Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Starting Over The Hard Way

Today I got my wicked red witch of a visitor.  Oh I knew it was coming.  But before we get into that I'll tell you what I am doing to prepare for the WTF appointment later this month.

I guess you could say I'm carb loading.  Not that I want to but really it seems as though I have no choice.  If I want to get the proper testing done I need to be prepared.  I know I must have a sensitivity to gluten, wheat, bran and oats.  Whenever I eat the stuff I end up in the bathroom and its not pleasant.  However because I've been eliminating it from my diet over the past 6 months, thus just one more reason why I've lowered my blood pressure and lost the weight, I won't show positive at all for the Celiac Disease if I did have it.  No in order to show positive or have proper testing I have to be eating the stuff that makes me sick for at least 10-14 days.  I guess its a good thing that I researched it a bit, looked through my old medical papers. and asked my mom about the family medical history.  I have just enough time before the appointment to get the crap back into my system. But I'll have to tell them that I was abstaining from it for half the year as that might still mess with the results a bit.

Today I'm baking bread.  If there is just one way that I can still control some of the sodium I ingest daily its through my own efforts.  Right now the dough is rising in the kitchen.  I had to turn the heat up in the house from 62 to 67 and turn the oven on two hours early to warm the kitchen enough to get the yeast to work.  I'm going to hate the Minol bill when it comes in.

Back to why my own bread.  If you've ever taken the time to read packages you'll notice that most breads are 120 mg of sodium to about 200 mg of sodium per slice.  Since I'm on a sodium restricted diet of 1000 mg a day I have to cut corners.  My bread recipe uses 1 1/2 tsp of salt in it for the two loaves.  I use Celtic Sea Salt which is about 550 mg per teaspoon.  Math time 775 mg for the 1 1/2 tsp. divide that by two loaves 387.5 mg per loaf.  I get about 10 slices out of each loaf  so that is about 38.75 mg per slice.  No other ingredients in this recipe have sodium in them.  So I could say pig out and eat a whole loaf of bread and not worry about my sodium content.  Note that I also use unsalted butter when I eat the bread or other low sodium and no sodium spreads. 

Oh I know I'm going to be hurting.  Gross factor here:  by the end of the day I'll be wishing for loperimide and a large tube of preparation-H. 

No choice it has to be done.

Now for CD 1.  Its here.  It hurts.  I tried to call the RE nurse to let her know about it but I only got the voice mail with her promising to get back to me asap.  Its been over 2 hours.  I may or may not hear from her later today.

Yesterday I went to see my PCM.  I wrote about that a bit.  I was put back on my nebulizer and the flovent to go with my flonase and emergency inhaler.  I guess he heard something and wasn't pleased.  Well he wouldn't be very pleased with me right now if he knew I went off it all and ditched my vitamins too.  I'm only staying on the high blood pressure medicine right now.  All the rest of my medicines could affect the upcoming tests I'm going to demand to have done.  Steroids are notorious for messing with results.  I have three prescribed to me right now.  I'm noot going to take them until the tests are done and the results in hand.  I need to know why my body is rejecting or killing off the embryos.

I just hope that the Army medical staff takes me seriously.  They should, I have enough wrong with me that I should be seeing several specialists monthly and my PCM monthly too according to my EFMP forms.

15 comments:

  1. I am truly sorry your going through all of this and especially having to eat foods with gluten when it makes you sick. Hoping it will all pay off in the long run and the doctors can get all of this figured out.

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  2. I'm hoping they can remove the "unknown" part of my infertility with some testing. The last time I was pregnant where it stuck for any length of time was 15 years ago. A lot can change in the human body in that amount of time.

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  3. Lots to figure out. I think you are taking a very active and thoughtful approach to figuring out your treatment. You are dealing with all of this very well and I am glad you are pushing hard to get the information you need.

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    1. If I didn't take a proactive approach to my health care I would never have found out about half the stuff that I tested positive about. I had one doctor in Northern NY that I swear only wanted to collect his fees. I tested positive for hypokalemia and few other things but you'd think he'd tell me about it. It wasn't until my potassium levels bottomed out and I was in the ER via ambulance from pneumonia, of which he kept treating me for unsuccessfully as just asthmatic bronchitis, that I found out I needed more potassium and was prescribed it to be taken daily.

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  4. So sorry that you are going through this. And the worst part is that you can't even enjoy the bread. :(

    Love you, cousin.

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    1. I got to enjoy the smile on J's face last night when he was mowing through the remainder of the loaf. It was worth it for that alone.

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  5. I'm so sorry that you have to go down this road. It frustrates me that they need to see you in a state of pain and discomfort in order to address this. Please take care of yourself the best you can during this time.

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    1. Yeah I know. But sometimes I think that they assume I must be a hypochondriac. "how can one person have so much wrong with them?" is what I've heard before. But I do and its just that fact.

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  6. That is insanity that you have to eat foods that make you unwell for SO long... : ( Good luck w/ all the non-IF medical stuff...

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    1. Yup it is insane but sometimes its the only way that things will show up. I really hope it doesn't show up. I can't imagine trying to eliminate it all from my diet. My brother has to and it must be a real pain in the a*s.

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  7. Enjoy your bread - I love the smell of fresh bread!

    I really hope they test for everything and are able to give you some answers!

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    1. I love fresh baked bread. I love the taste of it and the smell of it. But well sometimes it doesn't like me. I'm not going to assume I have it until they tel me for sure. Right now I just know its one of my sensitivities.

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  8. The only real way to know if you truly have Celiac disease is with a biopsy. It can affect your infertility, but if you had a touch of endo, I would bet on that being the culprit. I hope that all the ditching of your meds is worth it and they find a possible cause. In any case, it sounds like you should see a Gastro specialist...if you can.

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    1. Chickenpig, now that J and I are on a TTC break I'll probably get referred back to Gastroenterology again. Maybe I can get the procedure done that I had to cancel before.

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