Blog#16--Parole Denied

Sorry again for slow posts. . I'm still borrowing a computer.

The past 2 weeks have not been so good. . and yes, despite my hesitancy to write about delicate girl subjects, I feel it is important to share this information for those women who find themselves in the same place. This applies not only to FM patients and could apply to healthy women as well.

In a nutshell, I started to bleed vaginally about 15 days ago. I'm on a birth control pill and I was nowhere near my cycle time. I've been on this pill for well over 5 years due to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). It's a bit ironic given the fact that I have had my tubes tied for over a decade now but w/ PCOS you need to have more female hormones in your body because otherwise you have nasty symptoms like hemorrhaging vaginally, facial acne, facial hair growth that ain't for girls, and a lot of pain and cramping. I also need the pill because I am low on my blood supply (due to past hemorrhaging periods) so I skip my period for 2 months and have a period at the end of the third in order to build up the blood in my body.

In the 5 years that I've taken the pill, I've never had a breakthrough bleed, so this alarmed me along w/ the fact that I am totally anemic and losing blood is not a good thing for me. I finally went to an ob/gyn here in Tahoe (who was and is a complete bitch) and I was diagnosed with a bacterial infection called 'gardnerella' & supposedly it was a potential cause of the bleeding. However, due to the FM and treatments it's not so clear if this was the reason for my breakthrough bleeding or not.

As usual, my case is so complicated no one really knows exactly what started this bleeding and it could be a combo of sorts. It could be the gardnerella, but it also could be that I was using homeopathic means to get rid of the candida overgrowth in my gut. This entailed drinking 2 types of Pau D'Arco tea (which is a strong herbal tea made of the bark of a tree), using oregano oil & applying it to my feet, my sacrum, and on my tongue, taking probiotics orally and via saline enemas (again, to coat the gut w/ good bacteria) and finally taking digestive enzymes. My point here is this--*be careful w/ homeopathic methods as they can be as dangerous as any prescribed drug*. Case in point -- Pau D'Arco tea can act as an anti-coagulant and that most definitely may have attributed to my bleeding. I am happy to share the various treatments with individuals but please note that I am not a doctor nor a naturopath so you must decide for yourself if these items are safe for you to use. Everyone is different.

Finally, many women are not aware of this but chiropractics can often cause women to have hormone fluctuations. I've seen many an older female patient start to experience hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause even if they went through it decades ago. I've also talked to patients that have started bleeding after a regular chiropractic adjustment. I believe that with the amount and intensity of my chiropractic treatments right now it's highly possible my body is re-setting itself and am regulating my hormones better now (i.e. - maybe I no longer have PCOS anymore).

Thus, the 3 things I want women--particularly those with FM--to know are this:

-vaginal bleeding that is abnormal could be caused by a bacterial or yeast infection and you need to get a swab test done to rule out this potential problem.

-naturopathic treatments for any disease, FM or not, is fine but treat everything you take as if it were a prescription med. Just because you can go to a store and buy an innocuous looking box of tea, it could have many contraindications with other meds you may be taking or just plain cause side effects that can be very serious.

-if you receive chiropractic treatments (for FM or not) and you have a breakthrough bleed, you might have had this happen because the adjustment(s) messed w/ your nerves and glandular systems and that can cause unexpected bleeding as well.

So there! I did it. . I spoke about the girl issues and I'm not going to be embarrassed about it any more. :)

Now back to the summary of the past few weeks--I ended up having to take this really harsh antibiotic called FLAGYL for my bacterial infection. It is extremely nauseating and hard to take and it gives me a horrible stomach ache and head ache. I am on it for 10 days and of course, these days included the past weekend when J. came to see me. Poor J. -- I was so sick that I was literally in bed more than I was awake and I felt bad for him coming all the way out here.

The even worst news about this is that I got my parole denied at the clinic. Every Friday we complete what I like to call our weekly 'report card' which has you rate 23 symptoms for FM. After a simple calculation, you get the % of wellness that you currently have rated for yourself. The general rule of thumb is that when you hit wellness in the 90% range, you are getting your 2 week notice and get to go home at the end of those 2 weeks.

Monday is usually the day we get to know our progress and I was upset because my % wellness was much lower than it should be due to the non-FM related symptoms caused by the FLAGYL. Unfortunately, the doctors want to keep you until you get your FM symptoms separated from other ones so I basically have to spend this week and next dealing w/ issues not related to FM and that means I most certainly am not going home in three weeks.

So, I finally had the discussion w/ my doctor that I was avoiding. When do I get to go home? They really would like it if I stayed through my 16th week, and I told them I can't afford it and that I could only stay through my 14th week. So that's the deal, I get released on Sept. 19th. I am really bummed out and stressed about the $$ it is costing us. The typical patient stays for about 8 weeks and I believe I am now the 3rd longest patient here -- is anyone surprised? Not me. . As my friend Landon said 'You can't catch a break' and I thought 'if I had a penny for everytime I heard that. . . .'

This information on my delay here also coincided with Jason going back home (and I won't see him again until I get home to NM) and also coincided w/ my dear friend Laura leaving back to Puerto Rico. Needless to say my depression on Monday was at a fairly high level and I cried a whole lot.

But Tuesday was another day and I'm keeping up w/ my treatments and am now starting to do stretching and cervical traction at home. I still have horrible nausea and headaches due to the FLAGYL and am counting the days left (I am done this coming Saturday).

Despite all of these other problems, my FM seems pretty good. I am only taking my narcotic pain meds when I absolutely need to and I am taking far less than I used to. . like maybe 1/2 a pill of Lortab a day vs. 5 pills of Lortab a day. However, I am so frustrated because I really wanted to be home before fall moves in. I get so depressed during the fall that I wanted to see a bit of summer left in NM. I miss the hummingbirds and the crickets and the ability to see stars in the sky.

Some fun news is that my parents bought an awesome, new motor home and we get it on Saturday! Their current one is very nice and this new one is like a touring bus -- all leather, wood, etc. I even get an extra slide out in the bedroom. It's scary that I am now acting like a retired old lady who is learning to live the motor home life.

On the 1 good day I had w/ J. we drove to Sacramento and went to IKEA. That place is the mecca of all home furnishing stores. I was absolutely ecstatic to actually be in the store. I didn't even care that I had to drive 2 hours in the curvy mountains to Sacramento and did this wearing my stupid neck brace. But I followed the rules and my neck did okay. J. and I had a field day and literally bought all new furniture for our house! It was then that I realized how much I want to get back home and be able to spend time w/ J. and our babies working on the house.

Aside from all of this stuff, the progress is going slow but steady. I am relieved to have an actual release date but wish it were a bit earlier. How I miss the fiestas in Santa Fe, the state fair, and Zozobra (google that if you don't know what it is).

So with some reservations I am now slowly counting the last 5 weeks here and am trying to make it go by as fast as possible. . but remember I am the turtle so it's clearly much slower than I'd like it to be.

l_l