clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2011-01-14 08:53 am
clevermanka) wrote2011-01-14 08:53 am
Dr. Pickel, visit number one
I woke up at 4:00 this morning and had no luck getting back to sleep. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mckitterick got home late, so is still sleeping. The house is quiet and it should be Prime Morning Nap Time, but...no.
The experience at Dr. Pickel's yesterday was interesting and rewarding. I have high hopes that we'll find a way to better manage my gut problems and thyroid disease. I am now convinced that the two are, indeed, related, and there might be some adrenal issues thrown into the mix, as well. He was quite pleased at my own intiative in changing my dietary habits, but I wonder if I'm going to have to give up coffee to address the (possible) adrenal health. That will be sad-making. I'll miss coffee and tea a hell of a lot more than I miss pizza and pastries.
He spent over an hour with us (mckitterick proved himself, yet again, a wonderful partner by going with me and offering information and insight when my own memory failed), and I'm going back Monday for a neurology test. I'm not thrilled about going back to KC on the last day of my vacation, but once I return to work Tuesday, I won't have much opportunity for time off until Spring Break.
It wasn't a cheap visit, that's for sure. The bill for the office visit and unsupported-by-insurance tests rang up at just a hair over $1,650. Thank goodness for my (ever-dwindling) savings account. I knew this wasn't going to be financially easy, since insurance and the modern health industry only want to treat you when you're sick by their standards and even then, only with methods that benefit the drug companies. It's possible that I can coerce Blue Cross to reimburse me for some of these costs, but I'm not (ha) banking on it.
Dr. Pickel sent me home with a book to read, so I did that this morning when it was clear that sleep had left the building. The biggest problem with reading it (and, to some extent, the meeting itself) was that it reminded me of all the problems I still fight, most on a daily basis. It's easy to allow an acceptance of these things (fatigue, headaches, physical discomfort, mild depression, and others) as normal. It's a defense mechanism that is, I think, unavoidable and, in many ways, necessary. Getting used to these things as Just Life is the only way I know how to keep going, and functioning at a bare-minimum level that allows for bursts of high-energy days (necessary to do things like KCRF, dance workshops, going to parties, etc.). Now, though, after discussing my health (or, lack of health) for an hour plus, then not sleeping well (one of the markers of adrenal problems), then reading about all my problems for a couple hours...well. I'm mentally and emotionally wiped out and I smell depression starting to seep in under the door.
Today is not a good day to start the Big Art Thing--especially since it is intended to be a gift. But it might be a very good journal day. Of course, that will require a level of motivation higher than the one I've got right now...which has been pretty much taxed 100% just typing this out.
mckitterick got home late, so is still sleeping. The house is quiet and it should be Prime Morning Nap Time, but...no.The experience at Dr. Pickel's yesterday was interesting and rewarding. I have high hopes that we'll find a way to better manage my gut problems and thyroid disease. I am now convinced that the two are, indeed, related, and there might be some adrenal issues thrown into the mix, as well. He was quite pleased at my own intiative in changing my dietary habits, but I wonder if I'm going to have to give up coffee to address the (possible) adrenal health. That will be sad-making. I'll miss coffee and tea a hell of a lot more than I miss pizza and pastries.
He spent over an hour with us (
mckitterick proved himself, yet again, a wonderful partner by going with me and offering information and insight when my own memory failed), and I'm going back Monday for a neurology test. I'm not thrilled about going back to KC on the last day of my vacation, but once I return to work Tuesday, I won't have much opportunity for time off until Spring Break. It wasn't a cheap visit, that's for sure. The bill for the office visit and unsupported-by-insurance tests rang up at just a hair over $1,650. Thank goodness for my (ever-dwindling) savings account. I knew this wasn't going to be financially easy, since insurance and the modern health industry only want to treat you when you're sick by their standards and even then, only with methods that benefit the drug companies. It's possible that I can coerce Blue Cross to reimburse me for some of these costs, but I'm not (ha) banking on it.
Dr. Pickel sent me home with a book to read, so I did that this morning when it was clear that sleep had left the building. The biggest problem with reading it (and, to some extent, the meeting itself) was that it reminded me of all the problems I still fight, most on a daily basis. It's easy to allow an acceptance of these things (fatigue, headaches, physical discomfort, mild depression, and others) as normal. It's a defense mechanism that is, I think, unavoidable and, in many ways, necessary. Getting used to these things as Just Life is the only way I know how to keep going, and functioning at a bare-minimum level that allows for bursts of high-energy days (necessary to do things like KCRF, dance workshops, going to parties, etc.). Now, though, after discussing my health (or, lack of health) for an hour plus, then not sleeping well (one of the markers of adrenal problems), then reading about all my problems for a couple hours...well. I'm mentally and emotionally wiped out and I smell depression starting to seep in under the door.
Today is not a good day to start the Big Art Thing--especially since it is intended to be a gift. But it might be a very good journal day. Of course, that will require a level of motivation higher than the one I've got right now...which has been pretty much taxed 100% just typing this out.
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Just not the coffee one. That would be sad-making for both of us.
}}loves{{
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That made me gasp out loud. I hope you can get at least some of the testing covered. Wow, that would wipe out both my and half the Jbird's Flex Accounts, and made me realize we might need to boost one or both of those for the future.
That's a lot to think over, for sure. But.. Light on the issue? Worth it.
As for depression.. out! out! damn spot!
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That just makes me so sad....
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When I was a kid, my eyebrows and hairline grew together there at the edges. Well, they still do, I guess, just now I wax 'em.
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Well, there's a perspective.
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Egads. Stupid healthcare.
It is also the reason I don't do anything about my migraines. If I was still getting them twice a week like in highschool, I'd shell out the money. But getting one every month or two, I'll just deal because I've already tried the cheap tests for eliminating them.
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At least I know I won't have to pay my emergency room bill above my deductible if I get hit by a truck on the way to my Monday appointment.