How I Spent My Friday Night

Looking back in hindsight, the pain actually started Wednesday night. I mistakingly thought it was due to doing to much as is sometimes the case with my fibromyalgia. I had been going through boxes. O.K. I had gone through every single unopened box left in my house from the attic eaves to the basement to the garage. Every hiding place, trying to find some missing items that I suspect my have been “taken” by either the moving men, the cable guy(s), or the phone repair man. Anyway, my back had starting hurting and I
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Tags: Gallbladder Surgery, ER, agony

Gastroparesis

Sounds a bit ghastly, doesn’t it?

Gastroparesis is the diagnosis resulting from that stomach-emptying test I had last week.  You know, the one where I ate the radioactive eggs all the while they were talking about how the Russian spy was poisoned with radioactive sushi?

Anyway, turns out that in 90 minutes, those eggs were supposed to be at least half gone from my stomach, but they were only a quarter gone.  They were just hanging out in there like everything else does.  I just don’t understand why I’m not losing weight since I eat slow and everything digests slow. 
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Tags: Gastroparesis

Discombobulated Thoughts — 12/5/06

• I cannot seem to keep my eyes open today. I’m doing that head bob thing.
• I’ve got to buy a bathing suit by next Tuesday when I start Water Physical Therapy. Apparently, it’s required.
• Do I have $1.20 in pennies to get me through 2 more trips through the I-95 toll?
• When will my new toll tag come?
• Those people behind me at the exact change toll were pissed this morning.
• I couldn’t find my mittens this morning when I went
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  Tags: Home Depot, the puppy, discombobulated, tired, bathing suit, toll road, I-95

  2 comments See also in My Life, Wellness, Discombobulated, The Puppy, Little Red House

Chicken Substitute

O.K. So I don’t eat much red meat and when I do, I can probably use the soy ground meat substitute found at the grocery or portabella mushrooms for the steaklike recipes.

However, I do eat a lot of chicken breasts.  I remember seeing those little mock “chicken” nuggets and I’ve seen mock “chicken” patties, but what’s a weekend chef person like me to do if she wants to alter a favorite recipe to fit her new non-poultry diet?

Is there a good chicken substitute out there and how hard is it to find it?  Will I be able to find it
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Tags: vegetarian, chicken substitute, alternative nutrition

Radioactive Eggs

I got all distracted telling you about the alternative medicine and nutrition thing and forgot to mention how I spent Monday afternoon.  That’s when my stomach emptying test was scheduled.

So, I went to the Nuclear Medicine department at the hospital and they had me eat radioactive eggs.  I’m not kidding here.  I had to wear a bib and latex gloves so as not to get any on me, only in my mouth and the guy doing the test stood like 5 feet away from me while I was
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Tags: digestion, stomach emptying test, nuclear medicine, green eggs, wellness

Quote of the Day: On Heroes

Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they’ve stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments.
– Kevin Costner

Tags: Quote of the Day

Trying Something Alternative

I spent Monday focusing on my stomach.

Well, sort of.

Monday morning, I met with two GPs, who specialize in alternative medicine, specifically nutrition.  Rather, I was referred to them to get counsellings on what changes to make to my nutritional diet to decrease inflammation in my body since I can no longer take anti-inflammatory drugs due to my kidney disease.  I guess I kind of expected to get a list of foods to avoid and a list of foods to eat and a sample diet and have that be it, but that’s not really how it went.

First, I’m being referred to
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Tags: Wellness, alternative medicine, nutrition, acupuncture, IgAN, fibromyalgia, anti-inflammatory diet

My Kind Of Luck

Something told me that I was tempting fate last night as I took both my new 10mg of ambien and an oxycodone for my migraine as I was going to bed at 9:30pm.  I even told Pugly that with my luck I’d get paged since I was on call.  But the regular MaxAlt migraine med just wasn’t cutting the migraine pain yesterday.  Not even a dent.  In fact, it was worse by bedtime.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, at 3am, I got paged.  It could have been a five minute deal really except that it turned out that the translator that
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Tags: work, sleep, migraine

Trying Alternative Medicine

Well, I saw my GP on Monday.  You know, to follow up on all of those new diagnoses and to get my ambien dosage increased per the Rhuemy and get the water PT referral, etc.  She and I discussed my concern with not being able to take anti-inflammatory meds anymore what with the whole kidney disease thing and especially since I was still in pain with the whole fibromyalgia thing.  In particular, my left elbow, right knee and lower back have been really bothersome and are only getting worse with the packing and the move.

Well, of course she asked me
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Tags: alternative medicine, anti-inflammatory diet, wellness, fibromyalgia

Finally, A Reason To Sleep In, Mom!

My mom is one of those God-awful early-risers.  You know, those people who are awake before 5 am and have had breakfast, are dressed, and have read the paper and gotten started on the day by 7 am?  Those are my parents.

The battle to sleep in on Saturday mornings began the moment I turned pre-teen.  Or maybe it was when Saturday morning cartoons stopped being interesting.  I don’t know.  Either way, I always wanted to sleep until 10am or later.  My Mom thought sleeping past 7am was a crime against nature.

Even after I moved out, it was not unusual for
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Tags: sleep, health, weight loss, wellness, interesting trivia

Where Do I Buy A Bathing Suit This Time Of Year?

No, seriously.

So, the Rheumy wants me into one of those water aerobic exercise classes and I got the GP to get me a referral for a water PT thing, but it’s not at my hospital so probably my insurance won’t pay for the whole thing.  The catch is that the water PT has to be done in a heated pool and there are only so many of those around.

The real catch is that I don’t own a bathing suit and I swore I wouldn’t buy another after moving up here to Maine.  Now it’s mid- to late November.  Where the
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Tags: bathing suit, fibromyalgia

They Want Me To Eat Green Kryptonite

It’s been a day.

The office is being repainted this week so I’ve been breathing in fumes since Tuesday.  To top it off on Tuesday I forgot to take my morning meds which was like the 3rd or 4th thing I forgot that morning and by that time I really couldn’t go back home again.  It’s been a week of forgetting at least one or two things every morning — stupid time change.

Anyway, normally missing one day doesn’t really affect me.  Missing two in a row is a nightmare.  Well, apparently those days are over with the new blood pressure medicine. 
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Tags: wellness, acid reflux, stomach emptying test

Exercise Your Mind - 11/08/06

Election 2006

• You have your marching orders…. — Nicole Belle @ Crooks and Liars reminds us of the Republican’s “Contract with America” when they took control of Congress in 1994.
  

  This year’s election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works. That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

  Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act “with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.
  

  Let’s hope that the Democrats learn from the Republicans’ mistakes.

• A Remedy for Negative Political Ads — Paul Silver @ Donklephant has a remedy for all of those negative, deceitful ads since there’s not likely to be any law regulating truth in political advertising anytime soon.
  

  Perhaps the solution lies in changing the geometry of the question. Instead of trying to regulate the content of ads, we use public funds (or funds from the Parties) to run a frequent public service message that corrects the inaccuracies of any recent ads - perhaps produced by the Factcheck.org folks. Since a candidate would not want to have the airwaves filled with objective criticism they would be inclined to stay as reasonable and civil as possible.

• A Remedy for Election Tampering– Paul Silver @ Donklephant also thinks there should be a reward for information leading to a conviction in crimes related to election tampering.

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Tags: 2006 election, Republicans, Contract with America, Contress, ethics, scandal, Democrats, negative political ads, election tampering, politics, factcheck.org, DHS, TSA, passports, Hasan Elahi, FBI, mental illness, anxiety, depression

Work-Based Wellness Incentive Programs — Yay or Nay?

Back in 2003, USAToday.com had a story about the rising cost of insurance and how this could and would probably lead to employers taking a personal interest in the health and wellness of employees in an effort to find ways to cut costs — not because they genuinely like you, though that might also be the case too. Who knows, right?

They’re offering wellness assessments that ask about vegetable and alcohol consumption, smoking and exercise. They’re tracking lab tests and prescriptions to predict which workers may fall ill. Some
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Tags: wellness, incentive programs

comments See also in My Life, Wellness, Featured

How To Find Real Health Websites

There are a lot of websites on the web offering all sorts of advice to anyone searching for help and relief with real health concerns from hiccups to cancer. How can you tell which websites are the real deal from the ones that are snake oil salesmen or just random chit-chatters thinking they’re helping by offering their own version of advice?

1. Stick with recognized authorities. Sites run by the government, which end in “.gov”, universities, which end in “.edu”, professional medical associations or health insurance companies are good sources.
2. Read the “About Us” section. If it says something like
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   Tags: Wellness, health websites

   comments See also in Wellness, Featured

2 Specialists Down, 1…or 2 To Go

It’s official. It’s a relief to know that I have two diagnoses and two treatment plans now.

The kidney biopsy results apparently led to both diagnoses.
IgA Nephropathy
It’s an autoimmune kidney disease, as I said. The Nephrologist said the prognosis is very good. We have caught it very early — though probably I had it 4 years ago when I saw that Nephrologist who didn’t really run any tests and just dismissed me so I could have caught it even sooner. My kidney functions are still excellent and don’t appear to be damaged yet. She is changing
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Tags: IgAN, fibromyalgia, GI specialist, kidney biopsy, SED rate, rheumatologist, nephrologist, blood pressure, wellness

Thursday Thirteen Discombobulated Worries This Week (#11)

My brain is way too scattered and full of anxiety to focus on one particular nifty topic this week. So, now you get to see the really true discombobulated, highly anxious me.

Thirteen Things about N. Mallory

1. What if the sale on the little red house falls through and I don’t get it?
2. What if the sale on the little red house doesn’t fall through and I do get it and it turns into a money pit?
3. What if those nice flippers are taking advantage of me because I’m a naive first time buyer and I don’t know what I’m doing?
4. What if my dog is depressed? He’s been lethargic and hasn’t been eating at home, but the doggie daycare folks say he’s hyper and playful there. Maybe he just hates me.

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Tags: Thursday Thirteen, meme, bloghopping, anxiety, home buying, acid reflux, IgAN, autoimmune kidney disease, discombobulated, the puppy

14 comments See also in My Life, Geekery, Blogging & Other Blogs, Wellness, Discombobulated, Anxiety/Depression, The Puppy, Acid Reflux/Gastro B.S., Thursday Thirteen, Memes, Little Red House, IgA Nephropathy

112 Million

Migraine Attacks cause an estimated 112 million bedridden days a year.

Source: Woman’s Day, April 18, 2006, p. 50

Tags: migraine

I Should Be Happy

I’m thirty-five years old and I am intelligent enough to know I do not need the approval of someone else to make me happy or give me self-worth. However, being brainy enough to know that is somewhat different from being able to control the emotion or the need. I’ve never quite been able to disconnect the wiring on my insides that would allow me to be free from seeking the approval of my parents in all of these years. I’ve said so many times here. That’s why even now after doing triple handstands and cartwheels I
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Tags: little red house, depression, parental approval, dysfunctional family

One Diagnosis And A Trip To The ER

Well, yesterday, the Nephrologist gave me a diagnosis about my kidneys. Apparently I have IgA Nephritis, which is an autoimmune kidney disease. I don’t know much about it except that I’m taking the wrong blood pressure med for it and that she’ll be changing that to something that will treat both my high blood pressure and the IgAN — apparently high blood pressure can be caused by kidney malfunction. I’m seeing her on Nov. 2nd to get more details.

However, she did say that IgAN is not the cause of my muscular
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Tags: IgA Nephritis, ER, autoimmune kidney disease, hematoma, health, wellness