…there is always something there if you look that you can be thankful for!

Just want to say first and foremost that this blog entry might be a little confusing at best.  My thoughts are all over the place, and so might this blog be!  But I do hope that it’s coherent enough for you to understand my point! Enjoy!

On Thursday I had my visit with my Dysautonomia Specialist, Dr. Susan Phillips at The Autonomic Disorders and Mitral Valve Prolapse Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.  I highly recommend this Dr. and this clinic.  So before I even begin to get into my quick little blog about my visit, I’ll list their website here for you if you are looking for a great place to go and an awesome Dr. for your dysautonomic disorder.  http://www.mvprolapse.com  And don’t let the website link fool you, because it’s not just a clinic for mitral valve prolapse but also for autonomic disorders.  So check it out!

Ok, so here is how my 2nd visit went.  I arrived and according to the nurse every other visit I will now I have an EKG, and on the others I will have an Echocardiogram and tread-stress test.  This visit was another EKG and things were ok.  I then was checked over by Dr. Phillips.  And considering that I couldn’t walk or talk the last time I saw her, she said I looked great. :)  So she checked my heart rate and blood pressure sitting and standing, and then we did what I call our chat thing.  It’s different than when other Dr.’s sit back and say in their authoritive tone “Ok, tell me. What seems to be the problem?” *smile*  Dr. Phillip’s does sit back in her chair but she doesn’t seem all above you or anything.  When she asks what is going on it’s a different feeling.  So we talked about my problems sleeping, about how I sleep great for a week or week and 1/2 and then I have about the same length of time with no sleep, and it goes back and forth even on the same dosage of my sleeping medication.  Which for those of you who are wondering I take two .5mg of Klonopin every night.  So some nights I’m sleeping so very great, and some nights not at all.  So she informed me this was completely normal for someone with my particular wiring, and we are now adding Trazidone (can’t remember the dosage) to the mix on the weeks when sleep isn’t on my radar.  We also talked about my horrible time I’ve been having with the migraines, the ones with and without the headaches.  I told her I had no clue what I was having until the neurologist explained things to me.  She told me I’d need to follow up with Dr. Hudgins (neurologist) again for the migraines since that would be his department, but that I could try topamax.  And since I still have a prescription for it from a diet clinic I was trying before everything fell apart (and no I wasn’t taking anything other than that and the b-12 complex shots… I know better and was being monitored by a Dr. who also was the one who did say I should be checked again due to tachycardia). So I’m trying the topamax because they are supposed to be good at preventing headaches. I have a couple prescriptions of it and if it works it will save me the trip to a neurologist and all that cash spent going to one since I’m not insured still.  Besides, if they work it will give me the push I need to get the B-12 shots again… I lost 20 lbs during that time… :)  I have to go back to Dr. Phillips again in January.  And if insurance is active then, we’re going to do some blood work, hormonal tests, and a sleep study I think.  I did ask her what exactly it is that I have.  What exactly is it that is wrong with me.  She told me I didn’t fall into a category.  That I have an autonomic dysfunction and I’m wired differently.  She told me that if anyone asks, that’s what I should tell them, that I’m just wired differently, and that they will probably say “Well I already knew that!”  That gave me a laugh because it is exactly what my friends or family would have said… :)   So I think my latest appointment with Dr. Phillips was great and I feel more optimistic about my future after Dr. Phillips told me she did not see me in a wheelchair in 5 years or anything like that.  She said that she feels that I’m on the right path and that I am already doing much better than I was just 7 weeks ago.  I agree with her.  I am able to take some stand up showers now.  And if I could just get the migraines figured out I might would be able to take a drive alone.  Who knows… But if Dr. Phillips thinks that I’m on the right path, then I trust her.  After all, I’m feeling much better since my first visit with her and her adjustment of my medications.  And for the record, I know it isn’t all Dr. Phillips.  I know that God has had his had on my life from the very moment I was born.  I know he laid out the pathway to Dr. Phillips office door, and ultimately all the ways I’ve recovered are because of God and His graces!  So trust in your Dr.’s but trust in God first and foremost!  Sometimes God chooses to heal us instantly, sometimes we must wait a while, and sometimes he uses wonderful Dr.’s with positive and sweet dispositions to help us until that time comes.  That’s what Dr. Phillips and her staff is to me.  They are my gift from God until he decides to heal me.  And if that time doesn’t come, then I am very thankful for the gift that the paths God placed me on led me too! So there you have it.  My most recent Dr. news and how I feel about it.  Hope that your day is going great, and is full of thanks no matter what your facing, because there is always something there if you look that you can be thankful for!