Visit with the Doctor

So, I went to the new doctor today. I really like her and apparently I’m really lucky to get her as she has few patients personally; she’s a teaching doctor and usually works as the “backup” for the residences. She’s really great and attentive.

We have a lot of things to work on but we’ve decided to focus on a few things right now and think about other things. First on the list is the insomnia/sleeping issues and the migraine. I’m being scheduled for a sleep study which will involve at least one night spent in the hospital. She agrees with me that sleep apnea is a likely suspect based on my symptoms and the fact that both parents snore. Ironically I told her in our conversations that my mother has a tendency to tell me about family medical conditions after I’ve been diagnosed with something. So, tonight after I told my mother about the sleep study, she says that my annoying uncle has sleep apnea. She insists that she must have told me, but I just talked to her last week about my concerns regarding sleep apnea and she had told me she didn’t know why I’d suspect it… :crazy:

In the meantime, the new doc has given me Amitriptyline HCL (25mg) to take at night before bed to help me sleep and relax me. The hope is that this will help me feel more rested and less fatigued and ease the headaches and migraines. I took it about 40 minutes ago but I’m still too awake to sleep.

She also wrote me a prescription for Ultracet since I was almost out. Of course, my mother told me afterwards that my grandmother is no longer taking Ultracet and has a lot left and she can send me the leftovers (it’s the same dosage). She told me this after I spent $30 to get the new script filled. *sigh*

She wants me to think about meeting with some sort of fitness counselor (she thinks my insurance will pay for it). This person is more than a nutritionist and supposedly would help me plan out a fitness program as well as a diet. I’d be accountable to her once a month, which might be the motivation I need. I’m to discuss it with her after the sleep study.

She also wants me to think about some anxiety therapy to teach me how to not think about things — rather to help me learn to refocus my mind when it gets focused on some perceived wrong (whether it’s real or not). I told her I would think on it too, and probably I’ll do this. The therapy to help me with co-dependency went really well, I think. I mean, I’m 1700 miles from everyone and I’ve not broken down yet.

She offered to get me up to date on my Depo, but I think I want to wait until I at least get a period again so I can see if maybe the irregularity has straightened out now. Maybe I don’t need it.

My blood pressure was 130/88 which isn’t good. Now I’m back to wondering if my headaches are being triggered by the high blood pressure or that my headaches are triggering high blood pressure. I guess it’s back to monitoring twice a day. I haven’t been walking like I used to when I originally brought my blood pressure down to normal, so I guess that’s good incentive to get back to walking 3-6 times a week…and lose these last 20-something pounds.

The only thing that kind of bothered me about the visit was something she asked me. When I told her that not only was I not sexually active now, I’ve never been. She asked me if I’d thought about whether I might be interested in men or women sexually. I assured her that I like men very much. But now I wonder if I have that Chandler Bing quality where people think I’m a lesbian. Maybe she just has to ask that question and I just took it odd. It was weird because I’d just been telling some people that my mom occassionally has the “We’ll love you no matter what” talk with me when she thinks I’ve not been dating enough.

Tags: wellness, insomnia, migraine, Amitriptyline HCL, Ultracet