Sorry for another boring health post. I heard from two more people taking Valcyte yesterday though who are reading the blog for these updates, so I guess for now I’ll keep doing them. (But, throw me a bone and leave a comment, people!)
I’m continuing to be up one day and down the next. I spent another weekend in bed, felt better yesterday, am down again today… I blame a series of viruses going around though. Darin had a stomach thing. Oscar has a bad cold. I know every time I fight something off I feel horrible–it brings my whole body down even if I never come down with the virus. It feels like two steps forward and one step back, but I’m blaming winter bugs for now. It probably doesn’t help that Oscar woke up cheerful and ready to play at 4am. I guess anyone would be tired.
Anyway, I had a Dr. Lerner appointment yesterday and realized that I’ve dropped half a point (which will make sense of to those of you following Lerner’s energy index.) Otherwise, he wasn’t discouraged–at least as far as I could tell from his constant cheerful demeanor. He commented that winter is always rough, and that I’m still very early in the treatment. I complained about insomnia and tachycardia (rapid heart beat), and he gave me a sleeping pill, a beta blocker, and a script to redo the 24-hour heart monitor. Just like a man… I was really just venting, and then he goes trying to fix it… that’s the last time I vent about symptoms a doctor! (Sorry… that’s my lack-of-sleep attempt at CFS humor.) Anyway, I’ve been afraid to take the new pills, particularly the beta blocker, until I can do more reading about them. Mostly I’m just afraid of anything that might make me feel worse–especially tired or dizzy, but I’m also still a nature girl at heart and this feels like a lot of drugs.
On that note, sort of, I did get a GREAT (and cheap!) massage at Beaumont and set up monthly appointments for more. I have a ‘plan b’ holistic physician that I’m planning to see in the spring if, after 6 months of Valcyte, I don’t have a lot of improvement. Or, maybe even if I do… it would probably be good to have all the nutrient levels checked again, and the previous holistic person is only allowed to see clients who are in therapy at the clinic where she practices. (Where the therapist-who-just-didn’t-get-CFS works.)
I also went to my off-beat chiropractor, Dr. Bowler, this week who gave me an adjustment I couldn’t feel and recommended cypress oil for my phantom gallbladder pain. I always have to suspend disbelief a bit when I go there (her office is also where I go for zero balance–mentioned in an earlier post), but I know when I do what she says, I feel better. She gives me these little assignments that ensure I take care of myself–like my 30 minute raindrop massages that consist of rubbing fragrant oils into my feet and then covering them with a warm towel to boost my immune system. After an adjustment she’ll say, “Is Darin home tonight? After this adjustment you need to spend the whole evening resting.” She’s also validated the exhaustion I sometimes feel after a day with the boys. She told me, “Until kids are 7, they literally live off your vitality. When they’re 7, they make their own vitality. So, really, they are literally, every day, sucking the life right out of you.” I have no idea if it’s true, but I love it. I only see her a couple times a year, but each visit is like a little vacation where everything is warm and fragrant and you feel deep down that everything is really okay. Actually, with Dr. Bowler, who needs therapy?
Okay, now I’m officially procrastinating. I need to get back to work to pay for all the aforementioned stuff!
