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Good news, I guess

I got my test results back yesterday. (Post 1 describing the muscle jerking last week.) She didn't give me the specific numbers but I'll get a copy of the results at my appointment next week.

Good:
Metabolic panel: Glucose, Calcium, etc (What is part of a CMP)
Iron

Not So Good:
Thyroid antibodies were positive (info about the test)

Bad:
Folate
B12

Prescriptions have been called in for folate (1mg a day) and B12. That appointment for next week? It's to learn how to give myself B12 injections. 1 a day for the first 3 days and then 1 every 2 weeks after. We'll retest after 4 weeks and if everything is good, I'll need 1 shot a month.

The problem with all of this is I'm scared of needles. I can't even watch a needle get close to skin. It's even one of the things that freaks me out about the dentist. I may need a xanax prescription to go through with it.

Concerning the thyroid antibodies test, my sister has already been diagnosed with Hashimoto's which is a thyroid related autoimmune disease. Since I have been showing symptoms and there can be a genetic component, my doctor wanted to test that as well. Coming up positive (and it sounds like there were high concentrations) puts me in line for Hashimoto's. She doesn't want me on anything for it though until the folate and B12 levels are under control. An interesting thing about Hashimoto's if you have it you have a good chance of also having pernicious anemia where your body is prevented from absorbing enough B12.  You can't really treat the Hashimoto's until the pernicious anemia is under control.

So I now have pills and injections for the foreseeable future but they should fix things.

If you want more information about Hashimoto's disease, check out:

Mayo Clinic on Hashimoto's

Stop the Thyroid Madness

Understanding Hashimoto's from LabTestsOnline

FAQ on Hashimoto's from womenshealth.gov

It was a little freaky

I have had a few freaky moments health-wise already this week. Monday morning I woke up feeling crappy and restless then my right leg started spasming (spell check really doesn't like that word). I'm not talking about a muscle jerking under the skin.  It was a full leg, constant jerk for an hour. I felt like I had run a marathon afterwards.  It doesn't hurt as it is happening, just feels annoying and strange. It stopped in time for me to take a quick shower and get to work only a few minutes late.

I thought it would be over but my right arm start up with it on the drive into work.  It lasted on and off for 4 hours. At this point, BossLady was freaking out.  She thought I should call 911. I had already made a doctor's appointment for Monday afternoon while she was in a meeting though. It sounded like she thought it was a seizure but I was fully conscious and coherent (well, as much as I normally am anyway) while it was happening.

So I go to my appointment and spend about 40 minutes with my general practitioner. She went over everything possible and decided that it was either an electrolyte deficiency or neurological and gave me a massive amount of tests to have blood drawn.  I made an appointment with Quest. I love how I can schedule blood work online with them.

Well, this morning, I woke up after only a few hours feeling like I had before the spasms had started the morning before.  There was just some mild twitching but it lasted all day long.  I never did get back to sleep.  I got to catch up on Saturday's episode of Doctor Who, the pilot of Memphis Beat, an episode of The Penguins of Madagascar and The Glades pilot. With this still happening, I went ahead as a walk in at Quest to get blood drawn instead of waiting for tomorrow. 

I should find out in the next couple of days if it's an electrolyte deficiency which I'm hoping for. If not, then I get to make an appointment with a neurologist.  Yea me.

Any good thoughts, prayers, or helpful suggestions are always much appreciated.

Follow up with test results: Good news, I guess

Happy 4th of July!

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

-The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

Happy Independence Day, America!

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave,
Hope for everyone in-between

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