A few things have happened since my last health update, so I figured a new update was due.
Swallowing
While I know my rheumy put in a referral for speech pathology to help with my esophageal dysmotility, I’ve not been contacted yet. I’m sure that my swallowing issues are towards the end of their priority list, and that’s fine.
In the meantime, I’ve been relying heavily on plastic straws. The other options just do not work for me. That’s especially true when my dishwasher keeps running into rust problems. I don’t trust it to clean any kind of straw, and I don’t have the hand dexterity lately to wash them by hand. It’s an important part of why plastic straws exist – and why they shouldn’t be banned.
People who can drink without straws should, but don’t ban them. You’re losing any potential business from a wide variety of people.
GI
I’ve been keeping to my low FODMAP diet… for the most part.
Because of that, I’ve been able to recognize some other things that exacerbate my IBS. While I might not necessarily cut things like coffee completely out of my diet, I also know to expect – and prepare for – the end result. If I know I need coffee, I can premedicate with an anti-diarrheal, too, to help limit the intensity.
My follow-up is in October. I’ll likely go through with the gastroparesis study. Now that I’m not dealing with exacerbated IBS every single day, I am noticing how long it takes my body to process things… and it’s still too long.
Cardiology
My Holter monitor came back fine.
I’m floored, honestly. I have no idea how that was the case, but I also know a lot of heart issues can’t be found with that monitor. My rheumy has offered to pass me along to cardiology for a full workup.
I should take her up on it. I know I should. For some reason, though, I’m just pushing it off because, honestly, it scares the shit out of me.
Migraine
Since changing from estrogen-filled birth control pills to an IUD, my migraines has drastically decreased.
Over the last 20 days, I’ve only had 3 migraine-related issues. Two of those were full-on migraines while the other one was medicating early to stop a migraine.
MCAS
I’ve finally got a good medication routine down that stops most of the reactions I was having. Thanks to fellow MCAS patients, I’ve been able to figure out many of the things I react to. Sadly, that means limiting more dyes than I would’ve liked.
At the same time, can I live without wildberry skittles? Yes, yes I can.
Trigger Point Injections
I’ve been getting these for a while now.
I was terrified when I started, but they’ve really helped. As odd as it is to say, I’ve grown to appreciate needles in my head, neck, shoulders, and back.
I had a round of these last week and we did our fewest number of injections yet! It only took four shots to give me relief.
That’s incredibly amazing.
Because of that, we’ve been able to push off the next set from every four weeks to every six weeks… which means I get another round on Halloween!
*imagine spooky noises here*
And Now, My Liver
I stopped by the lab and got blood drawn after my injections last week. My CBC was great, but… my liver didn’t look good.
My AST was 42, when the normal range is up to 36. My ALT? 59, well above the 0-33 normal range.
While we’re not sure why this has happened, the Zyrtec I’m using to take care of my MCAS – up to 40 mg/day – can cause ‘abnormal hepatic function.’ So can my Nortriptyline, which was upped to 30 mg in June. I’m trying to only use 30 mg of Zyrtec for now and avoid using Zantac (another histamine blocker) when possible because, surprise, it can do that, too.
Rheumy has ordered another run of these labs in a month.
Time to shoot her a message about med use and a cardiology referral.