Post by crithium on Mar 11, 2009 13:24:42 GMT -5
Alright, I finally have the time to get serious and start my journal! So here goes my story.
March of 2008 I missed a period. Didn't realized it until I was about two weeks late. I took home pregnancy tests that came up negative for about a week until I finally called and had a blood test done, still negative. Then I woke up nauseated and with hives. My breasts were really sore and tender. I figured at that point it had to preganancy, exactly what happened when i was pregnant the first time. Went in for another blood test and still negative. At this point I had been sick to my stomach for about a week. Decided to go in thinking it was maybe h.pylori. I had that about 5 years earlier, couldn't think of what else it would be. Test came back negative but I started to feel better and got my period so I figured it was just some weird thing and forgot about it.
April 2008, started to become nauseated again. After about two weeks of feeling great I was disappointed. I went in to see my GP and discussed the possibility of stress and high stomache acid. I was put on prilosec and an anti-nausea medication and told myself I needed to take it easy. I was super exhausted and new that I needed a break. About a week later I felt good again and went about my life as normal. Then wham - same cycle - yuk!! My period was shorter than normal and I was still really tired. I had lost about 10 pounds by this point mainly becuase I wasn't eating the greatest because I felt so sick to my stomach. Although I wonder now if that was really it because in between the cycles of nausea I was eating fine.
May 2008 - I was referred to the GI department for testing. I had a scope to rule out ulcers, h.pylori, celiac, giardia and a few others. All normal. I then had a gastric emptying study done and it was discovered that I had delayed gastric emptying with normal small bowl tranist. For some reason this surprised the doctor I was seeing and was told that it was not the cause of my nausea but more than likely contributed to the problem. I was put on a low residue, low fat diet. After another week went by and I still didn't feel better I was given reglan. Finally after the next week I started to feel better. At this point I was in the 15 pound weight loss range. I got another period as scheduled but again it seemed light.
June 2008 - This was the month I started noticing my hair was falling out and that I would periodically get dizzy when standing. I was feeling pretty good and was told all of it was realted to the stress I was under and the weight loss. We went on vacation and I did really well. I figured the relaxation on the beach was just what I needed. On the way home, guess what, yep, nausea back in full force. Went back to GI for a cat scan and x-rays. Besides a small bowel intesupcetaion which I was told was normal they found nothing. I was put on a different form of regland and sent home. This time things did not get better. I lost another 5 pounds. My period again was lighter, but hey, at least I got it right? After not doing well for a couple more weeks I went back.
July 2008 - this month was the month that I was put on an anti-depressant. At first I was devistated. cried for 3 days straight. How on earth could I be depressed, about nothing! How could I have let something take over me and notice. How could I be so unhappy and depressed and not realize. Had I just been going through the motions, not realized that I was not myself. It was awful. I talked to alot of friends who said they didn't think I had been the same since I had my son. Several of them said I just never had the same spark. O.kay I thought, post partum all along? I guess, I just want to feel better so bring on the drugs! I was put on paxil, after one dose I was so sick to my stomache I could hardly move. Second dose was worse. I was told to cut the dose in half for the third dose. At this point I was waking up sweating, with my heart pounding thinking I was having a heart attack. It was awful, I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink and by the end of the week was in the hospital for dehydration. At this point I was sent back to have the small bowel intusepcation looked at. I got to swallow a tube, get injected with barium and everything looked great! My hair was falling out more, still tired, still dizzy alot, my chest kept hurting and I missed my period this month. All of that was chalked up to lingering side effects from the paxil and of course stress.
August 2008 - follow up with my doctor after the hospital stay I said I wanted a different antidepressant. I didn't feel that I had given that a good chance becuase it obviousy didn't agree with my body. The GI doc had suggested a phsyc consult. No I said that I didn't feel that was necessary. I did miss another period so even though I was told that it was likely due to the weight loss and stress I was sent to the gyno and started on nortryptaline. The gyno ran my estradiol, prolactin and FSH. (I will post my labs in the next message). After a week and a half of playing phone tag, by me not her, I finally get a call from her saying that my estrogen is low so she wants to put me on the pill to fix it. Wait a minute I said, lets dig a little bit to figure out why my estrogen is low. Not necessary, I was stressed, of course, why didn't I think of that! The nortyptaline was having the same reaction as the paxil. Not to the same extreme but it also added the constant feeling of being wired and alwasy feeling like I was shaky. I couldn't control my hand movements some days and always felt like my blood sugar was no longer able to regulate itself. The chest pressure was also back, but contantly there not just in waves at night like before. I felt like i was going crazy, I couldn't sleep, when I did I either woke up all the time or was wide awake at 4:00 a.m. So after two weeks I said I wanted off of it and my GP told me how to wean myself down. Unfortunately the symptoms did not go away. I said I wanted to go to the endo department becuase I just felt like maybe we were on the wrong track. It had to be hormones. After all, this begain with a missed period. And I have never ever missed a period except while I was pregnant and breastfeeding. Well the endo appointment left me in tears. I asked to have my thyroid investigated. I have a history in my family so i felt that it was worthy of exploration. I was basically told that becuase my TSH was normal there was no way that there was anything wrong with my thyroid and that all of my symptoms had to be from something else. Basically I got the vibe of, you are wasting my time how dare you question my knowledge. But we will look at your cortisol just to make you happy. That is the only thing that could make you nauseated and loose weight that we would look at. Great cortisol came back in the "grey" area. So they did an ACTH stim test. Normal so see you in six months. (as you will see from my labs below, my stim test showed secondary AI but since ACTH was not taken I didn't have the proof I needed)
September 2008 - After expressing my disgust with the gyno and the endo to my GP he agreed that I needed a good second opinion. Not what I was getting. I was referred to the Womens Helath Clinic and actually got to see the woman who started the clinic. She was a friend of my GP's so i was lucky. She did testing for POTS (Anyone ever had a sweat test?) She felt that my hear rate was irregular and that my blood pressure fell upon standing. Of course all of the test came back "normal". So she ran my paraythyroid and vitamin D. I also had and MRI. Parathyroid came back high, vitamin D low. MRI "normal" but with an incidental note of a partially empty sella. I was put on vitamin D supplements and told that the low levels were the cuase of many of my symptoms. She also requested that i have a phsyc consult. I got my period back this month, 2 whole days of it, for reference I am a 5-7 day entire box of tampons kind of girl, always have been, since like my thrid or fourth period.
October - Same basic symptoms this month. Tired, nauseated on and off, Chest pressure, shaky hands, not sleeping well, dizzy upon standing, etc. etc. After about two weeks on the Vitamin D I finally felt like the chest pressure was starting to fade. Period this month was again very light and seemed like it was more watery than bloody.
November - Again same basic symptoms but I felt like things were getting better. Period was still light, basically spotted for two days, didn't even need a tampon this month. On the way home for thanksgiving, the chest pressure started back. And this time it hurt. Started taking tums thinking that maybe it was heartburn. No change.
December - Called my GP to discuss that chest pressure coming back. He decided to go ahead and check vitamin D, TSH again, Free T3 and TPO antibodies. They all came back in the normal range. So again, I got the phsyc eval comment. Fine I said, send me over. Well I can't even begin to tell you what a disaster this was. Her fisrt comment was why I had siad I was intereswted in the drug trial that the hospital was doin on antidepressants. It would be good for me to try a different kind. So I should hang on to the paper in case I changed my mind. I told her my experinece with them the first go around and that I was not going back on one. Of course she said that we would discuss is later. I dropped it so that we could move on. She set me up with a therapist and scheduled me to come back in three months. The therapist seemed fine, although I only got to see her once before I discovered that during my initial eval it was stated (and put into my medical records as a diganosis) that I had an axiety disorder that I was in denial about. This of course is coming from the woman who refused to respect the fact that I did not want to be put back on an antidepressant. This was the point when I decided to go a different route. Symptoms this month were pretty much the same. My period again was basically spotting for 2 or 3 days. No real flow. I had a bad couple of weeks of nausea again and lost the few pounds that I had gained back. For perspective when I started weighing myself at the begining of 2008 I was 140 pounds, I now weigh 115 pounds. I am not sad about finally loosing my baby weight, it was the extra ten I lost past my pre baby weight of 125.
January 2009 I decided to see an Osteopath. He has for the most part been great about getting me on supplements and digestive support. So I feel like I am finally doing something to get myself healthy again. He also gave me a prescription for armour. I have not yet started it becuase I am still looking into my cortisol. Symptoms still the same. This month i started noticing that my breasts hurt really bad. Constant twinges of pain, couldn't sleep on my stomache they hurt so bad. Also they seemed like they were swollen and bigger. Seriously my bar actually fit again for a while. Period was again watery and about two weeks early. First time that it is not been regular, ever!!
February 2009 This is the month that I noticed my pubic hair fallin out. All other symptoms the same. I have also notice some tingling senstaions at night in my arms and legs. I also wake up sweating and hot some nights. I am sleeping better but now have a hard time waking up and getting out of bed. Tired, even if I get 15 hours of sleep. Period this month seemed slightly better lasted for 3 days but was pretty pink not red. Breasts went through the same thing.
March 2009 Finally had bloodwork drawn for pituitary hormones. Some of them not all of them but it is a start. I made a case for the partially empty sella being related to my pregnancy and a nasty infection I had afterwards which I now know resulted in low blood pressure and a high pulse. Was also treated for orthostatic hypotension while hospitalized.
March of 2008 I missed a period. Didn't realized it until I was about two weeks late. I took home pregnancy tests that came up negative for about a week until I finally called and had a blood test done, still negative. Then I woke up nauseated and with hives. My breasts were really sore and tender. I figured at that point it had to preganancy, exactly what happened when i was pregnant the first time. Went in for another blood test and still negative. At this point I had been sick to my stomach for about a week. Decided to go in thinking it was maybe h.pylori. I had that about 5 years earlier, couldn't think of what else it would be. Test came back negative but I started to feel better and got my period so I figured it was just some weird thing and forgot about it.
April 2008, started to become nauseated again. After about two weeks of feeling great I was disappointed. I went in to see my GP and discussed the possibility of stress and high stomache acid. I was put on prilosec and an anti-nausea medication and told myself I needed to take it easy. I was super exhausted and new that I needed a break. About a week later I felt good again and went about my life as normal. Then wham - same cycle - yuk!! My period was shorter than normal and I was still really tired. I had lost about 10 pounds by this point mainly becuase I wasn't eating the greatest because I felt so sick to my stomach. Although I wonder now if that was really it because in between the cycles of nausea I was eating fine.
May 2008 - I was referred to the GI department for testing. I had a scope to rule out ulcers, h.pylori, celiac, giardia and a few others. All normal. I then had a gastric emptying study done and it was discovered that I had delayed gastric emptying with normal small bowl tranist. For some reason this surprised the doctor I was seeing and was told that it was not the cause of my nausea but more than likely contributed to the problem. I was put on a low residue, low fat diet. After another week went by and I still didn't feel better I was given reglan. Finally after the next week I started to feel better. At this point I was in the 15 pound weight loss range. I got another period as scheduled but again it seemed light.
June 2008 - This was the month I started noticing my hair was falling out and that I would periodically get dizzy when standing. I was feeling pretty good and was told all of it was realted to the stress I was under and the weight loss. We went on vacation and I did really well. I figured the relaxation on the beach was just what I needed. On the way home, guess what, yep, nausea back in full force. Went back to GI for a cat scan and x-rays. Besides a small bowel intesupcetaion which I was told was normal they found nothing. I was put on a different form of regland and sent home. This time things did not get better. I lost another 5 pounds. My period again was lighter, but hey, at least I got it right? After not doing well for a couple more weeks I went back.
July 2008 - this month was the month that I was put on an anti-depressant. At first I was devistated. cried for 3 days straight. How on earth could I be depressed, about nothing! How could I have let something take over me and notice. How could I be so unhappy and depressed and not realize. Had I just been going through the motions, not realized that I was not myself. It was awful. I talked to alot of friends who said they didn't think I had been the same since I had my son. Several of them said I just never had the same spark. O.kay I thought, post partum all along? I guess, I just want to feel better so bring on the drugs! I was put on paxil, after one dose I was so sick to my stomache I could hardly move. Second dose was worse. I was told to cut the dose in half for the third dose. At this point I was waking up sweating, with my heart pounding thinking I was having a heart attack. It was awful, I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink and by the end of the week was in the hospital for dehydration. At this point I was sent back to have the small bowel intusepcation looked at. I got to swallow a tube, get injected with barium and everything looked great! My hair was falling out more, still tired, still dizzy alot, my chest kept hurting and I missed my period this month. All of that was chalked up to lingering side effects from the paxil and of course stress.
August 2008 - follow up with my doctor after the hospital stay I said I wanted a different antidepressant. I didn't feel that I had given that a good chance becuase it obviousy didn't agree with my body. The GI doc had suggested a phsyc consult. No I said that I didn't feel that was necessary. I did miss another period so even though I was told that it was likely due to the weight loss and stress I was sent to the gyno and started on nortryptaline. The gyno ran my estradiol, prolactin and FSH. (I will post my labs in the next message). After a week and a half of playing phone tag, by me not her, I finally get a call from her saying that my estrogen is low so she wants to put me on the pill to fix it. Wait a minute I said, lets dig a little bit to figure out why my estrogen is low. Not necessary, I was stressed, of course, why didn't I think of that! The nortyptaline was having the same reaction as the paxil. Not to the same extreme but it also added the constant feeling of being wired and alwasy feeling like I was shaky. I couldn't control my hand movements some days and always felt like my blood sugar was no longer able to regulate itself. The chest pressure was also back, but contantly there not just in waves at night like before. I felt like i was going crazy, I couldn't sleep, when I did I either woke up all the time or was wide awake at 4:00 a.m. So after two weeks I said I wanted off of it and my GP told me how to wean myself down. Unfortunately the symptoms did not go away. I said I wanted to go to the endo department becuase I just felt like maybe we were on the wrong track. It had to be hormones. After all, this begain with a missed period. And I have never ever missed a period except while I was pregnant and breastfeeding. Well the endo appointment left me in tears. I asked to have my thyroid investigated. I have a history in my family so i felt that it was worthy of exploration. I was basically told that becuase my TSH was normal there was no way that there was anything wrong with my thyroid and that all of my symptoms had to be from something else. Basically I got the vibe of, you are wasting my time how dare you question my knowledge. But we will look at your cortisol just to make you happy. That is the only thing that could make you nauseated and loose weight that we would look at. Great cortisol came back in the "grey" area. So they did an ACTH stim test. Normal so see you in six months. (as you will see from my labs below, my stim test showed secondary AI but since ACTH was not taken I didn't have the proof I needed)
September 2008 - After expressing my disgust with the gyno and the endo to my GP he agreed that I needed a good second opinion. Not what I was getting. I was referred to the Womens Helath Clinic and actually got to see the woman who started the clinic. She was a friend of my GP's so i was lucky. She did testing for POTS (Anyone ever had a sweat test?) She felt that my hear rate was irregular and that my blood pressure fell upon standing. Of course all of the test came back "normal". So she ran my paraythyroid and vitamin D. I also had and MRI. Parathyroid came back high, vitamin D low. MRI "normal" but with an incidental note of a partially empty sella. I was put on vitamin D supplements and told that the low levels were the cuase of many of my symptoms. She also requested that i have a phsyc consult. I got my period back this month, 2 whole days of it, for reference I am a 5-7 day entire box of tampons kind of girl, always have been, since like my thrid or fourth period.
October - Same basic symptoms this month. Tired, nauseated on and off, Chest pressure, shaky hands, not sleeping well, dizzy upon standing, etc. etc. After about two weeks on the Vitamin D I finally felt like the chest pressure was starting to fade. Period this month was again very light and seemed like it was more watery than bloody.
November - Again same basic symptoms but I felt like things were getting better. Period was still light, basically spotted for two days, didn't even need a tampon this month. On the way home for thanksgiving, the chest pressure started back. And this time it hurt. Started taking tums thinking that maybe it was heartburn. No change.
December - Called my GP to discuss that chest pressure coming back. He decided to go ahead and check vitamin D, TSH again, Free T3 and TPO antibodies. They all came back in the normal range. So again, I got the phsyc eval comment. Fine I said, send me over. Well I can't even begin to tell you what a disaster this was. Her fisrt comment was why I had siad I was intereswted in the drug trial that the hospital was doin on antidepressants. It would be good for me to try a different kind. So I should hang on to the paper in case I changed my mind. I told her my experinece with them the first go around and that I was not going back on one. Of course she said that we would discuss is later. I dropped it so that we could move on. She set me up with a therapist and scheduled me to come back in three months. The therapist seemed fine, although I only got to see her once before I discovered that during my initial eval it was stated (and put into my medical records as a diganosis) that I had an axiety disorder that I was in denial about. This of course is coming from the woman who refused to respect the fact that I did not want to be put back on an antidepressant. This was the point when I decided to go a different route. Symptoms this month were pretty much the same. My period again was basically spotting for 2 or 3 days. No real flow. I had a bad couple of weeks of nausea again and lost the few pounds that I had gained back. For perspective when I started weighing myself at the begining of 2008 I was 140 pounds, I now weigh 115 pounds. I am not sad about finally loosing my baby weight, it was the extra ten I lost past my pre baby weight of 125.
January 2009 I decided to see an Osteopath. He has for the most part been great about getting me on supplements and digestive support. So I feel like I am finally doing something to get myself healthy again. He also gave me a prescription for armour. I have not yet started it becuase I am still looking into my cortisol. Symptoms still the same. This month i started noticing that my breasts hurt really bad. Constant twinges of pain, couldn't sleep on my stomache they hurt so bad. Also they seemed like they were swollen and bigger. Seriously my bar actually fit again for a while. Period was again watery and about two weeks early. First time that it is not been regular, ever!!
February 2009 This is the month that I noticed my pubic hair fallin out. All other symptoms the same. I have also notice some tingling senstaions at night in my arms and legs. I also wake up sweating and hot some nights. I am sleeping better but now have a hard time waking up and getting out of bed. Tired, even if I get 15 hours of sleep. Period this month seemed slightly better lasted for 3 days but was pretty pink not red. Breasts went through the same thing.
March 2009 Finally had bloodwork drawn for pituitary hormones. Some of them not all of them but it is a start. I made a case for the partially empty sella being related to my pregnancy and a nasty infection I had afterwards which I now know resulted in low blood pressure and a high pulse. Was also treated for orthostatic hypotension while hospitalized.