Tag Archives: health issues

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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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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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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An Evening Of Medical Testing (or Getting More Stuff Done)

Posted on October 18, 2022 | Comments Off on An Evening Of Medical Testing (or Getting More Stuff Done)

Between some of the doctor appointments I’ve already had and some that I have coming up, I’ve had a few different medical tests that I’ve needed to get done. Nothing too crazy, but things that could potentially take up some time depending on how busy the hospital was. Mainly, I needed to do some blood work to check some levels and get a hip x-ray to prepare to see a new orthopedic doctor. Unfortunately, neither of these things are tests that you can schedule and you just have to go as a walk-in. I was a bit surprised to find that out with the x-rays, but I guess when they aren’t that crazy they don’t book you in.

I have waited for medical tests in the past where things took significantly longer than they should have. I had one MRI where I waited an extra 90 minutes because of some emergency patients that came in. Of course, I understand that, but it also makes it tough to schedule when to do things around work. And I have had to change up my work schedule quite a bit for all the appointments I have booked. So I wanted to try to get this done without disrupting my schedule.

Fortunately, both offices for these tests are open a bit later than when you can do regular appointments. I knew it might be a rush to get in to get them done, but I decided to go for it this past Friday. And I figured if I could only do one thing, I could go back another day after work to do the other.

But this went a lot easier than I expected. For the blood work, I was taken back right away. I did black out, as I always do, but that didn’t make anything take longer. And it was only 3 vials of blood, so that didn’t take as long as my last big blood work did. And as soon as they were done and bandaged my arm, I headed over to the imaging department and hoped they could fit me in for the x-ray. There was a bit of confusion about what time they closed, but they were still open when I got there and I checked in with no issues. They let me know that I would be called when it was my time to be brought back, and I sat in the waiting room and got my phone out to catch up on social media.

I probably was waiting for less than 5 minutes before I was called back. These x-rays were very basic ones for my hips. I’ve done some that were more intense with a lot of weird positioning to see specific issues. But I guess since this is a new doctor, they didn’t order those, and I only had to do two different positions for the x-rays. And because I knew I was going to try to get my x-rays done, I made sure I wore clothes that didn’t have any metal on them. So I didn’t even have to get undressed and into a gown to do the x-rays. I just got on the table, they positioned me into the two positions they needed for the images, and I was out of there!

I really was expecting things to be a lot worse or more time-consuming, but I was done with both tests in under 20 minutes. It really was simple to get it done and I didn’t have to wait for other people to be done before it was my turn. I know I might have lucked out into this because I’ve done medical tests on weekends when it should have been easy but then things got delayed unexpectedly. I’m just glad that it went smoothly, I didn’t have that many issues, and I can continue on with all the other doctor appointments I have coming up.

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Another Week And More Weird Workouts (or I Think This Was Hell Week Prep In Multiple Ways)

Posted on October 17, 2022 | Comments Off on Another Week And More Weird Workouts (or I Think This Was Hell Week Prep In Multiple Ways)

I have had so many weeks where my workouts were affected by various medical issues. I’m starting to be used to it, but it’s always a surprise for me and what ends up affecting what I can and can’t do. But as always, I pushed through all my workouts this past week. But I think this past week of workouts was also harder to get us ready for Hell Week.

Monday’s workout was a first for me. I’ve never had to leave class early, but this time I knew I would have to. I had my appointment with the doctor in bariatric medicine that morning, and I had meant to change what time I was going to work out. But by the time I remember I needed to do that, it was too late. And it ended up working out ok because if I had done the later class, I would have still been at my appointment since it took so long.

Since I was going to leave early, I only did the cardio and rowing portions of the workout. It wasn’t ideal to skip the floor, but that’s how it worked out so I could get home in time to shower before I had to leave for my appointment. I was still having some hip/back pain, but it was much better than how it was at the end of the week before.

Cardio was pretty simple. We had rounds of a 2 1/2-minute push pace followed by a 90-second base pace. I did use the new resistance levels for all of my cardio work and it’s starting to feel more normal to me. It’s still a challenge, but it doesn’t feel like I’m struggling quite as much. And we ended cardio with a 30-second all-out.

For the rowing, everything was a stroke drill and we were supposed to keep our stroke rate pretty low. We had 3 different stroke drills with 3 different exercises and we repeated each drill and exercise 3 times. We had 20-stroke drills with side hops, 15-stroke drills with front and back hops, and 10-stroke drills with high knees. The exercises were a bit tough on my hips, but I just went slowly and took breaks in the middle of them when I needed to. And as soon as I finished my last round of the 10-stroke drills, I had to leave class so I could get home. Just like when I’m dealing with pain and nausea, I know some workout is better than no workout. But I don’t want to have to leave a class in the middle again if I can help it.

Tuesday was a really tough workout. It was the first day after taking the new medication, and I had some side effects from it. I’m going to be taking steps to help make sure that doesn’t affect my workout too much (like drinking a little juice before working out to get some sugar in me), but I didn’t do that before this workout since I didn’t know. But also, it seemed like everyone was saying this workout was really hard so it wasn’t just me.

For cardio, we had 4 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. For blocks 1 and 3, we started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace. And we ended those blocks with a 1-minute base pace at an incline/high resistance level to make it feel like an all-out. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had all 30-second base pace intervals but the incline/resistance level increased every 30 seconds. I was mainly using the same resistance levels that I’ve been using the past few weeks, but I did make sure the highest level I used was higher than my new all-out one.

For rowing, we had the same thing for blocks 1 and 3 and similar things for blocks 2 and 4. For blocks 1 and 3, we had a 3 1/2-minute row for distance. That was a long row, and it was harder than normal because I could tell my blood sugar was dropping. I did take breaks during the rowing and they were a bit longer than I usually take for pain because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t make myself sick. But I have gotten pretty good and being aware of my body and how I’m feeling so I did ok. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had 30-second intervals with different exercises. For block 2, we had halos and squats with the medicine ball. And for block 4, we had overhead presses and squat jacks with the medicine ball.

And on the floor, we had one long block with different mini-blocks. For each mini-block, we did the exercises twice before doing the next one. We had bird dog low rows and mountain climbers, single-arm tricep extensions and bench hop overs, and plank low rows and squats. When the workout was done, I just got through the second round of the last mini-block.

I was doing better on Wednesday. I still didn’t have a chance to have something to drink before my workout, but I think the side effects were affecting me less than the day before. So I wasn’t quite as worried about how drops in blood sugar might hit me.

For cardio, we were on our own with some distance challenges. We had rounds on the treadmill/bike and then after getting to each distance we had squats. I made it to the 3rd distance in the challenge, which seems to be about how everyone else did as well. I used my new push pace resistance level for all the cardio work.

On the rower, we were timed for everything. We had 3 blocks and each block was different. In the first block, we had rounds of a 1-minute push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. In the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second push row followed by a 30-second all-out row. And in the third block, we just had 30-second all-out rows. I did try to get my rowing wattage up for the all-out rows compared to the push rows, but they weren’t getting as high as I know I can get them.

And on the floor, we also had 3 blocks. The first two blocks had 2 exercises each and the last block had one exercise. The first block had bicep curls on the straps and lateral lunges. The second block had incline chest fly with weights and sit-up to stand with shoulder presses. I couldn’t do the sit-up to stand because it was bothering my hips, so I focused on doing the shoulder presses instead. And the last block had single-leg squats using the straps, but I did them as regular squats. But since we used the straps for support for those, I was able to get much deeper into my squats than I normally can.

I think Thursday was probably my best day this past week. I did buy some juice so I could drink something with a little sugar before working out. It helped me feel better, but that could also be because I might be getting used to this new medication. But I think for at least a little while, I’m going to make sure I drink something before working out just in case.

For cardio, we had a pretty simple workout but it was tough! We had 3 rounds of a 3-minute push pace followed by a 2-minute base pace. Doing a 3-minute push pace isn’t unusual, but doing so many of them in a workout isn’t something we normally do. And since I have increased my push pace level, that added even more to it.

For cardio, we started with a 250-meter row and then had bicep curls with a medicine ball. We then did a 200-meter row and bicep curls and reduced the row by 50 meters each time. And once we did a 100-meter row, we then repeated that row again and the exercise changed to lunges as we increased the row by 50 meters each time. I only did one round with the increasing rows, but I also know that I took longer getting on and off the rower than I normally do.

And on the floor, we started with a stability circuit. We had balance shoulder presses, balance deadlifts, and bird dogs with toe taps. After those, we had similar exercises where we focused on strength. We had kneeling shoulder presses, single-arm deadlifts, and side plank leg lifts. For the balance exercises, I couldn’t really do them as balance things, but I tried to find ways to challenge myself where I could.

As much as I want to hope that this week will be easier for me, I know it won’t. I’m already dealing with pain and nausea, so that will be part of what challenges me. And I don’t know if I’ll have any of the other issues I’ve been dealing with kicking in again too. But I’m just going to keep going, and I’m making sure that I’m ready for Hell Week when it starts soon!

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Getting Through A Few More Doctor Appointments (or Hoping For Some Positive Outcomes)

Posted on October 13, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Through A Few More Doctor Appointments (or Hoping For Some Positive Outcomes)

I continued with my numerous doctor appointments this week. I had one in-person appointment and one phone appointment so far this week. And this weekend I think I will have some medical testing done. Like I said in my other post, I have a lot of appointments this month and they just happened to pile up. But I’m working on getting through them one by one. But they are all for good reasons and I’m hoping that through all these appointments I will have some plans for how things are going to move forward for me.

My first appointment this week was my in-person appointment. This was with someone in bariatric medicine, which was through a referral from my therapist. There are a few new medications that can help with weight loss, even though they are used off-label, and I wanted to learn more about them. My therapist couldn’t go over those with me since they weren’t her expertise, but she knew that bariatric medicine would be able to do that.

I was a bit nervous going into that appointment. Maybe it’s just me, but I have always thought of bariatric medicine as weight loss surgery. And I knew that I was not interested in doing that. There are a lot of reasons why I don’t want surgery, and I didn’t want a doctor trying to convince me otherwise. I know that surgery is usually the option with the best results, but it just wasn’t something I was willing to do.

Fortunately, my appointment went a lot better than I expected. I really liked the doctor that I met with and she did discuss the various options with me, including surgical ones. But once I said that I was not interested in surgical options, she didn’t discuss it further. We went over the history of my weight, various diets I’ve attempted, and my eating disorder. She was very clear that nothing she could help me with would help with my eating disorder, and I knew that. I take Vyvanse to help with that, but I think my history of dieting and other weight-related issues has really messed with my metabolism. I can have what should be perfect food days for multiple days in a row and I won’t see any weight loss. There should be at least a little weight loss when I know I’m not overeating. Or when I’m sick and not really able to eat, I don’t lose weight when I know most people do. So I wanted to find a tool that might be able to help my body lose some weight while I do the rest of the work myself.

Going into my appointment, I specifically wanted to discuss a few different medications that all were essentially the same thing but with different dosages or protocols. The one downside to these is that they are all injectable medications and I really hated that idea. But I think my desire to see if this would work was higher than my fear so I was willing to try it. And after going over my medical history and other information, the doctor agreed that one of these injectable options could be something that helps me. It’s not a guarantee, but I at least want to try it.

So I was prescribed the medication and then had to be taught how to use the injectable pen. It’s similar to what an EpiPen looks like, but there are multiple doses in each one so I had to learn how to select the correct dose and change out the needle. This is something I will need to inject once a week, and I started the same day I saw the doctor. I was terrified to do it, but I watched all the instructional videos and did it while laying down on my bed in case I passed out. And I was shocked that I didn’t pass out! I was shaking pretty badly before and after the shot, but I think that was just nerves and nothing else to worry about.

I hope that each injection is as easy as this first one was. I won’t have my next one until next week, so at least I have time between each one. And because of how this medication can affect you when you start it, you start with a dosage that is below the therapeutic dose. So I might not notice results for a little while as I build up to the dose that is supposed to work.

My second appointment this week was my phone appointment with a general medicine doctor. This was to get a referral to orthopedics because of the pain I’ve experienced recently. I’m feeling much better now, but I also know it’s better to get checked out since it’s been several years since I’ve seen anyone in orthopedics. I didn’t know if this phone appointment would be all I needed for the referral, but the doctor I spoke to could see my history of working with different doctors in orthopedics as well as the notes that I will likely need more surgeries. So she put in my referral without asking too much or needing me to come in to see her first. And I’ve already spoken to orthopedics and I’ll be seeing them in about a month. I think just making sure I’m ok and having a new game plan will be smart since I know I will need additional surgeries at some point.

And the other things I have to get done are medical tests related to the appointments I had this week. I need to do some blood work for the doctor I saw in bariatric medicine just to have some baseline information since this new medication has some rare side effects and it’s important to have a bit of monitoring around that. And I also need to do a general x-ray of my hips to prepare for my appointment with orthopedics next month. I know that in the past, my hip issues are not seen on x-rays, but that’s the process when you start with a new doctor. And after my appointment, they might order an MRI since that’s how they can really check how things are. I don’t have to do either of those tests immediately, but I would like to get them out of the way so that’s why I’m trying to get them done this weekend.

Over the next 4 weeks, I have 3 more appointments. I don’t know if I’ll have more than that, especially with how quickly appointments piled up already, but at least I’m getting all this done so I can make sure that I’m doing the things I need to do for myself and I’m as healthy as I can be. And hopefully, this new medication will help me with losing weight, and when I see the new doctor in orthopedics I will have a good plan figured out for my next steps.

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