So far, I have managed to get through two of my four midterm exams. I am doing much better this term. I owe a lot of thanks to the medicine the doctor put me on for my pseudotumor. It really has helped to reduce the vision problems I’ve had from the pressure I feel on my eyes, as well as helping to reduce the number and duration of the headaches I was having. I’m still getting headaches and vision issues fairly often, but not nearly as bad as before. Now, I can actually study longer than 20 minutes without being in misery.
I’m very glad to be done with my first two exams. I’m taking today off, but my studying regime for my exams at the end of next week starts back in full force tomorrow. Of course, after that it will only be another two weeks until the next exam. There’s never really a break for college students when you mix science and social studies classes (the midterm exam schedules tend to be a bit different, and in my case I have an exam most weeks). Anyways, that’s all for now. I just wanted to confirm that I am still working on improving my nutrition and exercise regime to continue to lose weight.
I saw the doctor yesterday morning and got the official results of my tests. According to him, my spinal pressure is actually over twice what is should be. Also, although my MRI didn’t show any unexpected abnormalities, it did show a great deal of pressure on my brain and my optic nerves. Apparently, having so much pressure on the optic nerves can cause them to swell in their sockets, pushing against the bone. This, in turn, can cause extreme visual problems potentially even resulting in blindness over time.
The procedure I had read about online for this condition is something called a “shunt” which is supposed to help relieve the overall pressure (something like a cathetor in your spine, I think). However, the doctor recommended a different procedure that might help, and he is currently trying to get an appointment for me to go to OHSU for a procedure assessment. In this procedure, they cut slices in the optic nerve. That way, excess fluid leaks out so the pressure is reduced ( the leaking fluid apparently gets absorbed by the blood stream). The doctor said it was a relatively simple procedure. However, I do wonder how they access my optic nerve (moving my eye to the side?). Also, anytime you talk about cutting near the eyes, it doesn’t seem so simple to me.
So, I’m a little freaked out right now. Obviously, it is crucial to try and do everything I can to avoid needing this procedure. However, the doctor seemed pretty certain I would need it. The main things I can do are take the diamox medicine (which removes sodium from the brain tissues to reduce pressure), lose weight (which I have been doing, but doesn’t seem to be enough, unfortunately), and reducing the salt in my diet. Now, I’ve been losing weight by monitoring primarily my calories but also paying attention to sugar and fat, especially. I’ve been losing weight fairly well by this routine. However, now I am going to have to totally change my way of eating for a nutrient I hadn’t considered before: salt. I was actually crying and had a little breakdown yesterday because of this (actually, three seperate crying breakdowns). It may not seem important to some, but having to totally redo my eating habits after I had finally changed them enough to lose weight is very devastating for me. Also, all of this health stuff just makes all my other goals such as improving my organizational skills, studying, exercising, etc. that much harder to accomplish. So, I’m really sad and bummed right now. However, I’m not falling into depression, which is good. I still have my family to support me. Speaking of which, here is a cute picture that I love that helps to cheer me up. We took this over spring break when my grandparents first met my boyfriend.
So, obviously, I’ve had a really bad time with my health issue. However, on a more positive note, I weighed myself the other day and was 298.9. SO, it seems I am finally under 300 pounds! Of course, I’m happy, but I’m a bit worried about the declining amount of exercise I’ve been getting as I’ve been feeling sicker. I think whenever I don’t feel horrible, I need to really push myself to workout to make up for the times when I feel too sick. I am thrilled, though, even though my weight loss is going pretty slow. Being under 300 pounds is something that hasn’t happened since I was studying abroad, so it really is great.
So, for several months, I have been having a lot of vision problems and headaches. At first, I thought the headaches and vision stuff was just left over from all the autoimmune problems I was having last year (which in part is why I can’t accurately determine when I developed this pseudotumor problem). However, my vision got so bad, I began to think I had a genuine problem (also that my house might be haunted because my vision issues involved the walls, curtains, etc. seeming to move and roll around). Back in January, I scheduled a vision appointment. The tests showed something a little odd, so they recommended that I see a neurologist. Unfortunately, no appointment was available until mid March (the Monday of finals week, no less).
When I finally got to see the neurologist, he said there was about a 95% chance I’m suffering from a pseudotumor. So, he immediately started me on a medicine called Diamox. The instructions were to take three pills per day. Unfortunately, by Tuesday afternoon (my 5th dose), I was feeling really sick from all the side effects. I later found out that an allergy to sulfa runs in my family, and sulfa is in this medicine. Unfortunately, the doctor says there is no alternate medicine, there is just this one to treat pseudotumors. As this was finals week, I ended up bombing the exams set for Wednesday, as I was disgustingly sick. Of course, I stopped taking the medicine Wednesday, but it didn’t wear off until Wednesday night. Upon contacting the doctor, they said to start with one per day and work up until I’m comfortable. I found that if I am sure to eat very well before taking my pill, I have fewer side effects. I’ve worked up to two per day, although I still don’t think I can handle three per day.
Now, doing poorly in my classes from my health issues is bad enough, but I figured I would just focus on getting better and not worry about this one (although, considering my massive problems finishing all the readings due to headaches and vision issues, not to mention the final week medicine problems, my overall grades ended up not being that bad). So, I waited for my authorization to come through for both a brain MRI and a spinal tap (otherwise known as a lumbar puncture). One week passed and I hadn’t heard anything. So, the Monday after my original appointment, I called my insurance company to see why it hadn’t been approved yet. What did they tell me? They hadn’t received a request from the doctor yet. What? Every other doctor I’ve seen sends these requests within the first day or two of seeing them! Come to find out, this particular NEUROLOGY office sends all their requests to a committee for approval before sending them to the insurance company (and can therefore take up to two weeks). What? I thought the insurance company was supposed to be the one that took forever approving things!
Anyhow, I finally got the go to schedule my appointments early last week. I was able to get in for my brain MRI Thursday of last week, but I couldn’t get in for my lumbar puncture until today. So, as of right now, I am forced to lie down flat until tomorrow morning with considerable pain and stiffness in my back. Every time I have to use the restroom or change positions, it hurts pretty bad (the numbness from the shots they gave have worn off). It’s strange because it is such a small puncture, but it goes pretty deep into the spine, I think. Anyhow, I am seriously hoping I won’t be too sore to sit through my classes tomorrow.
I called my doctor after my procedure this morning and asked if I needed to schedule a follow up, or if he would advise me over the phone. The receptionist said “oh, it looks like you have an appointment set up for June”. JUNE? I am not waiting another two months. Especially since the doctor doing the lumbar puncture said my spinal fluid pressure was abnormally high (something like 32 when it should be about 20, and that’s with me taking this medicine to reduce pressure). So, I tell the receptionist this. She takes a message for me to send back to the doctor’s nurse. Finally, tonight, they called me back and said they can squeeze me in tomorrow morning at 8:50 am. Ugh. I hate to get up so early, and I’m sure I’m going to be sore and stiff, but I absolutely need to see the doctor to get a proper course of treatment.
Now, what’s the most demoralizing part of this story for me? The most common cause of a pseudotumor is weight gain (or being overweight). Fantastic. So, this is partially related to my autoimmune problems last year, as that is what caused me to gain so much freaking weight. Not to mention, I found that the other cause of pseudotumor includes certain medications, especially antibiotics. What was I on nearly the whole time I was abroad that brought on all my original autoimmune problems? Antibiotics! So, it seems pretty clear to me that this isn’t just extreme bad luck, but is related to my horrible health ever since I studied abroad (although studying abroad is great, I just got horribly unlucky with the antibiotic part of it). I’m not sure if I prefer it all being related or not. Either way, it is horribly depressing, and I am trying to do everything I can not to sink into depression and despair from all of this.
The most positive and helpful thing that has gotten me through this has been my family. That includes both my lifelong family as well as my boyfriend (we are at almost 3 months together now). My family and boyfriend have both been extremely supportive. Today, my boyfriend has been next to me all day, getting me food and waiting on me. He is the greatest, sweetest guy, and I love him so much. I don’t know how I would get through all this without him and the rest of my family.
Ok, so it has been quite a while since I posted. I have been extremely busy with my classes, my health, and my boyfriend. Amazingly, I’ve managed to do pretty well with continuing my workouts. Currently, I am up to about my 42nd workout. I started volunteering with the local humane society (mostly walking the dogs, which adds to my activity level). It’s really cool to spend time with the lonely animals.
Besides my workout, I have recently started keeping much better track of my daily caloric intake. Although I was moderately keeping an eye on it before, I believe I will have greater results now that I am carefully tracking my food intake. Eventually, I may link my food journal here, but I am not currently sure how to do that. Also, I have taken up the practice of “calorie cycling”. I decided to do this since I have read many great things about it (of course, the theory behind it is reasonable) and, more importantly, have read nothing bad mentioned about it.
The only bad thing I can think of is that I have now officially had a cold for two weeks (and it is the 4th cold I’ve had in the last 2-1/2 months). Fortunately, I’ve minimized the number of classes and workouts I have missed. However, I hate feeling horrible in the mornings, and that is what has been happening every day for the last two weeks. I am seriously hoping this cold finally goes away soon. After all, finals are only a week away, and I have 4 of them to deal with (not to mention this week is full of final homework, projects, and lab experiments that give me hardly any time to study for my finals).
One great thing is that my boyfriend and I are getting along very well. I am very pleased at how our relationship is progressing. Hopefully, things will keep going well.
Another great thing is that I am down to 307 pounds. I’m not losing weight quite as fast as I’d like, but I am definitely losing, which is great! Hopefully, by calorie cycling, I’ll continue to lose pretty regularly, without hitting any major plateaus.
So, I am up to my 23rd workout. Actually, I missed several days due to having 4 midterms this week. However, I managed to get through all of them and still fit in several workouts. Now, the more exciting news is that I have a boyfriend! We have been dating for around a week and a half now, and we are both having a great time. We are both interested in marriage and having a family someday. Also, our educational and career goals are very similar (we both are working towards having a much higher education and good jobs someday). Overall, I think that just the facts that he is a good, devoted, hard-working boy makes the chances of this relationship being long term very high. Besides that, though, I am definitely starting to appreciate his presence (although he does have a few annoying habits and bad joking skills). Hopefully, I will continue to report on our relationship and how things are progressing.
I just found this nice little calorie counter online. I don’t think it has a long term memory, but it is great if you are just wanting to check your daily calories to see how closely you are following your goals. Feel free to give it a try!
Another day, and yet another class. It was horrible to wake up on a Saturday and go and take this class. However, it was worth it. It was a very hard class (after the first 1/2 hour, I started having to take breaks and modify some of the moves by slowing them down or making them less impact). However, I did enjoy it. There was a lot of energy in the room, and there was lots of fast, modern music.
My buddy and I both enjoyed it, even though we were sweating like pigs. That being said, apparently after the class while I was getting a drink, the instructor came and asked my buddy if we were both alright. LOL. I mean, we were the only two overweight people in the class (most of the others were more towards underweight than anything else). My buddy said something to the tune of “well, we didn’t die…”. When my buddy told me, I said “it’s not like we’re gonna kill ourselves in a workout class; if it is too hard, we’ll take a break or something”. There is that little thing called a survival instinct, after all. Besides, fat people tend to get fat because they haven’t pushed themselves hard enough (even though they may have good reasons like illness or kids, etc.), so I wouldn’t think that fat people pushing themselves to death in a workout class is likely.
Anyhow, it was a fun class other than the obvious fact that several people did stare at us. Kind of surprising, since no one stared at any of the other classes (even the dance class). Anyways, though, if they want to stare at my fat, jiggling body, then let them. It isn’t going to stop me from doing what is good for my health.
Time Exercised: 1 hour 20 minutes
Calories Burned: around 500-600