Follow-Up Appointment

I realized I promised updates on my follow-up doctor appointment, so here it is. I went in last week to a slightly baffled doctor. He expected my “conditions” to yield a myriad of fun and exciting results from the lab. There wasn’t that much.

I thought it was good that I reacted to nothing on the skin allergy test, but apparently everyone who is healthy should react to Candida, a type of yeast. I however did not, so he believes that this, coupled with the results from a couple other tests, shows that I have a low immune function. This might explain the constant congestion, but I am a little baffled as I am almost never seriously ill. Just little annoying things all the time. He didn’t give me any prognosis or treatment for this, but they did take some more blood and order an adrenal stress test. I have another appointment in three weeks or so to learn those results.

His guessing at the first appointment that I might be low in magnesium was a good call. The tests results reinforced this theory so I’m going to keep taking the magnesium citrate. I am definitely noticing a difference in my muscle pain and tightness and also having a bit more energy. I’m not feeling pressure points in my shoulders hardly at all. I am recovering faster from workouts and even pulled out a three mile run yesterday. I’m not sure if it can be completely attributed to the magnesium, but I haven’t been regularly running for over two years and it’s been over one year since I’ve been on a run at all. The fact that I ran straight through three miles is a miracle in itself (I texted Andy before I left and told him where he could find my body).

The American diet is quite low in magnesium and deficiency is very common, even among people who eat a healthy, balanced diet. Magnesium citrate, taken at appropriate levels in capsule form, acts as a natural muscle relaxer. Here is a little more information about magnesium if you want to read more: http://www.mbschachter.com/importance_of_magnesium_to_human.htm

http://www.krispin.com/magnes.html

The doctor also found I was low in B12 and suggested I take vitamin D3. My daily pill popping now consists of the following:

4 Magnesium Citrate

1 B12-5000

1 D3-5000

As far as food sensitivities, we ruled out parasites. On my IgG panel, he expected many foods to be flagged. Instead, there were only three that were even remotely close to an immune sensitivity response: brewer’s yeast, baker’s yeast, and soy. They were only a “level 1” and usually problem foods are a 2-3. I have currently been loading on these three foods for four days by eating some of each every day. Tomorrow I will begin a four day pea and rice protein powder fast to cleanse myself from these foods. After that, I will reintroduce one of these foods each day and see if I have any kind of reaction. This is a common “investigative” approach to food sensitivities as removing the foods and cleansing is supposed to lead to a more noticeable reaction upon reintroduction if they are a problem. I am glad that there weren’t 10-15 foods on the list, as it makes my job easier! I am also glad I have no signs of gluten sensitivity, which was a major suspect! An additional point he gave me was to stay away from artificial sweeteners, other than stevia and far, FAR away from MSG in any form (it goes by over 40 names and is in almost every, non-organic preprocessed food!). They are just no bueno.

Yesterday I got a call from the nurse as they had gotten the results back from my blood work from the first follow-up appointment. I am very low in certain hormones, which is likely the major culprit in my tiredness issues. They are having a compounding laboratory create a prescription for me that should correct that. I was very happy that they found something and I’m not just crazy and lazy! There’s a biological explanation. Reading through information online about the deficiency, the symptoms are right on for much of what I’ve been dealing with. Should be an easy fix.

In summary, the good new is most of my symptoms seem to be accounted for, except the jury is still out on congestion and digestive issues. Those two may or may not be related. I am happy to finally be getting some answers. If you’re dealing with any issues and live locally, I can refer you to a good doctor.

Fun New Products to Try!

  

I'm testing some products through BzzAgent. This is the first "campaign" I have participated in and I really wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up. I'm testing Maybelline "Baby Lips" lip balm and "Lots of Lashes" mascara. When I got my kit in the mail today I was both surprised and pleased to see that they actually sent me five full size products of each! It's awesome since now I can also share with friends and see how they like them.

My job is to report back to BzzAgent my response and to see how my friends feel as well. This helps Maybelline make decisions about their products in the future (and gives me and some friends free stuff!!). Let me know if you are interested in trying some of my fun little things! If you're interested in checking out the campaigns yourself you can go to www.bzzagent.com. I'm going to see how it goes and maybe see if I can do more trials in the future. Seems like fun!


UPDATE: Lots of Lashes is, as expected based on the fact it's in the Great Lash line, not the greatest invention ever. Actually, it's pretty bad, at least for me... but the lip balm is decent and I will wear it. Still want a sample?

Poo Crisis

I think I’m going to need to create topic tabs. This post is a bit of a digression from the promises I made in my first post, about creating a place where I would share the myriad of health wisdom I’m hopefully acquiring. However, this is the most current event in my life that is serving to eclipse most other happenings at the moment.

Yesterday was full of poo. Lots and lots of it.

Backing up: Tilki, the year old Fox Terrier we adopted in May, and Andy do not get along. Sure, Tilki will sleep blissfully for hours on Andy’s lap, snuggle all night in his sleeping bag in the mountains, and run triumphantly around him at the dog park, but each evening, when Andy walks through the front door of our home, terror seizes Tilki. Terror that is worse with him than unknown visitors.

Tilki

It is beyond me why they continue to have so much difficulty after many months. We have tried different techniques to no avail: being gentle, being firm, giving attention, ignoring fear, tying dog to human, etc. Tilki is vivacious, bouncy, and all things a Fox Terrier should be during the day with me, but when afternoon rolls around she is a fearful, avoiding, shaking mess.

I have had enough of it. Nothing was working. So I enlisted the counsel of a professional behavioral trainer who visits the home… for a steep fee. But, by this point, I was willing to try a couple sessions for life at home to normalize. We had our first session on Monday night. The trainer reiterated what I already knew, but was at a loss of techniques to correct: for whatever reason, Tilki does not feel Andy has accepted her into the pack and is therefore fearful and doesn’t know what to do. He gave us some exercises to work on to help her feel acceptance and like she can meet Andy’s demands.

We also decided to address her incomplete potty training (no pooping on leash), which is also somewhat tied to her fear issues. What I have been doing works 95% of the time, but Tilki has occasional accidents when I want to be able to trust her all the time. It also is situational training, which doesn’t translate well to other locations, if we are not at home.

Tilki was to be left in the cage, unless we were training her, until she peed and pooed in the morning and then the pattern was to be repeated in the evening. I began yesterday morning with great confidence. This dog has beaten me before in the battle of wills over potty training, but I was sure this time I could hold out and be victorious. Besides, I had previously gotten her over her fear of peeing in front of people (assuming its in the AM and she really has to go). As usual, we had success in this area, though no poo was to follow. I did as instructed and visited the back yard with her every half hour or so for fifteen minutes at a time. Big breakfast = BM. Supposedly. After several repetitions I needed to leave for women’s group. I wished Tilki luck, as I would be gone for about three hours and figured surely, she would hold it. Can you guess where this is going?

I returned home and was greeted at the door by a powerful aroma. No, not only did she not hold it, but she also managed to flick chunks out of the cage, all over the carpet. I, as a responsible dog owner, took her outside and gave her every opportunity to relieve herself (as if she needed to anymore) before returning her ot her cage. In agitation, she paced her cage and occasionally whined. Again, we visited the yard. At this point I decided she was frustrated about being left in her cage during the day and needed to get over it.

All of this was making me stressed, so I went upstairs for about 45 minutes and worked out, hoping that not being in the room would show her she needed to relax and accept her fate for the next few days. When I came down, I was again greeted by poo. Again. Really! I’m not sure how it is possible. With dogs:

meal in = meal out

0 meals in = 0 meals out

I decided she was protesting and wanted her to experience the consequence of her actions. Of course, not wanting the mess in my house, her cage was relocated to the garage where she was required to wallow in the filth she created for the next two hours, till Andy got home. She was not happy and vocally informed me of this. That was good.

Upon arriving, Andy found me in the fetal position on the couch, ready to create a Craigslist post for a little white dog. After talking me down, he practiced his exercises with Tilki while I, again, cleaned poo from the cage and ran another load of laundry.

As it currently stands, Tilki’s cage has been reduced to half its size. I am waiting for breakfast to settle and we will be making attempt #2 of the day. This dog WILL poop on the leash for me. When she does there will be much rejoicing and less fetal rocking.

The trainer has assured us that this too shall pass.

A Bit Of Backstory

This post is not meant to come across as a gripe-fest. I am not trying to complain about my health as I am thankful that it is in general quite good and I know that there are many with much greater struggles than myself. However, I want to help you understand where I'm coming from in my attempts to problem solve and make better choices in food and supplement areas so that I can live the fullest life possible.

For many years I've dealt with a number of health inconveniences and issues. None of them are life-threatening or really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of life, but they are sure annoying! I generally deal with them and, at times, even forget about them. However, now and then (in not too distant intervals) I become extremely fed up with the inconvenience and seek to do something. Recently, I began to compile a list of common complaints on my iPhone so that if I were to visit the doctor, I would have them handy. Ironically, if I don't have a handy list, when I'm sitting in the exam room, I happily answer that everything is fine and dandy. All my cares float happily out of my mind till I'm on the road again, heading home. Don't know why the heck that happens!

My handy-dandy list of mysterious maladies has been reading as follows:

• Chronic congestion/sinus pressure
• Aches and pains and general stiffness
• Headaches
• Chronic tiredness
• General digestive discontent (this is the public paraphrased version)
• Lactose intollerance

I decided to pursue visiting a naturopathic doctor as in the past I have gotten no answers from regular MD's. They have pricked and withdrawn copious amounts of blood on multiple occasions, tested me for thyroid, iron, lupus, and other big-name issues, and then called back to declare me in perfect health. I have also gone the physical therapy and chiropractic routes for my aches and pains to no avail. Unfortunately I discovered that Boeing insurance, while generally being fantastic in coverage, has decided to withhold paying for naturopaths and massage. Boo. 


Fortunately, I found an MD, right here in Lake Stevens, who specializes in holistic and "environmental" medicine. He is covered under standard insurance and also happens to be Christian; an added bonus. I had my first appointments with him last week and am waiting for a follow-up on November 2nd where we will go over a number of lab results. Crossing my fingers that something is discovered!


I'll be posting shortly on the details of my first two appointments and the health wisdom I learned. I'll also be sharing some other posts of greater depth on some common diet ingredient issues nearly everyone faces these days and some of the personal research I have done on these areas. I like to make sure there is back-up evidence on claims I'm hearing!