Health update.
So since I’ve last written let’s see what has changed…
I stopped metoprolol and started ivabradine, which I feel like has given me my spark and my life back. I don’t feel so out of it anymore which is incredible and my heart rate is still being contained by the ivabradine which rocks.
I went from 500mg of metformin to 1000mg of metformin and man that was intense. I was sick for basically two weeks with diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, and more. I thought for a moment that I just had a summer cold but when it didn’t go away I was like this is for sure from the change in medication since those are common side effects of metformin. Those have subsided; however, on Friday I am changing from metformin to semaglutide compounded with B12. I know I know, another person going on a GLP-1. However, with my PCOS I need to be on something to help me out with my insulin resistance and the metformin has given me my energy back which is so nice. So I am really looking forward to being on the GLP-1 for energy and also for weight-loss. Which again, I know I know, I should just figure out how to lose weight on my own, but fuck the haters. With PCOS it’s incredibly hard to lose weight without help of some sort and I just want to start feeling more like me again at a lower more manageable weight. And on top of that, my yearly physical with my PCP showed that I need to lose weight because I have some concerning health indicators showing that if I don’t lose weight I could get heart disease or other long term health outcomes that I don’t want. Okay, to keep going on this tangent, I’m happy with where I am at now finally with meds and health – I am figuring shit out – but I used to weigh closer to 160lbs and then when I started on all of these meds that have overall helped me this spring and summer, I started to gain a ton of weight and now I’m basically at 180lbs.
To branch a little from my pity party of weight related issues, I do just want to say I am super grateful to my PCP for being on board with me during this journey. I finally am driving again and going to appointments by myself and this independence has brought me so much joy and happiness. I finally am feeling like I am doing it. I am getting my life back. And there were moments I genuinely didn’t know if I’d ever feel like this again. I’m dating one special boy who makes me very happy. Like what? Unreal.
Okay back to the health stuff.
So I have to get a cyst cut out of me next week at the dermatologist. Then I am getting the copper IUD placed so that I am protected. Then I am meeting with a new cardiologist at U of M and I’m really looking forward to that because I absolutely hate my cardiologist at Trinity. He was the one that didn’t even want to test me for POTS. Dumb fuck. Sorry. But then I am getting surgery on my deviated septum and a reduction of my nasal turbinates which should overall help me breath a ton better and I feel like maybe that’ll help some of the dizziness that I have when I’m super stuffed up. I know I have a lot coming up, but I feel like it’s all things that are going to continue to improve my quality of life and I can’t wait.
Oh one other health update that I almost forgot was that I went to the allergist and he started me on allergy shots, so I’m on my second week of those and will continue on for the next 5 years. In a few months I should start to feel the effects of those and I’m really looking forward to that. However the allergist did want to put me on this medicine called singulair although this medicine has a black box warning label and I talked with my PCP and decided not to take it because of my mental health issues and I don’t want to fuck around with the system that I have going at the moment.
Thank you if you’ve made it this far in my journey. I know I haven’t written for awhile (1) I’ve just been really busy and (2) I just needed to sit with this new happiness before I came back to share. I didn’t believe that it was real for a long time. I thought my body might go back to not functioning, I was and still sometimes am scared that one wrong turn and I’ll be in the same place I was last year. The more time passes, the more I am starting to trust my body again and understand what it needs and when. But it’s just crazy because I’ve been in this body for almost 30 years and now I feel like I’m having to relearn things and also rehab my body to have stamina and endurance. I’ve started swimming again and trying to run and I’ve been walking for like 30 minutes at a time. It’s slow work but it’s working. I am getting stronger and getting more endurance.
I now feel like I can see the light at the end of tunnel and don’t feel as depressed. Don’t get me wrong, there are days where I really struggle and also struggle with how much time I’ve wasted but if I hadn’t been on this journey I probably would’ve never have met my boy, moved in with my parents and now helping to take care of my dad who has dementia, started a job that I do really enjoy (almost lost it), and just get the help I needed to step away from being a party animal. I was a wild women without direction and now I’ve made a manifestation list to get done before the end of the year and also 5-10 year goals list. I’ve never done anything like that before, but it’s honestly been working. It’s been making me so happy.
So to end this blog about health and about life, never give up. Life does get better you’ve just got to give it time and lots of effort.
(Picture from East Troy, WI, USA.)