seven times seven - health notes
May. 4th, 2021 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feldmanBeen quiet here lately, and burnt out and busy everywhere else. Big changes at work, my team is growing as are my responsibilities, I'm daunted, but it's good in the long run even as my imposter syndrome flares up. I've just had more than enough of change, I can't even process "good change" as a thing right now.
I turned 49 last month, which means I have been on this earth for half a century. I celebrated with a follow-up from my primary care, and a first ever visit to a neurologist. Before the warranty expires, I guess.
The CT confirms I have a brain without any worrying bits, and the neuro was kinda checked out for the brief visit we had. He responded to my "no, I'm not going to go on topomax right out of the gate" with a little push back, then a nod, and then writing me an Rx for topomax anyway. My guy, I'm seeing a specialist because the brain fog of too many migraines is affecting my life, why the fuck would I go on a drug infamous for being "lobotomy in a bottle"? The PA who came in after to brief me about the preventive and the new rescue meds was someone I could work with, so we're trying a different preventive instead (this was the negotiation I was prepared for, and it went as I hoped). Follow-up on that should be fun, depending on who handles the telemedicine. Hopefully the PA, since it involves talking to patients?
The preventive is exerting the intended effect, which is fabulous. Less impressed by the anti-nausea part of the rescue cocktail, which does help in the moment, but then gives me full-on pregnancy-style get-a-glove-and-play-alien-probe constipation. Aspirin + cannabis is still a great option for off the clock, but I'm very glad to have something I can take and still drive.
Meanwhile, I take back nearly everything I've said about my laziness. I've literally been playing the game with half my blood tied behind my back.
My hematologist is a kick-ass diagnostician. Ten minutes of questions ranging back and forth from childhood through now, using the spotty test results in my record as landmarks ("I didn't have health insurance until I was in my 30's,"), and she crafted a thorough timeline of chronically untreated chronic anemia. I may never have had sufficient iron stores, like, ever. Even when I'm diligent for a couple years with the iron pills, my results are only barely normal. So Friday I'll be sitting in the chemo infusion clinic for 5 hours on a drip of essentially rust and sugar, so I can move from a "grocery store in April 2020" level to a "no longer invulnerable to Magneto" level.
Hat tip to my mom, who told me before my referral, "Oh, you were always anemic; we had to give you drops from when you were a baby!" Which was news to me, though I remember those green drops. The fact I was anemic before menarche was a Vital Clue missed for literal decades, as every doc was seeing the test result as a one-off typical menstruator's problem that a little supplement would fix. Also, she escalated my 'wheat gives me wicked heartburn' to 'mild gluten allergy'. Apparently one is supposed to be able to eat more than 1 slice of toast without breathing fire.
Corporeal maintenance, man. Gotta take care of the meat suit as best one can. Looking forward to gaining superpowers on Friday.
I turned 49 last month, which means I have been on this earth for half a century. I celebrated with a follow-up from my primary care, and a first ever visit to a neurologist. Before the warranty expires, I guess.
The CT confirms I have a brain without any worrying bits, and the neuro was kinda checked out for the brief visit we had. He responded to my "no, I'm not going to go on topomax right out of the gate" with a little push back, then a nod, and then writing me an Rx for topomax anyway. My guy, I'm seeing a specialist because the brain fog of too many migraines is affecting my life, why the fuck would I go on a drug infamous for being "lobotomy in a bottle"? The PA who came in after to brief me about the preventive and the new rescue meds was someone I could work with, so we're trying a different preventive instead (this was the negotiation I was prepared for, and it went as I hoped). Follow-up on that should be fun, depending on who handles the telemedicine. Hopefully the PA, since it involves talking to patients?
The preventive is exerting the intended effect, which is fabulous. Less impressed by the anti-nausea part of the rescue cocktail, which does help in the moment, but then gives me full-on pregnancy-style get-a-glove-and-play-alien-probe constipation. Aspirin + cannabis is still a great option for off the clock, but I'm very glad to have something I can take and still drive.
Meanwhile, I take back nearly everything I've said about my laziness. I've literally been playing the game with half my blood tied behind my back.
My hematologist is a kick-ass diagnostician. Ten minutes of questions ranging back and forth from childhood through now, using the spotty test results in my record as landmarks ("I didn't have health insurance until I was in my 30's,"), and she crafted a thorough timeline of chronically untreated chronic anemia. I may never have had sufficient iron stores, like, ever. Even when I'm diligent for a couple years with the iron pills, my results are only barely normal. So Friday I'll be sitting in the chemo infusion clinic for 5 hours on a drip of essentially rust and sugar, so I can move from a "grocery store in April 2020" level to a "no longer invulnerable to Magneto" level.
Hat tip to my mom, who told me before my referral, "Oh, you were always anemic; we had to give you drops from when you were a baby!" Which was news to me, though I remember those green drops. The fact I was anemic before menarche was a Vital Clue missed for literal decades, as every doc was seeing the test result as a one-off typical menstruator's problem that a little supplement would fix. Also, she escalated my 'wheat gives me wicked heartburn' to 'mild gluten allergy'. Apparently one is supposed to be able to eat more than 1 slice of toast without breathing fire.
Corporeal maintenance, man. Gotta take care of the meat suit as best one can. Looking forward to gaining superpowers on Friday.
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Date: 2021-05-04 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-04 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-06 02:51 pm (UTC)I wish that for you, too.
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Date: 2021-05-04 03:33 pm (UTC)Love love love it when you can get correctly diagnosed with a fixable thing; it is a rare and blessed occasion. May the rust-and-sugar cocktail be generous to you!
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Date: 2021-05-04 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-05 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-05-05 12:17 pm (UTC)