rootofnewt | (no subject)

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explodingcat left for CVS. he's going to try to pick up his Singulair prescription and also get my naproxen.

i found some darvocet, so that will help. part of this headache is neck tension, part is jaw, and part is sinus, so i also took some pseudoephedrine. and i have a bottle of coke, so the caffeine will help a little, too.

of course, i'm starting my period, so coke is *not* a good thing, but i'll survive. the cramps are starting to rumble, so i'll be doubly thankful for the naproxen.

in other news, i'm really ticked off at the insurance company. last thursday, boy went to the doctor to talk about his blood sugar issues, his fatigue, and to ask for a leukotreine inhibitor (asthma med type--he's severely allergic to dogs and my parents have two). The doc took tests, talked about what boy's doing activity-wise, and gave him a Singulair prescription. Boy tried to pick up his 'script on Friday. no go. The insurance company is now (as of two weeks ago) requiring a pre-auth for this type of asthma med. AFAIK, we had no warning. Since it was Friday, MAMSI said it would take *three days* to approve. The doc and boy *both* called to try to expedite things, as Singulair works best after it's been in one's system for at least a few days.

I'm just livid that an insurance company would do this to an ASTHMA medication. I'm on another leukotreine inhibitor and I received no letter about anything of this sort, which would be the norm. I'll have to make sure to remember to try to refill it a week ahead, to prevent being off of it at all.

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Boy has blood sugar issues? That's interesting. He's not hypoglycemic too, is he?

Not at the moment, apparently. My blood sugar test came back at the low end of normal, which my doctor attributed to just having not eaten for 9 hours since the night before. I get my blood sugar checked every now and then, because I'm constantly surprised I don't have a problem. Every few months I go through a week where I'm having very obvious blood sugar issues. However, I beginning to suspect that they occur only when I consistently don't watch my diet for a week or two and eat more sugar than usual. That seems to make me more sensitive to blood sugar issues. As I proved again this week, sticking to my normal diet seems to allow things to right themselves after a few days. Perhaps I'm prone to blood sugar issues, but usually I stick to a good diet so I've never let it get far enough to prove anything on medical tests.

My main concern is fatigue. But after having a week of blood sugar issues...I can feel the difference between blood sugar tired and whatever mysterious tired I have most of the time. I'm tired all the time. Well, not all the time. I'm capable of getting energy moving when I need to. But sitting still at the desk working makes me really feel it during the day. And it seems I get more energy later in the day after I've had several meals. I think I just haven't had sufficient time to rest in the past few months, combined with not being careful regarding a workout/diet routine that works for me. I have been working out for a few months, and lately I'm finding the workouts having a more negative effect on my energy. So, I'm backing off the workouts for a bit and I plan on seeing a nutritionist to help me figure out how much more I should be eating if I intend to remain the type of person who hits the gym 5 days a week.

*nod*

I'm also prone to sugar crashes, which is one reason I don't eat the stuff often. (You guys are a bad influence. ;) )

I take naps almost every day. I just can't function otherwise.

Do you actually sleep, or just enter a half-conscious daze? I've never been able to truly sleep during the day.

Sleep. Usually for 20-30 minutes; longer if I'm really bushed (today's nap was almost an hour because I slept so little last night). But I've always been able to cat-nap. Not everyone can.

Hmm. Blood sugar tired for me is like losing half my IQ ... my mind just ceases to function effectively. Plus I begin to feel physically feeble. The dead giveaway for me that I'm going low is that my legs will fall asleep very easily. In fact, having your limbs fall asleep easily is a major symptom of diabetes and hypoglycemia.

Five workouts a week is a lot. Unless you're changing your routine all the time so that you're not doing the same thing a couple days in a row, I understand that it makes your sessions less efective. Three times a week is what I'm going to shoot for when I start back in.

I should really see a nutritionist, too. Now that I understand what's wrong with me, I've had a lot of success keeping myself from having more panic attacks (though I started having one on my way to MA unfortunately), but it would be good to understand more about how my diet affects me. Guess I'll add that to my list.

Have you had your thyroid tested? Thyroid conditions in men are much less common than in women, but it is possible that you may have a hypo thyroid condition. It also tends to run in families ... for example, my mom is hypo, and I believe at least one of her sisters is, too. If you have any kind of condition, this is the one you want to have, because the self-maintenance is *real* easy -- just pop a pill that restores balance to the hormones your thyroid controls and that's about it aside from the occasional doctor visit to make sure the dosage is still correct; compared to what diabetics go through, it's a real bargain.

Anyway, food for thought.

Just to clarify (since I didn't mention it directly), the hypo-thyroid condition would be the cuase of your fatigue if you are in fact hypo. Hyper-thyroid is the other possible condition, which is what I wish I had. :)

Maintenance for hypothyroidism isn't as easy as you make it sound. Hormone replacement isn't a magic cure and it's often quite difficult to find the right balance, especially if the disease is autoimmune in nature.

Jos: It's still probably a good idea for Tom to get a thyroid test. There is a link between blood sugar problems & thyroid problems. Might want to ask for an antibody test, too, as it'll detect subclinical hypothyroidism.

Well, the only reason I know any of this is because of my mom, and admittedly, I think she got really lucky with her doctor because he hit the dosage right on the head the first time. Since then (15 years ago?), it's been pretty easy sailing for her though. But that's just one person's experience -- IANAD.

Yeah, I know what you mean about losing half your IQ. That's how I know it's blood sugar. But that doesn't happen often to me. Like I said, once every few months when I've been misbehaving with my diet for an extended period of time. My limbs can fall asleep, but usually only when I sit on them in a way that cuts off circulation. So, I'm thinking I still don't really have any blood sugar issues to worry about, as long as I stick to my usual decent diet.

The workout plan I'm on is this: Mon Wed Fri are weight training days. And I alternate, between upper body and lower body strength exercises. I'm supposed to do cardio on those days too, but I don't usually have that much time to spend in the gym. Tues Thurs is all cardio. 30-40 minutes of cardio. That is rather a lot for a formerly sedentary person to suddenly start doing, I suppose. But it was on the advice of a personal trainer. And it felt pretty good for awhile. It had obvious results, I can lift more weight and perform cardio efforts with much more efficiency, without getting tired so soon. However, as I said, it's been wearing me down lately. And I suspect my diet couldn't support the sudden change in activity. I was confused for awhile, because I happened to go through a pretty long period of insomnia too...so that was confusing me as to what all the factors were contributing to fatigue. But I think a change in diet, and slowing down the workout may fix things. I'm currently skeptical about the intensity I was encouraged to workout at. Our society is one of excess, we are always pushing stuff to be bigger, faster, more extreme. I've found that I usually can't operate at extremes. I'm beginning to suspect the culture of exercise in our country is similarly skewed toward doing too much. I want to keep exercising (I have felt many positive effects) but I don't want to do too much too soon, which I suspect I might have been doing.

So, off to see a nutritionist. Yeah, I'd recommend you see one. Everyone should take the time to learn a little about nutrition. Diet has a profound affect on health...sometimes not immediate (but often it does) and always has long range effects. In fact, chinese medicine has figured out all kinds of properties for all foods and they have a system based upon foods to treat illness. We are what we eat.

Yes, I think they test my thyroid all the time. Nothing significant. I've rarely had any medical tests point to anything conclusive. I'm probably going to get back to acupuncture soon, and see how that works. Western medicine failed me in a big way last year. If it weren't for chinese medicine and wacky new age mysticism, I don't know what condition I'd be in right now.

Ye gawds! When I first started at LA Fitness, I had a personal trainer for a week, and he had me do 45 minutes of cardio my very first day. I managed to do it the first time, but after that I got severe panic attacks after stopping my subsequent workouts. I scaled things back after that and it helped. It was definitely too much. (I think my blood sugar was spiking way low when I finally slowed down.)

I've found that getting too much or too little sleep exasperates my hypoglycemia the next day. I think all those years of sleeping far too little, drinking/eating caffeine, and popping SweetTarts have had their effect on me. Sure was fun, though. :) I really have to get back to my yoga. Yoga and meditation. That helped a lot back when I was taking that class after work.

Honk if you like Eastern medicine! :D

HONK!

Dude, I'm convinced. I have hypoglycemia. Jocelyn did some research. Among other things, anxiety disorders go hand in hand with it. It's often not diagnosable through tests, you just have to look at symptoms and piece it together. It makes a lot of sense to me. This one single thing could explain feeling weird off and on for years.

I think I have rough idea about eating for hypoglycemia. Is there any particular guidelines you've been following?

Damn. They had you doing 45 minutes of cardio right away? Exercise is good...but there can always be too much of a good thing. I don't know why our culture doesn't appreciate that fact.

So it seems we may have even more in common, eh? I'd be interested in reading whatever Joscelyn turned up in case there are any links to share. I only ever was able to deduce that hypoglycemia was related to my panic attacks ... I never read anything that went so far as to spell out that connection.

As far as diet goes, I just always try to make sure my stomach has something to work on if I know that I'm going to be exerting myself in any way in the near future, hence the bagels and gatorade that I wanted to make sure I had when I helped you guys move earlier this year. I don't think you saw, but we didn't break for lunch that day until 3pm, and by the time I made it to Rapture, I was getting to be in bad shape: my mind was out to lunch, just crossing my legs would make the one fall asleep, plus I was becoming shaky and weak. Jos suggested I order an oj, and that helped tide me over until our food arrived. It was amazing how quickly my mind came back after the first couple swallows.

Anyway, it's unfortunate, but complex carbohydrates are really good because they take awhile to break down. Peanut butter sandwiches, baked potatoes, and meat products are all good for me, I've found. A hot soft pretzel is also good if I notice myself going low. Of course, I'll never be able to go on an Atkins diet now. :)

Also, just as it is for diabetics who don't have one of those insulin regulating devices, it's recommended that you eat 4-5 small meals a day rather than three large meals. I haven't done this yet, but I've been seriously considering it lately because I notice that by 11am, my mind starts wandering and I feel like going to bed. I perk right up after lunch, but then I start getting tired again around 5-6 depending on when exactly I take my lunch. So I think I may start taking a small lunch at 11am, a small in-between meal around 3pm, and then dinner whenver -- all in addition to breakfast, of course.

It's irritating, but since I've been watching myself more carefully, I've been just about panic free, barring the incident last Thursday en route to MA. Honestly, I really had hoped that my thyroid test would have been positive back when I had it done because it's so much less bothersome to just pop a pill, but it turned out negative, so there you have it. On the other hand, based on something I read about a year or so ago, probably within the next ten years diabetics will have a pill to pop as well, and by extension, so will hypoglycemics. Here's hoping... ::crosses fingers::

i can't find the exact links i was reading last night, but this one (http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/index.htm) is fairly informative. And frankly, my little chickie, you and Tom like to be in control, so when you get even the slightest whiff of a health situation which is beyond your control and which involves feeling of nervousness or fear, you're likely to have anxiety or panic attacks.

The one on diet was at http://www.dietician.com/hypoglyc.html

http://www.1uphealth.com/health/hypoglycemia_info.html
http://www.personalhealthzone.com/hypoglycemia_diagnosis.html
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tribalsun/hypo/hypopages.html
(that last one has lots of links that look good)

Frankly, if you guys think you have hypoglycemia, I think you should seek out a qualified doctor's opinion. An endocrinologist could order the requisite tests and help y'all figure things out.

Moi? A control freak? Why whatever are you suggesting? ;)

In my case, at least, I know for a fact that I'm hypoglycemic. My GP tested me last March, and the last hour's sample showed a drop in blood sugar (below 80 I assume, though I don't know exactly how low). If there's a more comprehensive test out there mayhap I should take that as well.

Anywho, thanks for the linkage ... looks like I have some reading to do.

it's amazing how cavalier insurance companies seem to be about asthma meds. i was getting dizzy spells from an allergy med and got switched to a new one that is twice as expensive because it's not on my company's list of approved or essential or something. i don't know, would it be better for me to take the one you approve and lose consciousness while driving one day?!?!?!?

*hugs*

best of luck getting all this sorted out/dealt with. *projecting happy thoughts*

Thanks again for the (hopefully) last ever crash space I'll need in C'ville. :] See you later this week.

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