BorreliaEtc.com ~ From The Hart
Living With Tick-Borne Infections in WA State
Adding a New Diagnosis
Over the past two decades I’ve collected an impressive list of diagnoses along with the tick-borne ones – I’ll give you a taste from my first diagnosis and then in no particular order:
- heartburn (that was the first guess when I couldn’t stop throwing up at 18 years old)
- gastroparesis
- epstein-barr virus (EBV)
- postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
- multiple sclerosis (MS)
- early menopause (age 22)
- hypothyroidism
- dysautonomia
- human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6)
- chronic fatigue (CFS/ME)
- abdominal migraines
- bell’s palsy
- temporary idiopathic paralysis of the left leg
- slowed nerve conduction
- cluster headaches
- vaso vagel syncope (VVS)
- ankle and leg tendonitis
- chronic pain syndrome
…and like the list of links in Meet The Family, that’s simply off the top of my head.
Well yay (?) at my latest Primary Care appt I got to add another diagnosis.
*facepalm*
- polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
Now this sounds a lot more scary than it is. Let’s see what a little Google search says.
Thanks. I’m becoming more like a man every day. A frustrated-because-my-hormones-aren’t-where-they-should-be person. But without the energy to throw a proper tantrum, I’ll resort to blogging about how surreal it feels. Another diagnosis. I should get to have a punch card.
This diagnosis is validating because I have WEIRD symptoms – like hair on my tummy that wasn’t there five years ago. Seriously. And hobbit feet, but I’ve had those all my life and I’m part of the extended Baggins Family.
Ahem, where was I?
I do have a “high normal” amount of testosterone according to my July blood draw. At my age range it becomes high at the numerical value of 146.
I’m 145.
My estrogens are “normal low” but progesterone is low. Thankfully I don’t have acne, but don’t count that out yet, I’m only turning 38 in December, remember? (I’m trying not to feel old, but I have reached that point where EVERYONE on tv is suddenly younger than me! When did this happen??)
Now the part about cysts are scary, and enlarged ovaries, and connection to endometriosis… C’mon Universe, really?
Nevermind, I didn’t ask that. Really, it’s okay. Go back to sleep Universe. Nighty night!
So… treatments?
Birth control? Nope, have had blood clots in my lungs. (Oh yeah, I forgot that diagnosis before… certain ones you want to forget.) So all the hormone stuff is a no-go. I should make an appointment with my GYN, thankfully I have a really great one that I can tell anything to. She was one of the first people I came out to outside of the LGBTQ community. She’ll help me make sense out this, “don’t worry, you’re becoming a man” thing.
Right?
And also I’m not doing statins or anything because my BP is already low and I’m having trouble with this dancing pulse. When I was diagnosed with POTS my average pulse was 110. BP is average 90/60. Now my pulse is sinking to the 40’s, sometimes even the 30’s! Other times it shoots up to 156. I’ve been to the cardiologist, my heart is strong and there is no evidence of anything but VVS. But we are not messing with my pressure.
And I don’t have diabetes, my blood sugar is usually good when I keep up the IVs. I’ve been so tired lately that starting my IV fluids seems like such a daunting task… like climbing a mountain would be easier.
This is your mind.
This is your mind on BorreliaEtc.
No questions, too tired.
BorreliaEtc.com ~ From The Hart 