Tag Archives: doctor

Still Having Easy Therapy Check-Ins (or A Few New Things To Do)

Posted on February 14, 2024 | Comments Off on Still Having Easy Therapy Check-Ins (or A Few New Things To Do)

My therapy appointments haven’t felt like appointments for a long time. They feel more like a check-in to make sure everything is going ok and I don’t need to change anything. I think I’m on a good dosage of the medication this doctor prescribed and I don’t see the need to change things up. I know there are other medications that I could try that might help me, but every time I’ve added something new I have new side effects. And I’m already dealing with enough side effects at this point so I don’t need to add any more. I’m glad my therapist is fine with these appointments turning into check-ins as well so they can be easy and quick. Plus, they are still virtual appointments, so they are even quicker for me since I don’t have to drive there and back.

I only have appointments every 6 months now, so they aren’t that often. I’m ok with that and know I could always schedule an additional appointment if I felt like I needed one. But since things have been pretty steady for a while, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.

I actually brought up in my appointment this week how I feel like I just keep telling her the same thing every time, how things are going well and I feel like I’m on a good path. She thinks that it’s fine that I haven’t wanted to change what I’ve been doing and what the plan has been. But even though we don’t want to change anything, there are some new regulations for controlled substances (which my medication is) that I now have to go through.

Some of the new regulations have been things I’ve been working with. I can only get a month of medication at a time when in the past I could get 90 days at a time. It’s not that bad that I have to go in every month because I have to do that for another one of my medications. But it was nice to not have to worry about a refill for a few months. And now, I can’t request a refill as early as I used to. In the past, I could request a refill when I had about a week of medication left. That allowed for time for it to be filled since it can take a day or two. Now, I have to wait until I have only 2 days of medication left to put in my refill request, and that means that I can go a day or two without it. There’s also a shortage of the medication, so that can add even more delays with getting my refill. It’s frustrating because I know I’m not doing anything wrong, but I understand why there are regulations in place.

And while I was in my therapy appointment, I found out another regulation that I have to do so I can continue getting my medications. I have to go to cardiology to get an EKG to make sure that my heart is ok and there’s nothing weird going on with my medication. I’m not worried about my heart because I know I’m taking everything as prescribed and not abusing my medications. And I’m pretty aware of my heart rate since I wear a heart rate monitor in my workouts. But it is something that I will have to pay for to get done and I will have to find the time to go in to get it done. It’s a minor inconvenience for me so I’m aware that things could be much worse. And I don’t think I will have to do the EKGs regularly, so I’m hoping that I will just do it this one time and then I won’t have to worry about it again.

I’ll have my next therapy check-in in 6 months, right after my birthday. I’m not expecting anything to be different then and the plan will continue to be to keep doing what I’ve been doing. And hopefully, there won’t be any additional regulations with my medication that I will need to worry about. But if there are, I’ll just do what I need to do so that I can continue to make and see progress.

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Giving Myself A Long Time To Recover (or I’m Hoping This Isn’t Something Worse)

Posted on October 18, 2023 | Comments Off on Giving Myself A Long Time To Recover (or I’m Hoping This Isn’t Something Worse)

Over a month ago, I started to have some really odd foot pain. It’s been only on the top of my foot, and I couldn’t figure out what would make the pain worse and make it go away a bit. It would affect me when I was walking, which seemed normal. But what was so weird was that it hurt a lot when I was sleeping or lying on the couch. When it started, I thought maybe it was just a really bad bruise and I would give it time to go away. But after a few weeks, I knew it wasn’t something simple like that.

I started with a video appointment when a general medicine doctor, mainly because I knew I would need a referral to a specialist. But I wasn’t sure what type of specialist I would need to go to, so I just explained all my symptoms to the doctor and let them determine what the next steps would be. I had some x-rays ordered and the initial results were that there was nothing seen on the x-ray, which was a relief since the first doctor thought it could be a hairline fracture. But that didn’t answer what was causing the pain so I went to a podiatrist.

I was randomly assigned a podiatrist, mainly because I wanted the soonest appointment available. And it happened to be someone I had seen before for a different foot issue. As I waited for the appointment, things weren’t getting any better but they weren’t getting any worse. So I was just hoping that I could get some answers and make sure there wasn’t something really wrong with my foot.

I finally had my appointment last week. I knew going into the appointment that there were a few likely reasons I was having this pain. And those were a ligament issue, a tendon issue, or a nerve issue. I didn’t know which of those I was hoping it would be since none of them would necessarily be easy things to correct. But I also knew that getting a diagnosis was the first step in hopefully getting out of pain.

At my appointment, I reviewed all the symptoms for the doctor and he did a few different things to manipulate my foot to try to isolate the pain. And in the end, he thinks that I have a tendon issue in my foot. When he was pressing on the tendon on the top of my foot, it was making the pain more intense. But the one symptom that I said that confused him was that I experienced pain sometimes when I wasn’t wearing shoes, which made him worry that it could be a nerve issue. But that’s a much bigger thing to deal with so it’s easier to start with a simple problem and try to see if I can resolve that pain from those steps.

And the things I need to do aren’t too bad. I have to tie my shoes differently so they don’t lace over the affected tendon. I also am using BioFreeze on my foot a few times a day to help the pain not be as sharp. Eliminating the pain isn’t going to resolve the issue, but it makes it more tolerable to deal with while I wait for it to get better. And I might be waiting a long time because fixing a tendon issue can take months. I was told that if the pain wasn’t better in 6 months, then I need to return so we could look into some other remedies or see if I need to see someone else to figure out if it’s a nerve issue. But it might take those full 6 months before I feel better. So I’m just going to have to wait it out and hope for the best at this point.

I’m used to dealing with so many types of pain on a day-to-day basis, so it’s not too horrible to have another type of pain in my life. It’s not fun and I wish I didn’t have all this extra pain, but I know I can get through it. And hopefully, before 6 months have passed I will be in just a little bit less pain so I can just have this issue as something in my past that won’t be another medical mystery that needs to be solved.

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A Year Of A Medication (or It’s Been A Lot Of Good And Some Bad)

Posted on October 11, 2023 | Comments Off on A Year Of A Medication (or It’s Been A Lot Of Good And Some Bad)

About a year ago, I had my first appointment with a doctor in bariatric medicine. I went into that appointment with a specific concern in mind and really was worried that the doctor would either suggest other options for me that I didn’t want to do or that they would dismiss what I had to say. I was shocked when I was at that appointment and it went exactly how I hoped it would. I was terrified to start a medication that I would have to inject into myself, but I was also really hopeful for what it could mean for me and my future.

It hasn’t been an easy year and I knew this medication wouldn’t be a miracle for me and that I would still have to work at losing weight and there may be some tough side effects to get through. I also had to overcome my issues with needles and I knew that would be a big challenge. My first few injections were pretty bad for me. I did pass out with them in the beginning, but I took measures to make sure that I was safe such as doing them while laying down so I couldn’t get hurt when I passed out. I had a lot of bad side effects from the beginning that I had to learn how to manage. Some of these side effects disappeared after a few weeks or after I had a bit of time at a new dosage. A lot of these side effects are still things I have to deal with now. But after a year, I have gotten used to many of them and they aren’t all as bad as they were when I started.

The main side effect I still deal with almost weekly is nausea. This is something that can vary each week, and I think there are a lot of factors that make things better or worse for me. I know I don’t inject the medication in the exact same spot on each side each time, and I feel like some spots are better for me than others. I just haven’t figured out the pattern of what are the good spots to use so I just have to see how I feel each week. And when I’m dealing with other nausea, the nausea I have as a side effect is amplified. It’s not ideal, but considering the good that I’m getting out of this medication, it’s worth it.

And I have been getting good out of it. I’m not losing weight at the same rate that I was at the beginning, and that’s a bit hard to accept. But I’m still losing weight. I don’t know why it’s as slow as it is now (sometimes it’s only half a pound a month), but I’m glad things are going in the right direction. And based on what this medication is supposed to help with, I have hit the goal percentage of weight loss already. That doesn’t mean I’m stopping, but I know that I’m considered a success story with how things have gone for me.

But beyond weight loss, the best thing for me has been my relationship with food. It’s so hard to explain food noise to someone who hasn’t dealt with it before, but it’s almost like an obsession with food even if you are eating healthy or the right portions. You can wake up and spend your morning planning your meals for the day to make sure it’s exactly what you want. Now, I still have some of those feelings and thoughts but they aren’t as often or as overwhelming. I don’t necessarily think about what I want to have for dinner until it’s almost time to eat. I do have to remember to eat occasionally, especially at lunchtime, but it’s nice to not have food such a focus in my mind.

I know that this medication is controversial and some people don’t believe that people should take it for weight loss, but I’m so grateful that I have been allowed to do so. I haven’t changed many of my food or exercise habits in this past year, but the way that my body is reacting is different. I have known for a while that the simple concept of calories in calories out hasn’t really worked for me. Even when I’m tracking things perfectly, my body doesn’t react the way it should. But now, things seem to be more aligned with what is considered normal. I also know that not everyone would agree that the side effects I’ve been dealing with have been worth it, but that’s a personal decision and some people will be ok with certain side effects more than others. I’m glad that I have been ok with the few negatives that I’ve experienced because this isn’t a short-term plan. I don’t know if I’ll be on this forever, but maybe I will and I’ve had to be ok with that.

It’s been a bit of a crazy year between side effects, medication shortages, positive progress, overcoming my issues with needles, and everything else that I have gone through. But I’m in such a better place than I was a year ago and I’m hoping that things will continue in the right direction for me in the next year and I’ll still be happy with how things look a year from now.

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Time For Another Medical Mystery (or Hoping To Figure Out What’s Wrong)

Posted on September 27, 2023 | Comments Off on Time For Another Medical Mystery (or Hoping To Figure Out What’s Wrong)

I feel like I’m generally a decently healthy person. I have a few different ongoing medical issues, but most of those are caused by things out of my control. My hip issues are due to a birth defect that was discovered when I was in my 20s. My liver issues are due to a one-in-a-million side effect from birth control. And my autoimmune issues are things that I have no control over, although I’m trying to manage them. But I do seem to get many random health things that happen to me or I find out something is going on when I’m trying to get information about something else. I don’t have a lot of things that randomly happen that I seek medical attention for specifically.

But for the past month, I’ve been dealing with some very intense foot pain. But this seems so odd because I would expect foot pain to be on the bottom or side of my foot, or even in my toes. But this is pain on the top of my foot. The closest thing I can think of is when you tie your shoes too tight and you feel that pressure on the top of your foot. But for me, it’s a sharp and intense pain that comes and goes depending on how I flex my foot. And I have no idea what caused it.

I have been trying to cut back on things that might make the pain worse. I haven’t been picketing because walking has been painful. I have been careful with some specific exercises in my workouts because I noticed that doing things that have me on my toes makes it worse. And I’ve been trying to rest in the hopes that I could make this pain go away on its own. I figured I might have done something to cause a really deep bruise or something, so rest would be the best way to manage it.

I gave it a month, and things haven’t gotten any better. In some ways, I think the pain has actually gotten worse. I’m glad it hasn’t migrated to another part of my foot, but I’m experiencing those sharp jolts more often. And it’s starting to affect my sleep and wake me up if I move and flex my foot the wrong way. So I knew I needed to do something about it.

I finally started the process of getting this pain figured out. I had a video appointment with a doctor last week to get a referral to a specialist. In my video appointment, I put the camera down so they could see my foot and they had me show where the pain was and what seemed to make it flare up. I knew I wouldn’t get a diagnosis over a video appointment, but they said that it was likely a tendon or ligament issue. There’s a small chance there is a fracture in one of the bones on the top of my foot, but very unlikely.

I got my referral to the specialist, but I haven’t heard back from them yet so I don’t know when my next appointment will be happening. But I’m hoping it will be somewhat soon so I can start figuring out how to make this pain go away. However, I did start the diagnostic testing after my first video appointment. All I’ve done so far is a series of x-rays. They did multiple views of my foot so hopefully, if it’s something that can be caught on an x-ray, they will see it and be able to tell me what it is. I don’t know if I’ll need to do more tests, like an MRI, but I guess I’ll find that out when I have my next appointment.

In some weird way, I’m lucky that I deal with pain already on a regular basis. This new pain isn’t affecting my life too much since I already have to do so much to manage pain normally. But it’s still frustrating when something new pops up and I have to work on figuring out what’s happening. And hopefully, this is something super minor and I’m overreacting. But knowing my history, I could also be dealing with another random and rare situation and I’ll be going down another weird medical rabbit hole to figure out what’s happening and how to take care of it.

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Back To Back Doctor Appointments (or Still Having Easy Check-Ups)

Posted on August 16, 2023 | Comments Off on Back To Back Doctor Appointments (or Still Having Easy Check-Ups)

Even though it seems like I always have doctor appointments on my calendar, I’ve been very lucky that they usually are very routine and easy. I have several ongoing conditions that I’m trying to manage, and they seem to be a lot more stable now than they have been in the past. This is what I’ve been trying to achieve, so it’s nice to manage things tolerably instead of figuring out what to do next. But even with things being stable and manageable, I still have regular check-ups with my doctors to make sure nothing has changed.

And I had 2 of these check-up appointments recently just to make sure everything is fine. Fortunately, both appointments went as easily as I assumed they would.

First, I had an appointment with my dermatologist. These appointments have been pretty easy for a while now. My autoimmune condition has been more stable than ever and I really don’t have to think about it that often anymore. Occasionally, I do have a bad flare-up, but they are less frequent and usually not as many at one time. When I had my appointment, I did have a bad flare-up, but it was only a single location and a single flare-up. In the past, it could be multiple flare-ups at one time and in different locations on my body. When that was happening, the pain took a lot of my focus each day. With how my flare-ups have been lately, I only think about them if I position my body in a way to trigger the pain. It’s such a nice change compared to what I had been dealing with for so many years.

One of the medications I’ve been on to manage it for the past few months may or may not be working because typically it takes about 6 months to see if it’s helping. So hopefully, by my next appointment, I’ll have a better idea if it’s working and if I want to stay on it. It doesn’t really have any side effects so it’s not hurting me to stay on it to test it out. If at my next appointment, I don’t think it’s helping, I might go off of it just so I don’t take an extra medication that I have to pay for each month. But I’m trying to stay optimistic and thinking that I’ll see some positive results when I go back again. And because things are so stable, I don’t have to go back to my dermatologist for 6 months this time. Of course, if something comes up I can make an appointment sooner, but this is a longer time between appointments than I have had in the past.

And a few days after my dermatologist, I had my check-in with my therapist. Again, these appointments have been very simple and easy for a while. They are even easier than most appointments since I can continue to do them as video appointments. That makes it so much easier to fit into my schedule and they take significantly less time now that I don’t have to drive to the medical office and wait in the waiting room. I’m glad this is still an option for me and it should continue to be that way since my therapist used to see me in person and we haven’t always had virtual appointments.

This appointment was very similar to the last several therapist check-ins. She wanted to make sure that I’m still doing ok with my medication and that nothing much has changed with my mental health. The only thing we had to discuss was how I had to stop taking my medication for a bit because there was a shortage and I couldn’t get a refill. That’s not something that can be predicted, so it could happen again. But I’m hoping it won’t because I noticed a significant difference in how I was feeling when I had to stop taking it.

Other than discussing that, there wasn’t much talked about with my therapist which was what I expected. And just like with my dermatologist, my next check-in will be in 6 months so I have a bit of time before my next appointment.

It took time to get to a place where these appointments could be so easy and everything under control. I’m so grateful that I have gotten to this place because it wasn’t straightforward and it took trial and error. And I know that this isn’t necessarily what it will always be like and things can change and I could struggle to get to this stability again. But I’m just going to enjoy that things are like this for now and remain hopeful that when I have both of these appointments again in about 6 months that I will still be in the same place.

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Another Easy Phone Appointment (or Sticking With The Same Plan For Now)

Posted on June 14, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Easy Phone Appointment (or Sticking With The Same Plan For Now)

I’ve been lucky that a lot of the doctor appointments I have can be handled either over the phone or through a video call. It’s so much easier not to go to the hospital for an appointment and work things around my work schedule. I know that not all appointments can be this way, but I’m always grateful when they can be since they end up being a much smaller part of my day.

My most recent doctor appointment on the phone was with my doctor in bariatric medicine. It has been a while since I’ve had an appointment, but there also hasn’t been much to say about the medication that I’m on. I have noticed a difference in how food relates to my life. I’m not struggling to eat as much as I did when I started the injections, but I also still have to be careful with food since it can make me sick. It’s a balance I have worked on figuring out and I think I’m in a good spot with that. I do still have side effects and those can be annoying, but compared to what others report, I know that I’m not having as difficult of a time as many people do.

The best thing about this medication has been something I wasn’t expecting. I don’t know how else to explain it, but the noise in my brain about food has quieted down a lot. I know I’ve shared this before, but this has been a change that has helped me mentally more than I thought it would. It’s not perfect or a miracle, but it has been a huge positive change in my life. As far as weight loss goes, things have stalled a bit. I am grateful that I haven’t started to gain weight and I have lost a little bit more, but it’s not what it was the first few months.

I knew that I wanted to bring up some of my concerns in my appointment, but I also knew that this could just be what things will be like. And I’m so glad that my doctor was very cool with just hearing me out and hearing my positive and negative thoughts. She agreed that I’m doing all the right things and that I am seeing success, and I agree with her. It might not be success the way I wanted to see it, but it is working. But she also understood my frustration, especially since what I’m experiencing now is similar to what I felt before I started the medication with my struggle to lose weight. We did discuss what some number goals should be in my head, but they are very broad so I’m not focused on a goal that may not be possible for me. And we did discuss if I should increase my dosage to see if that will kickstart things for me again.

But there are things to consider about increasing the dosage. First, there is only one dose higher than what I’m on. So if I increase it and then it stops working, there’s no higher dose that I can take. And since I’m still seeing success, it might not be the right time for me to go to the highest dose. Also, because the higher dose would be doubling what I’m taking now, I might get some significant side effects. My doctor does believe that they would level off, especially with how I’m doing with the side effects now. But I do remember how difficult the first few weeks were for me and the side effects I had then that I finally got over.

I was on the phone with my doctor a lot longer than I expected. Usually, phone appointments seem to be maybe 10 minutes long. This time, we talked for almost 25 minutes. And in the end, we agreed that right now is not the right time for me to increase the dosage. I may not see a lot of results right now, but they should be happening in time. Even just losing a little bit of weight over a few months is better than nothing. I haven’t been on this medication for a year yet, so increasing it to the highest dosage might be a bit premature. If I was insisting that I felt like I needed to increase it, I think my doctor would have supported it. But I’m not in a rush to get the results that I know will come eventually. And this could just be a simple plateau and I might break out of it without having to change the dosage. So I’m ok with giving things a bit more time and reevaluating the situation when I have my next appointment in a few months.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect out of this appointment since I had a few concerns I wanted to address, but I feel good about how the call ended and what the plan is for now. And the most important thing to me is that I felt heard by my doctor. My concerns weren’t dismissed. I wasn’t told I wasn’t trying hard enough. She listened to me and made me feel like we were a team with a plan moving forward. And I think because of that feeling, I think I feel more positive about what the plan is moving ahead and what the next steps might be. And I guess I’ll have to see when I have my next appointment if things will change or if I’m seeing more success with my efforts.

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Forgetting A Medical Miracle Anniversary (or It’s Nice That This Isn’t Something I Think About)

Posted on April 27, 2023 | Comments Off on Forgetting A Medical Miracle Anniversary (or It’s Nice That This Isn’t Something I Think About)

I completely forgot to celebrate the anniversary of my not needing to have liver surgery! I’m usually pretty good about remembering dates and anniversaries, even the weird ones, and somehow this one just slipped my mind. I know it’s not something that I have to remember every year, and with my liver, there are a few different dates that are milestones. But I usually seem to remember to celebrate mid-April when I found out the tumors were shrinking and when I was supposed to have surgery but didn’t need it. I don’t always celebrate on the same date, but April 20th is when the surgery was supposed to be so that date usually sticks in my head.

I’m not too upset that I forgot to celebrate this. I do like to celebrate how awesome it is that this all worked out this way for me, but it’s also nice that it’s not something that dominates my mind anymore. From when I found out about the tumors until the surgery was canceled, this really was a huge focus of my life. I tried to not always think about it, but it’s hard not to when you are preparing for a major surgery and staying in the hospital for an unknown amount of time. Even just planning things out with my parents and where I’d be recovering took a lot of time and organization. And after we found out the tumors were shrinking, I still thought about the tumors a lot because I was always worried that my next scan would show that they grew or something else was wrong.

When I had my last liver MRI, which was exactly 5 years to the day since the first one, the tumors didn’t show any growth or change and my liver surgeon agreed that I no longer need to be monitored. I will always probably have at least one of the tumors (only one is visible but the other two might still be there but too small to be seen), but they are no longer a health risk for me. And since I don’t have to be monitored, I’m not really thinking about it anymore. I don’t have to be scared that something will happen because of how big the tumors are or the various risks that I was warned about when they were found.

This is different from how things are with my hip. I’m frequently reminded of the pain and the fact that I still need surgeries in the future. I can’t ignore that this is still an ongoing health issue for me. I guess the tumors can be considered an ongoing health issue as well, but it’s not something I have to confront on a regular basis. I’m not ignoring the fact that I have them, so I’m still not really drinking since that can stress my liver and I won’t go back on hormonal birth control since that would likely make the tumors grow again. There are a few things in my future that might require me to be monitored again, but they aren’t things that I need to worry about or that would happen unexpectedly.

And the more I’m removed from thinking that I need to have surgery, the more likely it will be that I forgot to remember about it. I’ve had so many random health things I’ve had to deal with over the years, and it’s not a bad thing to not always remember all of them. And yes, celebrating something awesome like not needing surgery is good. But not having to spend time thinking about a stressful time in my life is probably better.

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Getting Out Of A Doctor Appointment (or I’m Lucky I Was Listened To)

Posted on March 2, 2023 | Comments Off on Getting Out Of A Doctor Appointment (or I’m Lucky I Was Listened To)

Considering all the medical things I deal with and how many recurring doctor appointments I have, I’ve been pretty lucky with having good doctors who listen to me and don’t make assumptions. This isn’t always the case and I’ve had some doctors who aren’t as helpful or won’t believe either my symptoms or my lab results, but I usually can avoid those doctors after they act that way.

In the past, I wasted time trying to get doctors to believe me when things aren’t what they expect. For example, I have low cholesterol, low blood sugar, and normal blood pressure. But because there are assumptions about people who are a certain weight or size, I have had doctors wonder if the results were correct. Or if I’m seeing a new doctor, they look at my past test results and think that they must not be accurate anymore so they make me do all the same things again to prove to them that I am healthy. Things have gotten better over the years, but there are still some doctors who believe that weight is the reason behind any ailment and won’t budge or look into what the cause could potentially be.

I’m always nervous when I’m meeting a new doctor or seeing someone I haven’t seen before. For example, when I went to urgent care recently, everyone there was new to me and they don’t know my history. I know that I will always have to do some of the basic vitals when I go to urgent care, but sometimes because of the situation, they aren’t normal results for me.

When I was in urgent care last month, part of the intake was to do my blood pressure and heart rate. I know that my blood pressure reading can be weird sometimes. It has come back impossibly high, not just high like what a living person could have but high where I should be dead. Those results are obviously not accurate, and I’ve learned things I need to be mindful of when I get my blood pressure taken. One of the biggest things I need to do is make sure my feet are on the ground. I usually can’t touch the ground with my feet when I’m sitting back the way they want me to be, so I need something for my feet otherwise I know the results won’t be right. And when I was in urgent care, I tried to tell the nurse that so I could get my blood pressure taken correctly. They didn’t have anything I could use, but my results weren’t high so I figured that was the end of that.

Then a week later, I got something in the mail saying I had a doctor’s appointment I didn’t schedule. I called my insurance and found out that it was for me to go to the blood pressure clinic again because of dangerously high blood pressure in urgent care. That didn’t make sense to me since it was in the normal range, so I looked at my online records and realized that there was a typo in my vitals so it looked a lot higher than it was. I asked if I could get that appointment removed because of that error, but they couldn’t do it unless I spoke to a doctor.

So I had another phone appointment this week to discuss what happened. I’m so glad that even though this was a doctor I didn’t know, he listened to what I said and found other things that seemed off about my vitals from that appointment. He said that my blood pressure should have been taken at another time since I was in pain and my heart rate was very high. There were signs that I wouldn’t have normal blood pressure, even if my feet were on the ground, so I shouldn’t have been referred to the blood pressure clinic. I don’t think he really cared that there was a typo in my records because the other information showed him that I was ok. And there is a history of recent blood pressure reads where it is normal so having just one high one with all the other information shouldn’t have triggered the referral.

I was totally prepared to explain a lot about why this seemed wrong, and I was lucky that this doctor already found things that didn’t seem right and I didn’t have to make that much of an effort to get the appointment removed. He did say that I should get my blood pressure done at my next in-person appointment, which I always have to do so it will be done soon enough. And of course, if it comes back high then, I might have to go back to the blood pressure clinic.

It’s nice when I really don’t have to put in as much work as expected to have a doctor hear me. This should be how it always is and I’m fortunate that it’s like this most of the time. It’s only the rare time now that I have to stand up for myself more and I’m glad that it’s become less and less frequent.

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Another Virtual Therapy Appointment (or Preparing For Potential Changes)

Posted on February 16, 2023 | Comments Off on Another Virtual Therapy Appointment (or Preparing For Potential Changes)

My therapy appointments have been every 6 months for a long time and ever since the pandemic, they have also been virtual appointments. I did some virtual appointments before the pandemic, but they weren’t every appointment because there was a rule that you had to be seen in person every so often. I’ve been grateful they have been video appointments that I can do from home because that makes them very easy to fit into my work day. I just take my lunch break when my appointment happens so I don’t have to worry about much. If I had to drive in and wait for my appointment time, I might still be able to fit it into a lunch break, but it would be harder to do. So keeping them virtual has worked out perfectly for me.

Because of the timing of when these appointments switched to being every 6 months, my appointments are now around my birthday and half-birthday. And the one this month just happened to fall on Valentine’s Day. I found that kind of funny, but I also didn’t mind having my appointment then since I knew it would be a pretty routine check-in.

And for the most part, it was very routine. My therapist made sure that I was still doing ok in general and I did let her know I was getting over a cold so if I sounded down it was because of that and not my mood. She confirmed I was doing ok on my current dosage of the medication I have been taking for years, which I am. And we discussed the new medication I’ve been taking and how it’s been working for me. She’s happy that I’m seeing success with it but was frustrated for me about the medication shortage. But she agreed that there’s not really anything I can do other than to be patient and pick up my refill as soon as it is available.

After my check-in, my therapist gave me a heads up that the medication she prescribes me might have a shortage soon. For some reason, of all the medications that do similar things, all the doctors at the hospital are switching their patients to the one that I am taking. So there will be a higher demand for it than there was before. We discussed what this shortage could mean for me, but hopefully it won’t affect too much if it happens. And if I have to go a week or so without my medication, I would be able to start back at the same dosage I’m already on and I wouldn’t have to worry about starting at a low dosage and working back up. I won’t need to order my refill for another month or so, so there is a chance there won’t be a shortage when I have my refill in. But she wanted to make sure I knew so I could be prepared.

And she also gave me a heads up that I may have to go to occasional in-person appointments again. My next appointment in August will be virtual, but the one in about a year might have to be in the office. She’s not sure if that will be necessary because the policy is about making sure patients see a doctor in person at least once a year, and I do see other doctors in person on a regular basis. So I might not have to go in for therapy. And a year is a long time from now, so a lot of policies could change in that time. But just like with the medication shortage, she wanted me to be prepared for this potential change and not have it seem sudden or surprise me. I really appreciated that.

That was about it for my therapy appointment. It was simple and easy, just like it’s been for a while now. And I guess I’ll just have to see if I’m affected by this other medication shortage in the next few months and if in the future I’m back to going to in-person appointments again. But maybe nothing will change and my appointment in 6 months will be another boring and routine check-in, which sounds perfect to me!

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Medical Stability Is A Good Thing (or Yet Another Easy Check-Up)

Posted on January 24, 2023 | Comments Off on Medical Stability Is A Good Thing (or Yet Another Easy Check-Up)

I’ve been working with my dermatologist on a lot of different conditions over the past few years. Some have been ongoing conditions and some have been one-off discussions or resolved within a few appointments. I know I have said this before, but I’m lucky to have a doctor on my team who works with me to figure out solutions and listens to me and my concerns. I know not everyone has that experience or the ability to speak up for their concerns. But I made sure that the doctors I see worked with me and not just talked at me. Not all the doctors I’ve seen are like that, but if they don’t see us as a team I don’t go back to them.

This is so important with all my doctors, but especially when you are working with someone for an extended time. When it’s not just a few appointments and then you never see them again, you need to make sure that they really hear what you have to say. And I think the positive experiences I’ve had with doctors that I’ve had to see for years is because I am willing to say that I want to find a different doctor to work with. I probably should have done that sooner with other dermatologists I’ve seen in the past because I have wasted so much time trying solutions that weren’t working but I wanted to keep trying what they told me to do.

Even though I have a few different ongoing conditions I work on with my dermatologist, my appointments aren’t that frequent anymore. Most of the things I’ve working with him on are going to be things I have to deal with for the rest of my life. Or if they can go away, it might be years before that happens. With my autoimmune condition, I know the end goal is to be in some sort of remission. This isn’t always possible, but it can happen. But the things that can get you into remission can be more extreme than what I’m willing to do at this point. There is a surgery that I could have that would help me significantly, but the recovery process would be very lengthy and painful. Maybe one day I’ll get there, but it’s not what I want to do at this point.

I had another follow-up with my dermatologist this past week and I knew it would likely be an easy appointment. I’m not in remission with my autoimmune condition, but things have gotten so much better over the past few years. I think I’m in a lower stage of the condition than I have been in years. I still have quite a bit of pain to deal with, but it’s more manageable now and that’s something that I never thought could happen. I know my doctor would have liked to see more improvement with me, but I’m happy that things are just stable where they are and they aren’t getting worse. It used to be stable years ago before things started to get really bad. And now, it’s stable but in a good spot. Maybe I’ll have some more regression and it will stabilize at an even better spot, but I’m not too worried about that right now. My main focus is hoping that it just doesn’t get worse again.

And because things are stable, my plan with my doctor is stable too. I’m going to continue the same medications I’ve been taking since they clearly are doing something to help manage this condition. I also use certain body washes to help my skin and I just need to continue to use that as well.

Having boring follow-up appointments like this is becoming more common for me, and that’s a good thing. I’ve had so many ongoing medical conditions for so long and to have them stabilize is so awesome. The more stable things get, the more boring my appointments are. I never knew that I was hoping for boring appointments in my life, but it turns out that it’s one of the best things and something that I continue to hope will happen in the future.

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