Well, y'all, my medical journey over the past several years is winding down. I'm really going to miss re-living the wasting of most of my 20's (note sarcasm, duh).
So, it was now 2010. I was physically-enough recovered from surgery. I was working on living in Auburn. I had decided to go to massage school. I had decided to pursue being a doula and I had my first birth in May 2010. Simply put, I was reclaiming my life.
In June, I went in for my annual and OBGYN decided to run some lab work on my thyroid. (Because two aunts had thyroid cancer and my mother was adopted and I don't have her medical history, I keep a close watch on my thyroid. That, and apparently my doctor, after two years of mentioning it, finally "got it" when I said I was having hot flashes.)
Of course, my thyroid levels were off, and the odd thing is they were UP. I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, went to the endocrinologist (ENDO1) and was told to see a surgeon about having my thyroid removed. I. Think. Not.
In the summer and fall, I had two cases of tendinitis and went to the doc in the box. At this point, I was over doctors and I was very cautious. I just wanted to make sure my finger wasn't broken and I could still go to massage school. Doc Box heard my symptoms besides the hurt finger thing and suggested my ANA be tested, a test for autoimmune diseases.
Over the preceding years, I had mostly been complaining of nausea, but I was also very clear I had no energy, was very tender, was sore sometimes, and overall, I felt like absolute crap. I told my friends and family when I was feeling my worst that, "I'm sick of fighting my body." What do autoimmune diseases do? They basically cause your body to attack itself.
The ANA came back barely positive. At first, I didn't want to know if I actually had lupus, but after lots of Googling, I came to the conclusion that chilling out would help put it into remission and that knowing my weakness would allow me to fight it better. I say that I have borderline lupus. The doctor told me there needed to be a positive ANA and the presence of ~6 symptoms from a list. I had one less symptom than the ~6, so, I'm so close to having it, but not quite enough. I'll take it. (Although I just Googled it again, and now the lupus websites are saying 4 symptoms out of 11, which I have. See how confusing this is? One minute I reach the criteria for diagnosis, the next, not quite. Go figure.)
I saw ENDO2 in the late fall and he wasn't very helpful.
In January, I decided to give myself a break from doctors, unless necessary. In the spring/summer, my GI4 told me he wouldn't prescribe me Phenergan until I started seeing another endocrinologist about my thyroid.
In April 2011, I joked with some friends, "I think my thyroid cured itself." I was feeling a lot better than before.
In September 2011, I got the best news in the world: I had Grave's disease (autoimmune hyperthyroid disorder) and ENDO3 suspected my lupus flared up with my Grave's. I was to get my thyroid levels checked every 4 months or so and check in with my doctor to see how things were going (i.e. to check for symptoms).
This spring, I noticed my symptoms returning. I figured I was so exhausted because I had a sweet new puppy and Junior League was taking up a lot of time and energy. On Easter Sunday, when I was so sore from my hips to feet I could barely move, I knew what was up. Since then, I have minimized stress as much as possible and started acupuncture. I'll know soon if I have forced my body back into remission again.
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