(Blog 2) ..on the path to health?

There's a hole in my bucket

2005-03-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

No new illness to report - this is awesome. I started the anti-freeloader medicine yesterday and haven't noticed any ill effects. This is nice, though I hope it's working. This morning the surgeon removed the stitches from my shoulder - he said I healed really well and really fast. That's a great thing to hear. I've been taking moducare and colostrum for the last week (they are immune builders), so perhaps they contributed. The doctor said I can start light weight lifting again (to build shoulder strength). Yahoooo! But he said no sauna for another 3 days (boo!!!) and no sports, no bike riding for 6 to 8 weeks...he gave me a long speech about the hole in my clavicle. There's a hole in my clavicle, dear liza, dear liza, there's a hole in my clavicle dear liza, a hole...

BTW: Time for a new BLOG. This one will be at http://nicolekumquat3.blogspot.com
It should be up in a day or two. Right now, I'm off to do NOTHING!

Oh yeah - presented my project to our VP this morning - it went extremely well. Great day!

Me and my amoeba

2005-03-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

I've done some reading about my little parasite (Ameba histolytica). About 10% of the world has this parasite, and 30% of Americans have some parasite or other...and since everyone has lots of bacteria and yeast in their gut...I want to point out that none of us has an excuse for feeling lonely. We just need to listen to our gut more often. Perhaps I can develop some type of cross-organism gut language (I'll call it "Interspecies Enterolingua"). I will tap on my stomach to contact to my buddies, and they can make my stomach gurgle in morse code to reply. I'm sure we can all be friends.
Ok, enough rambling. Hope those of you that are reading this are well, you and all your little friends.

Ode to the Amoeba
Recall from Time's abysmal chasm
That piece of primal protoplasm
The First Amoeba, strangely splendid,
From whom we're all of us descended
Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)

Lots and lots of test results

2005-03-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the doctor and I'm happy about the results, though it might seem like a mixed bag. If you've seen Futurama, then you've heard the professor proclaim "Good news everyone", right before he tells them he's sending them on a crazy or impossible mission. Well, now it's my turn: Good news everyone! I have parasites.
I'm actually relieved with the test results. I'd gotten a positive result one test, which was potentially an indicator for cancer, and had to do a follow up test. So I wasn't really sure what the doctor was going to cover in todays appointment. The good news is that, the follow up test did not indicate cancer. So even though the tests do show I have 4 types of bad bacteria overgrowth in my gut, a parasite, inflammation, low pancreatic enzymes, gluten intolerance, and low gut antibodies, I'd rather have these results than any others. Some reasons to be about this is because all of this is reversible (except the gluten intolerance, which I already knew about), treatable, and eventually I'll feel much better when my bowel populations return to normal. So, YAY!!!!
Now, some details on the results (it's pretty cool that I've already been reading so much about this lately)Remember when I mentioned in an earlier blog about the brain in the gut? There are these sensors the gut whose job it is to detect how much of each type of bacteria and yeast are around. Their job is to make sure the bacteria and yeast stay put (mostly in the lower colon). Then the gut brain decides if any of the organisms are getting a little to prolific, and sends out antibodies to reduce the numbers. Antibiotics cause proliferation of yeast, and screw this up. Also, part of the job of pancreas enzymes is to kill extra bacteria, and when your blood sugars get out of whack (as mine were, from the adrenal insufficiency), then the pancreas gets overused and can't keep up it's end of the job. (I've oversimplified horribly, but if you get curious, there is tons of reading on the web. Just look up the GI defense system, or GI Associated Lymph tissue, etc etc. For cool photos of bacteria in humans see http://textbookofbacteriology.net/normalflora.html) In any case, it was no surprise at all to me that I had bacteria all out of whack, but the parasite was a bit of a surprise. I'll chalk that up to Turkey or Thailand. Another good piece of news: there test didn't find a yeast overgrowth, which isn't conclusive (the test can have a false negative on this 10% of the time), but I'll take that as a good sign, since I've been working on managing candida through diet already anyway, and am not having a lot of yeast symptoms like last year.
So, the doctor prescribed a medicine to get rid of the parasite. Of course, like everything else (the detoxification process, the candida die-off, etc) lately, he said it would first make me sick before I felt better. I just laughed and said I didn't expect anything else! In addition, the doctor prescribed a few things to support healthy gut terrain (more acidophilous, colostrum to build immunity, pancreatic enzymes to take with my meals).

Updates since surgery

2005-03-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

The surgery went really well. I was in and out of surgery in about 2 hours. I didn't even have to wear a sling to get home, though they did tell me to put on a sling from my last operationand not to use my arm for a week, until my doctor's checkup. I had no pain because of the nerve-block, but my doctor gave me a prescription for oxycodone after the block wore off, but I felt loopy from the anesthetic. I ended up not being able to sleep until about 4 am, because the anesthesiologist had put so much cortisol in my drip I was wired (and exhausted at the same time..very wierd feeling). By the next morning, I felt an ache where they removed the screw, but the pain was nothing (especially compared to the migraines etc), so I didn't bother to take any pain medicine. I was kind of amazed because the bruise on my arm from the IV was half gone already - for the last year, it's taken about a month for an IV bruise to be completely gone. In addition, I haven't had any swelling or redness near the incision - I really think my immune system is doing much better than it was this time last year. I wore the sling and avoided using my arm, but I was otherwise up and around on saturday. I found I could read mail, but typing with one hand was slow so I didn't bother. Saturday night, I realized my shoulder felt sore from being upright. By the next morning, I noticed that the end of my clavicle was sticking up a little more than when I had the screw in - it was only a small bump, but it was a change. This was very worrying, since I was afraid that the ligaments weren't used to holding it in place and maybe they would stretch. I could move the end of the bone with my finger (no pain, but it felt wierd), which didn't seem quite right, so I decided to spend the rest of the day with my arm and shoulder supported by pillows until I could find out from the doctor if this was normal. Monday morning, called the doctor and he said to expect the bone to be a little out of place because the surgery just never gets it quite right. He said the ligament had already been supporting the end of the clavicle, even when the screw was in, so it should be strong enough. Nonetheless, since it seemed a bit different, he said to take it easy till my appt on friday.Tuesday, all residual pain was pretty much gone, and my arm started feeling normal. I have been able to be upright with almost no soreness. I decided I could use my arm for non-loadbearing things, like typing or eating. I seem to have good range of motion, too. No pain, no change in the small bump on my shoulder: this is excellent. I think the operation was successful.Overall, since I had very little pain, and rested a lot, this was the best weekend I've had in a very long time, and I feel so peaceful and ready to return to work.
In the meantime, my daughter came home from school monday with pink cheeks and very warm (a fever of 101), and I kept her home from school tuesday and wednesday. I gave her lots of zinc and vitamin c, made her drink acidophilous (she has also taken many antibiotics), chicken broth and fruit juices. Her fever broke last night around 10, and she is doing much better today. No more pink cheeks or coughing. It looks like she will get over this cold without an ear infection.
I got a call from my doctor, and they have some test results that they want to discuss with me today. I have no idea what it could be about. I'll find out later today.
Now, I've got a lot of work to catch up with...

Surgery is over

2005-03-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

all went well. will report more later.

Getting unscrewed

2005-03-10T21:53:00.000-08:00

The migraine started winding down around 5 Sunday, and it took me until late monday to get over the exhaustion I felt from being in pain so long. Just wanted to mention that quickly now, since I haven't written all week.

I'm having surgery on my shoulder tomorrow, to have the screw removed from my clavicle, and don't expect to be able to type for a few days. This week I was a bit slow, and I focused solely on work; I wanted to catch up from last-week's illness. The antibiotics are getting rid of the sinus infection, though, as always, I am slightly more tired in general when I'm on antibiotics. Tomorrow should be simple: I go in at 11:30 and leave the surgery center at 3 sans screw - amazing what they can do. I expect to be fairly happy on the percoset for the weekend...which ought to be a nice change from last weekend.

I'm off to bed now.

Blood sugar successes

2005-03-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine is also working on improving her health. She is focused on healing her pancreas and getting her insulin/blood sugar levels back to normal (and getting out of her current pre-diabetic state). This is a slow process. She spent the last year healing her adrenals (there are some good books written by endocrinologists that explain this - my favorite is The Swartzbein Principle II). In any case, she was happy because her blood sugar levels had come down significantly since last summer. It takes a lot of will power and determination to change your eating habits and lifestyle to do this (who wants to give up white flour and sugar, for example?), but in the long run, you can maintain your health rather than declining rapidly in middle age. So 3 cheers for my friend's determination and her progress!I was curious about my own blood sugar levels after hearing about hers, because about a year ago I had a high A1C and hypoglycemia (indications my own system was having trouble balancing blood sugars). I measured an hour after dinner, and it was 98 which is excellent, and at fasting this morning, and it was 78, which is wonderful. I was neither high nor low (I'd been both in the past), so this is an indication my adrenals and pancreas are working well together to monitor blood sugar levels, and that my diet changes have helped.
I slept 10 hours last night, and woke up refreshed, but unfortunately, the headache is coming back. Drat and double drat.

Sinus, migraine, signs of progess, and the science fair

2005-03-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (friday) afternoon I went to my doctor. I was feeling discouraged to be back in her office for more antibiotics, because antibiotics cause so many other major health problems for me (candida overgrowth and initiation of food allergies, for example). My doctor brought up my charts for last year on the computer, and showed me that I had been on a continuous set of antibiotics from october to march (5 separate courses of antibiotics), whereas this year I had only had two (including the current prescription) in the same time period. Then she looked in my ears and throat and said I had much less swelling compared to previous infections. So, though I wish it were going faster, I can see I am making progress.
Unfortunately, the pain in my head that started while I was on the phone in a "meeting" earlier in the day kept getting worse and worse as the day progressed. I started the antibiotic (augmentin) in the evening. At bedtime I wasn't sure if I would be able to sleep because the pain was so bad, and my migraine meds had no effect. I put ice around my head and managed to fall asleep until 11:30, when I had to get up and change the icepacks for new ones. I was able to sleep until 1, but then the pain was too strong and I got up. All I could stand to do was pace in the kitchen, or crouch on the floor in a fetal position. I did this until 3 am, then the pain settled down enough that I started to feel sleepy again. I slept the rest of the night on the couch.
Today I found myself wondering if my house is chemical-free enough for me to recover. I wonder if I could recover faster in another environment. I still have 2 rooms with carpet, and a gas stove. What if I'm being poisoned as fast as my body can heal? Can I really achieve full health here? Do I have to take more drastic steps? I want to stay if I can; I don't want to move and uproot myself and my family. No wonder MCS is so stressful for the people and their families. After thinking all these thoughts, I decided not to read too much into my current sinus infection - it's not a major set back, I've decided. I quit thinking about the what ifs and concentrated on doing light housework (it can help take my mind off migraine pain) with frequent breaks to rest.
Took a 3rd and final migraine med at 3 today, and after a few hours the pain finally started going away. In addition, the augmentin (antibiotic) seems to be working, and I have a lot less mucuous in my head, and no more popping in my ears. This sinus infection is going away much much faster than in the past (when it would sometimes take 2 weeks for the symptoms to decrease significantly, and over a month to be really gone).
After dinner, I took another ginger bath, and this time I did a lymph massage before the bath. After the bath, my nose was very runny and I felt a little pain in my head again. Still, overall I felt better than I had in the last few days.
I forgot to report on how things went with my daughter: we found out we'd forgotten her science fair in the middle of all our illnesses, and I knew this was a big deal for her to be a part of it, since her father organizes the science fair every year. Marc found a science experiment that we could do in a single day, and I worked with my daughter on creating the report. She won a prize in the science fair, and was very proud of her blue ribbon, and I felt very happy for her. I was really glad we were able to come through for her on this, despite both of us having sinus infections.