see if their shipment included it. At least that saves me time from driving there each day, but I’m hoping that they will get it in soon.

I’m not sure why there is a shortage of the medication I could only get a 30-day refill for. It’s something that I’ve been taking for a while and isn’t newly popular or anything like that. For the injection pen, I know that because a lot of people have been hearing about using it for weight loss, it has rapidly gained popularity and that could be the reason for the shortage. And I know that there are people who use those for much more serious reasons than what I use it for, so if there is a limited supply it makes sense that those go to the people who are using it for things such as diabetes.

It is frustrating since I don’t know what the new plan will be or if this will be a frequent problem when I need refills. Maybe my doctor will allow me to request a refill sooner so there is more time for shipments to come in. And even though I know these injection pens have been helping me a lot, I’m not going to use lack of availability as an excuse. It might be harder to stay on the path I’ve been able to do the last month and a half, but I’m going to try my best. And hopefully, soon I’ll be able to get back to using those injections to help me to continue to make progress.

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I Guess Not All Doctor Appointments Can Be Good Ones (or I Don’t Think I’ll See This Doctor Again)

Posted on November 10, 2022 | Comments Off on I Guess Not All Doctor Appointments Can Be Good Ones (or I Don’t Think I’ll See This Doctor Again)

After having a lot of pain in my back and hips that seemed to not end, I knew it would be smart to see an orthopedic surgeon. I’m still sad that my original orthopedic surgeon isn’t with my insurance anymore because I did appreciate how he never talked down to me and really worked with me to make a plan. I’ve had a few appointments with other orthopedic surgeons since then, but I’ve never really worked consistently with another doctor. So I had to get a new referral, which fortunately was a very simple process. And I got everything all set to see this new doctor.

It turned out that this wasn’t a new doctor to me. I had forgotten that I had an appointment with them a few years ago. If I had remembered that, I might not have gone since I now know I didn’t have the best impression of him. But since I didn’t know that until I was in my appointment, I went into this appointment hoping that I would like this surgeon and that maybe they would be the newest member of my medical team. But instead, I left that appointment feeling pretty certain that I will never see this doctor again and knowing I need to submit a complaint about them.

I know that going in for a random check for an ongoing medical condition isn’t the most normal thing, but when I set up this appointment I was still in a lot of pain. I’m glad the pain is gone now, but I would like to know what was causing it since you really can’t get diagnosed post-pain. Because of how it happened and ended, I feel like it must have been a back issue and not a hip issue. And it might have been something as simple as pulling a muscle. I know there isn’t anything wrong with my spine (based on information I got in this appointment) and there’s nothing else that is obvious. So while I started this appointment explaining that’s why I made the appointment, it was really only for a few moments before we moved on.

This doctor asked me what else was going on and I tried to explain my history with my hips. That’s when the doctor said that they had seen me a few years prior. I then moved on to explain that the pain I had worried me and I knew that I still needed a few surgeries for my hips and that I’ve gone longer than my original surgeon expected me to be able to go. As soon as I said that, this doctor said that they didn’t agree with anything my other doctor said and that I might be in a worse situation because of my first surgery. That really didn’t sit right with me. I knew how much pain I was in before and how that surgery helped. To be told that surgery wasn’t a smart thing to do really contradicts my experience.

And things just continued to get worse. Basically, the rest of the appointment was this doctor telling me I need to lose weight. They implied that if I was in pain now, they wouldn’t even recommend doing any diagnostic testing as they would not treat me until I was at a weight they felt was right for me. I know that there is a fat bias in the healthcare field and I have experienced that from time to time. But it’s usually been from doctors who I won’t see again. For example, once at Urgent Care, the doctor I saw asked me about losing weight when I was there for strep throat. Weight has nothing to do with strep. But with my regular doctors, I usually don’t get weight lectures because they understand that my problems don’t necessarily connect to my weight. But this doctor seemed to not want to discuss anything else.

They could see that I am working on my weight and am working with someone in bariatric medicine, but they were almost hounding me and asking over and over again what I am going to do to lose the weight they think I need to lose (which is also 40 pounds more than what any of my other doctors recommend for me). I kept explaining what I was doing and they just wouldn’t listen or understand that I am working on it. I don’t know what answer they wanted me to give them. They asked what I was going to do and I told them and their response was to ask me what I’m doing. It was so frustrating and I really was ready for the appointment to be over because I could tell that this was going nowhere.

Finally, they did review my x-rays with me and said that I do still have some hip dysplasia on one side (which is a birth defect and completely unrelated to weight) and that there is no sign of arthritis or any other issues. But then it got back to them asking me about my weight and what I would do before they felt like it was too late. I was feeling just over this appointment and was so glad when they ended things with me by saying that if I do have any more pain that I would need to be at the low weight they want me at before they would consider helping me.

I have never had a doctor say that they wouldn’t help me if I didn’t meet their weight requirements. I’ve also never had a doctor who could see what steps I was taking toward losing weight and just ignore them or dismiss my previous efforts. I think that was not right of them. What if I had a lot of pain right now and they refused to help me because of my weight but it ended up being something they could have fixed if they had listened to me before? I follow someone on social media who was dismissed by a doctor when they went in to discuss their pain because of their weight and when they got to another doctor who was willing to work with them, it was discovered they had stage 3 colon cancer. Refusing to help patients because of weight isn’t right. I would have understood if this doctor said that they wouldn’t recommend a hip replacement until I was at a different weight or if they discussed why weight can cause issues with that surgery. But to say they wouldn’t do anything for me unless I lost weight was just awful.

I am working on writing up a complaint about this doctor. I know I wasn’t treated fairly and that they wouldn’t have cared what my complaint was because they wouldn’t see me as a worthy patient until I was at their goal weight. And to have a doctor ignore what I’ve been doing and see that I’m working on weight isn’t fair either. They knew what medications I’m on and what doctors I’m seeing, yet they didn’t care because they wanted me to do something other than what my other doctors recommended and what their plan is for me. I have lost some weight since starting my new medication. I’m down about 3% of my body weight, which I think is pretty good for it just being a month so far. But it could have been 50% of my weight and I feel like this doctor would have been just as dismissive of me.

I’m grateful that the pain I was experiencing is gone for now so I don’t have to worry about seeing this doctor again. And I do want to find a different doctor to work with me because I don’t feel comfortable with this doctor at all. Even if I was at the weight they want me to be, I would still know that they wouldn’t want to help me if I gained weight and got out of the range they want me to be in. I don’t need someone helping me who only wants to help if I match specific things.  Unfortunately, this doctor is the only hip specialist at the hospital I go to. So I would need to find a different medical center to meet someone else. But honestly, I think the drive would be worth it so I’m not treated like this again.

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A Few Weeks With The New Medication (or I’m Hoping I Continue To See Progress)

Posted on November 4, 2022 | Comments Off on A Few Weeks With The New Medication (or I’m Hoping I Continue To See Progress)

It’s almost been a month since I had my appointment with the doctor in bariatric medicine and got put on a new medication. This was a medication I was interested in and one of the main reasons I made the appointment. However, I was nervous about it since I knew it was an injectable and I know how much I hate getting shots. But since it could be something that would help me, I was willing to try. And I’m very glad that when I went to that appointment, the doctor I met with agreed and I started the new medication that day.

Since I started the shots that day and they are once a week, I did my fourth one this past Monday. And the way the medication is set up, you have to work up to what is considered a therapeutic dosage. You start at a very low dose for 4 weeks before increasing to a higher dose. And you don’t get to the therapeutic dosage until 8 or 10 weeks in. So I have only done the lowest dose so far and I will be switching to the next level when I do my shot this Monday. I know that because this medication, or ones that are like it, are being advertised a lot on tv that a lot of people are curious about it. So I thought that I would share my thoughts and feelings on how this has gone for me so far.

I’ve tried many different medications in the past for either weight loss or my eating disorder. I know that none of the things I have taken are a miracle cure and that they have always been tools that can help me with the effort that I’m making on my own. And while I would love to not have to try, I understand that I can’t just rely on medication to do the work for me. Fortunately, I have been doing a lot of the right things already. I didn’t need to worry about adding in exercise since I’m at Orangetheory 4 mornings a week. I know that my eating isn’t great, but it’s much better than it has been in the past. And I have felt for a long time that if other people were doing what I have been doing, they would see results. But I know that my metabolism has been off for a long time and I have wondered if it’s gotten worse over time and that’s why I haven’t seen a lot of change.

And so far, I can say that with this new medication, I do notice some changes. And I’ll start with the positives. I haven’t been as focused on food as I have in the past. I know that other medications were supposed to do the same thing for me, but maybe I have needed the combination of them in order to get that feeling. I do still have moments where the desire to binge eat happens, but it’s less frequent than I can ever remember. I’m also not eating as much at each meal as I did before. I know that this new medication slows down digestion, so you feel full sooner. And I do notice that.

But feeling full sooner isn’t always a good thing. I’m not great at eating lots of little meals, but I think I need to try to do that or add snacks to my day. I can eat too fast and that makes things very uncomfortable. I haven’t had some of the more severe reactions to eating too quickly or too much, but I have felt pain when I haven’t done the right things. I also know that my blood sugar is probably very low now. This new medication does lower your blood sugar (it was originally for diabetics) and that really affects me throughout the day. It’s a struggle to work out in the morning, and I’m working on finding the best things to have before a workout in order to not feel lightheaded or shaky. I’ve been drinking juice, but I think I might need to eat something more substantial before going to class. I just need to find the balance of what will make me feel ok but not sick when working out. I don’t like to eat before a workout, but I will just have to be flexible with that idea and do what is best for me and allows me to push myself as much as possible in class. And the main side effect that I’ve experienced has been nausea, but I also know that can be due to other things in my life so I’m not sure how much is from this new medication. I know that when I do the shots, I feel worse for a few hours, so I know some of it is from this. But it’s not nearly as bad as what I deal with normally each month.

Even though I’m not on the therapeutic dosage yet, I have seen results. The first week I had a pretty significant weight loss. It was about 5% of the weight I want to lose. That’s a lot, but I also knew that the first week or so of any new medication or eating program can cause a lot of weight loss right away. I haven’t lost a lot of weight since that first week, but I have seen very small changes. I’m trying to not weigh myself too much since there are so many things that can cause fluctuations in my weight, but it is reassuring sometimes that I’m still making progress. Even if it’s not fast, it’s something. And if I lose a pound or so a week, that’s still going to add up to a lot. So I’m hoping that I’ll continue to see this type of progress, especially as I work up toward the therapeutic dosage.

As much as I hate shots, I’m lucky that injecting myself with this new medication hasn’t been as much of a struggle as I feared. It’s still not easy, but it’s tolerable. And I think seeing the results I’ve had so far has been good motivation to keep going. So after 4 weeks of this, I have to say that I’m glad that I am trying this. I think it was the right step for me to take and even with some of the negative side effects I don’t have any regrets yet. And I hope that’s how I continue to feel as I keep going and that it will be the tool that I have been needing to work toward recovery.

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Finally My Last Doctor Appointment Of This Month (or Getting Better With Dealing With Needles)

Posted on October 28, 2022 | Comments Off on Finally My Last Doctor Appointment Of This Month (or Getting Better With Dealing With Needles)

I seriously had a full month of doctor appointments this month. I still have some coming up next month, but it won’t be anything like how October has gone for me. But this last appointment was one that was scheduled a while ago and I had no idea that it was going to be in such a busy month for me with my health.

This past week I had my check-in with my dermatologist. I knew this appointment was going to be pretty simple because it really was to just make sure that I’m doing ok and I don’t feel like I need any adjustments in the treatment plan for my autoimmune condition. And I have actually been doing a lot better with this condition. I haven’t been having as many flare-ups as I have in the past and the ones I have tend to be less severe than what they were before. And because these flare-ups can be extremely painful, I’m so grateful that they aren’t as bad as they were before we started this plan.

The timing of this appointment was actually perfect because I was having one of my rare but bad flare-ups come up right before I saw my doctor. This one was in a really inconvenient location, right near where the seam is on the sleeve of any shirt I wear. It was painful to begin with, but having a seam always against it made it even worse. I knew that before, my dermatologist had injected my flare-up with a medication that helps to make it go away faster, so my plan was to ask about that to see if it would be an option for this one as well.

And as expected, the appointment was very quick and easy. My doctor agrees that my condition is much more under control than it was even at my last appointment. It could be the medications are helping more or other lifestyle changes I’ve been making are making a difference. Whatever it is, it’s a good thing and I’m glad that he agrees that things are much better for me. And I showed him my one bad flare-up, and he said that he could inject it to help it. It can cause it to heal a bit weirdly, but I didn’t care because my focus was making it less painful.

I still hate needles, so requesting to get a shot is a bit crazy to me. But I knew it would help me a lot so it was worth it. And the shot this time wasn’t as bad as it was before. I don’t know if it was easier because it was a different location this time or if I’m doing better with shots now that I have a new medication that I have to inject myself. But I was glad to not fully blackout during the shot and get through it quickly.

Everything else in the appointment was pretty easy. I had to be prescribed one new cream due to an ongoing skin condition that should be easy to use than the pills I took the last time I had to deal with it. And that was that for the appointment. I don’t have to go back until January, so I’m hoping that things will still continue to improve with my autoimmune condition and that my next appointment goes just as smoothly.

After my appointment was done, I had to go to the pharmacy to get my new prescription. The wait was really long after dropping off the new prescription, so I took advantage of having a long wait and got my flu shot while waiting. This wasn’t as easy as the injection at my appointment, but it went much better than what my last few flu shots were like. I struggled a bit more with feeling like I was going to pass out, but I stayed awake and that’s a win for me. And so far, I’m not having any side effects which I usually have after any vaccines. I’m hoping that I don’t have any coming up, but it’s been a few days so I think it’s a pretty safe bet that I will be feeling ok from this vaccine other than a really sore arm.

I’ve had a lot of needles to deal with this past month between the new medication, blood draws, injections, and vaccines. I’m glad that it seems to be a bit easy for me to tolerate them now and I hope that this trend continues. But I also hope that I don’t have another month filled with doctor’s appointments like I did this month. It was a lot to do, but it also allowed me to get on top of multiple health issues and I can feel much better about things now.

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And Yet Another Doctor Appointment (or At Least This One Showed Me What I Already Knew)

Posted on October 25, 2022 | Comments Off on And Yet Another Doctor Appointment (or At Least This One Showed Me What I Already Knew)

There are so many assumptions that are made about health based on appearance. I know that you can’t tell health by appearance, but I still feel lucky that I don’t fit the stereotypes that people or doctors make. I have normal bloodwork when I have my blood drawn unless it’s due to something odd (like how my liver tumor affected my liver enzymes). I have low blood sugar and typically I have very low blood pressure. Historically, my blood pressure has been low enough that doctors will take it a few times to make sure. It would be a normal low for someone who is thinner, but I know doctors think it must be wrong because someone who looks like me shouldn’t have that low of a number. But that’s been my normal for as long as I could remember until recently.

I don’t know what changed, but something happened where I started to get outlandishly high blood pressure readings. These weren’t high readings where people have to be seen by a doctor to get put on medication. They are high readings that you wouldn’t be alive to have. So obviously, they aren’t accurate because I feel fine and I’m alive. But it still put red flags in my medical record.

I also sometimes have higher readings before an appointment compared to after. I am always nervous before an appointment, so I know that can affect things. But when my doctors let me do a check after the appointment, they are always back to my normal low. And since they go back to that, my crazy high ones are something to joke about.

But recently, I had an appointment where we couldn’t get my blood pressure to be in a normal range. They were coming up high, but not deadly high like before. So there was a reason for my doctors to worry. It seemed off compared to every other check I’ve had, but because they couldn’t get it to be ok they said I needed to go to the blood pressure clinic to be looked at.

I was able to get an appointment for that before work last week, and I knew it would be a simple appointment because all they were going to do was check my blood pressure. I didn’t have to see a doctor after that. Even though I was sure I would be fine, I was still nervous that maybe something had changed with me and that I did have a new medical issue.

Getting my blood pressure done at the clinic was a different experience compared to getting it done before an appointment. They made sure I was positioned correctly, which included bringing in a stool for me to put my feet on. Normally, my feet dangle a bit because of being short, and that can mess up a reading. They also had the cuff on my arm for 5 minutes while I rested before the first check happened. That way, I would be calm and relaxed. And the machine was set to do 3 checks back to back so they could look at what the average was in case one happened to be high and the others were low.

Because I had to wait before it started and they did multiple checks in a row, I was there for about 15 minutes before I was done. But as soon as the nurse came back after all the checks were done, they confirmed I had nothing to worry about and my blood pressure was still low. It’s a little higher than my normal, but that still puts it in the normal range. And there is no explanation or reason for why it might have been high before my other appointments. It could be because the cuff wasn’t on correctly. It might have been because my feet weren’t flat on the ground or they rushed doing the test so I was stressed and anxious. But that’s the reason why someone is sent to the blood pressure clinic. They can check it in a different way and it can end up being a more accurate reading than something that is just a small part of a bigger appointment.

I’m glad that everything ended up being ok for me and that I’m still just as healthy as I was before. I’ve still got another doctor’s appointment to go to this month (unless another one is added). So I’m finally almost through this crazy month of working on my health.

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