Bitter Moment

The BP is high again. I'm waiting to see if prescription stuff is going to kick in or not. If it doesn't, I guess I call the primary care doc and see what they want to do. Because while, yes, there's an herb for that, there's only one, apparently.

Actually, in researching herbs and natural shiznit, there are not many promising remedies for high blood pressure. So I'm in the process of exceeding natural medicine's capabilities as well as those of mainstream medicine.

I've lost 40lbs, I've cut out salt, sugar, flour, processed foods and yet I need twice the blood pressure medication. And now that may not even be enough.

Are there specialists in blood pressure? I would love to talk to someone who could just explain this craziness to me.

You know, I am not all that overweight. I'm fat, don't get me wrong, but I'm not big enough for Biggest Loser either. Nor am I a manager at McDonald's like a person I know. They gorge and gorge on that junk food and are easily 150 lbs overweight and it doesn't touch them.

I'm over here making smoothies. Out of fucking spinach. Eating walnuts when I actually don't like them very much and eschewing chemicals and all the other fun stuff.

And I can't lose weight. I can't get ahead in my health. Meanwhile, I'm surrounded by people bigger than me with crappier diets who are just fucking fine.

Although, to be fair, the GERD is going to be a success story at this rate. It does really well with digestive enzymes, ginger for breakthrough and avoidance of trigger foods. I went from Nexium twice a day to maybe twice a week. If that.

However, GERD was the thing that bothered me the least. As in who cares if I don't have heart burn if my heart explodes from high blood pressure or I give myself a concussion from low blood pressure? See also, I still have adrenal issues.

Hello, body? This is your brain speaking. Get it the fuck together.

Shit, my parents at 60 are healthier than I am. The boomers are going to outlive me at this rate.

My Email Address and Newly Discovered Allergies

For the reader who asked, my email is pissedoffpatient AT gmail DOT com.

Energy was okay yesterday. No steroids. Tried to take it easy, but probably overdid it judging by how pooped I was at the end of the day. We went to the park and I had a mom friend over. Chatting with her, I didn't get lunch until almost 2, with only 1/2 cup of yogurt for breakfast and it being the first day without steroids this week (which means even lower blood sugar than normal). I finally had to come clean that if I didn't eat,I would probably pass out. I offered her a salad, but she ran away when she saw how many greens were involved.

Later the hubby drove me around for some errands. Gah. I HATE THIS FATIGUE! I also dislike the heat edema that came to the party and failed to take a picture--just put my legs up and tried to stay cool which helped.

I have continued to work with the digestive enzymes with good success. Any failures are due to, I think, food allergies/sensitivities. So far on the list: chocolate (sob), peppers, cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes (yet they are sometimes okay). Some of these I've had issues with even on Nexium, but I attributed it to GERD. 'Oh, the GERD is just bad today.'

With digestive enzymes to treat the GERD, I'm fine so long as I don't eat any offending items--this is the distinction that makes me consider it a food sensitivity or allergy.

Well.

Knock me over with a feather.

I had no idea that I had any food sensitivities, but it is becoming very clear that I am reacting to several foods the second they hit my stomach. When that happens, I have to resort to Nexium and even then it takes hours and hours for it to kick in and give me any relief.

Huh. My body can still surprise me.

This news article about a nurse who denied medical care to a student in the throes of acute asthma brought back memories. None of them good. I had one asthma attack in High School. The gym teacher ignored me. The kids laughed at me. The school nurse rolled her eyes.

I marched into the doctor's office the next day and demanded to be excused. Even at 15, I was incensed and the doctor handed a letter over no problem (I note that because it's somewhat unusual for any physician to listen to me, let alone give me what I ask for, I must've been quite persuasive).

For years, I worried they would come take my High School diploma away because I didn't have any gym classes. But I'm glad I did it. I could've easily been that student, gasping for air as a nurse locked me in the room, not even bothering to call 911 let alone dispense any medicine.

Ironically, I had an ER experience that was a lot like that once.

Today we are going out of town for a graduation party. I'm packing a picnic because I don't want to eat any crap food that might make me sick. The few restaurant meals I've had recently have not gone well. Processed restaurant food has actually been burning my mouth.

Wish me luck that I have good energy today. I need it!

Failure

Yesterday, my stomach realized it had been remiss in its duties to provide the free world with acid. Acid for everyone! That's my stomach's motto.

By the time I took Nexium, it didn't even work.

So I'll ask and see what the alternative medicine people say. Not too hopeful that there's anything they can do. The alternative paradigm is that heartburn is because you have too little acid or lack enzymes, but my problem has always been that I overproduce.

Then, I could not get up. Just could not wake up on Friday. I was really down for the count. I had to call for help with the toddler because I just couldn't do it.

I did not stress dose, figuring maybe if I stayed in bed all day that things might improve. I rested all day, felt semi-human by the evening.

Of course, today, same problem. I'm so fatigued, I'm fighting to stay awake. And I just don't have time for this. May is probably, literally, the busiest month of my life (and the hubby's life, it's really insane). We have three different events going today alone and I have to be able to cope. So I took 5mg.

This chest cold turned head cold is not helping. I'm at that tipping point where I'll either get better or need antibiotics. Either way, it's pure sinus pain misery.

Alternative Medicine Update

So while the raw vegan vitamins and supplements still taste like ass, they do seem to work.

I am using a digestive enzyme supplement in place of Nexium. Get this, it actually works. I am shocked. I was very skeptical. I do have some breakthrough heartburn, but, as soon as I take the next dose...relief. They need to add this stuff to Pepto Bismal, that might actually make the pink slime effective for once.

I have never been able to miss a dose of heartburn medication without vomiting acid and acid diarrhea since I was 23 years old. So this is pretty significant.

I don't know that I'll never, ever take Nexium again. I have a sneaking suspicion that, if you drink crap like Coke Zero and eat a bunch of junk food, you can outpace natural medicine (or any medical treatment, for that matter). Also my GERD is genetic, it's not lifestyle and I'm sure it will cause me problems again down the road.

So, if I need Nexium, that's okay with me. If I have to use it intermittently, that's fine. Or if this enzyme effect is limited and I go back on it full time, that's also fine. My goal is to feel better, however I get there, not to necessarily never use mainstream medicine again.

The only thing is digestive enzymes are more cost effective than Nexium (insurance doesn't want to cover it), with fewer side effects, so it would be a win-win all around if they are effective long term.

My blood pressure medicine has also been switched to a medicinal herb formulation. I looked them up. They're legit. These herbs gave rise to prescription medications, only the herbs don't seem to have the side effects of their 'processed' pharmaceutical counterparts. I am checking my blood pressure frequently and it's fine, so far.

Controlling BP with herbs, however, is not cost effective. If I need continual medication, I'd rather go back to the pharmaceutical stuff. My only complaint with BP was that I've lost all this weight, yet need ever increasing amounts of medication. I find that really annoying.

One of the (many) other supplements I am taking is Maca root. Google told me it's the 'Peruvian Via gra' which, Good Lord, not the effect I was going for. I have no idea if the Maca is actually doing anything at all, but I thought it was funny. Me? On a Vi a gra like substance? Hahahaha.

And I've decided I do like the Myer's Cocktail. It's hard to really sort out its effects since I had the overlay of a chest cold, but I did not stress dose, despite being decently sick. I had the reserves to keep me going. There were moments where I wondered if I would be able to do it, where I was sure I would need steroids, but they passed and I'm almost to the other side, steroid free. That has happened almost never, so I am excited.

It's interesting to me that there's a perception that it doesn't seem to have value (at least from what I've read). No one disputes the effects of a B12 shot or the impact of other anti-oxidants, but put them in an IV and boo hiss? That doesn't make sense to me.

I am not sure it helped my chest cold much. The feedback I felt in my body was that I'd just dumped a ton of stuff in my blood stream for it to process when it was already busy fighting the bug. In that sense, I think it slowed down my immune response, but once the infusion was integrated into my system, I believe it was helpful.

With the Myer's Cocktail, my body felt very 'active' like it was super busy doing important things. I have no idea what that work was, but the sensation was very 'buzzy' on the macro level. It reminded me of the 'activity' of my body working to make milk after my daughter was born. I could tell something major was going on then and I have that same feeling now.

I don't know if any of this will work long term, but short term it's had a positive impact. I have some criticisms of things too and I hope to write a post on that once I've formulated my thoughts.