Lisa Guliani
The Living Force
Hi to Everyone and I hope you're all well...
I just wrote this update on what is currently happening with me - I've been having some serious issues with my feet for the last week.
Here is a synopsis. Perhaps someone can help me sort this out, because I've just been prescribed a medicine I'm not so sure I want to take.
Here is the synopsis:
Update on the Medical Merry-Go- Round
I just got home from my appointment with the Rheumatologist - or should I say both of them. One is a nurse practitioner. My appointment ended up lasting two hours. There is good news and bad news.
First, the good news. The results of yesterday's cholesterol and glucose blood tests were good. The doctor kept telling me that my HDL ( the 'good' cholesterol is elevated, at 71, which she says is really good.
The LDL, what they call 'bad' cholesterol is at 125, which I'm told is also a good number. Taken together, she says, the number looks high, but taken individually, the elevated HDL shows that my cholesterol level is just fine.
If this good news is due to anything, I attribute it to being on a Paleo diet, which I told her about. She'd never heard of it. I suggested she read up about it and the health risks posed by wheat and gluten. ( Life Without Bread, and Wheat Belly)
My blood pressure and radial and femoral pulse is good. My heart rate and lung sounds are good. I lost 1 1/2 pounds since yesterday, so I guess that isn't gonna make me cry either.
Now the not-so-good news.
The pulses in both of my feet are very weak and barely detectable.
My feet were both purple and blue and extremely cold to the touch.
The doctor called another doctor in to examine me to get a second opinion.
So, according to these rheumatologists, they don't think I have Reynaud's Disease.
They think I have peripheral vascular disease caused by what they believe are arterial blockages in my legs.
I'm very puzzled at this point. My cholesterol is GOOD. My weight is GOOD. Blood pressure, pulse, lung and heart sounds all GOOD.
The upper half of my body registers a GOOD strong pulse.
I also attribute this to all the walking I do. Exercise helps your body develop collateral circulation, extra blood vessels. Walking is great for this.
Anyway, I'm told that if this crap going on with my feet gets much worse, and the pulse stops in my feet, then I will be left with necrosed ( dead) tissue and they will have to amputate both my feet.
They think I have blockages in both my legs - somehow.
They prescribed me a medicine to 'try': Procardia, which also goes by a few other names. This, according to the literature from the pharmacy, belongs to a class of medications called calcium channel blockers (CCBs) that are used to treat angina (heart pain), high blood pressure, and abnormal heart rhythms.
PRESCRIBED FOR: Nifedipine ( Procardia) is used for the treatment and prevention of angina resulting from either an increased workload on the heart (as with exercise) or spasm of the coronary arteries. It is used in the treatment of high blood pressure, to treat abnormally fast heart rhythms such as atrial fibrillation, and in the prevention of episodes of rapid heart rhythm originating from the atria of the heart.
It also is used to dilate blood vessels that go into spasm such as those causing Raynaud's phenomenon, a painful condition of the hands caused by spasm of the arteries supplying blood to the hands.
Okay, but they said I do NOT have Reynaud's and my blood pressure was good- yesterday it was 116/70 and today it was 112/68.
They want to relax the blood vessels to try and improve blood flow to my feet.
They also want me to go see a vascular doctor now. I had to get another note to clear me from work, which also does not count with my employer.
I'm waiting for the call to see when I have to go for this appointment, and they want me to undergo Doppler studies ( which is non-invasive) first, and perhaps some other studies to determine if I have arterial blockages.
I was told I must not get cold. I'm supposed to keep my body, legs and feet very warm. ( No, really? I thought I'd go streaking through the supermarket in January. Duhh.)
I'm not supposed to get 'stressed' either. LOLOL,OLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL, which is a hilarious statement to make to ANYBODY who LIVES in this world. Do they actually teach these people to say this stuff in medical school, or are they just improvising?
Sigh. So, I filled the prescription but I'm concerned as to whether I should take it. It has alot of side effects and the doctors said it doesn't always work on people, but I could 'try' it.
I'm concerned about taking a hypertension medicine when I don't have hypertension.
I also got them to aspirate the cyst on my left wrist ( they acted like they didn't wanna do it, for some reason) which was a little barbaric to me ( jabbing me with a needle after spraying 'freezy spray' on my wrist. The only thing 'freezy' about this spray was that it was freezing cold on my skin. It didn't NUMB anything, so when they stuck me, I was almost biting through my tongue.
I don't think they aspirated all of the gel from the cyst. Doesn't look like it anyway.
( Maybe I should've kept slamming the cyst with the bible, and give the bible a worthwhile purpose for a change. Jeezuz.
They ALSO stuck me in the arm with a cortisone shot, since they THINK I have tennis elbow, NOT bone spurs, as I was told yesterday by the other Whitecoat, my primary doctor. Some inflammation was seen on the x-rays from yesterday.
All I can say about this is OWWWWWW.
Not really sure I want to take this medicine until I learn more about it.
So I went from being told I have 'cellulitis' to no, it's not cellulitis, to being told it's Reynaud's Disease to being told no, it's not Reynaud's Disease, it's peripheral vascular disease and arterial blockages ---all in the space of three days.
Interesting thing is, in the past, my mother was also told she has 'blockages' and underwent the same Doppler studies and other invasive procedures to check for blockages in her aorta all the way down to her feet.
The report came back as ' no blockages'. She just has narrow blood vessels in her legs. I wonder if this could also be the deal with me.
Either way, I'm looking at spinning on this merry-go-round for who knows how long and I really don't trust their chemical cocktails or what they're telling me.
They really need to lose the 'freezy spray', too.
I'm researching all of this for myself. You know what a miracle is? Getting two doctors to agree on the same thing at the same time.
That's what a miracle is.
Cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching.
Next co-pay, please.
I just wrote this update on what is currently happening with me - I've been having some serious issues with my feet for the last week.
Here is a synopsis. Perhaps someone can help me sort this out, because I've just been prescribed a medicine I'm not so sure I want to take.
Here is the synopsis:
Update on the Medical Merry-Go- Round
I just got home from my appointment with the Rheumatologist - or should I say both of them. One is a nurse practitioner. My appointment ended up lasting two hours. There is good news and bad news.
First, the good news. The results of yesterday's cholesterol and glucose blood tests were good. The doctor kept telling me that my HDL ( the 'good' cholesterol is elevated, at 71, which she says is really good.
The LDL, what they call 'bad' cholesterol is at 125, which I'm told is also a good number. Taken together, she says, the number looks high, but taken individually, the elevated HDL shows that my cholesterol level is just fine.
If this good news is due to anything, I attribute it to being on a Paleo diet, which I told her about. She'd never heard of it. I suggested she read up about it and the health risks posed by wheat and gluten. ( Life Without Bread, and Wheat Belly)
My blood pressure and radial and femoral pulse is good. My heart rate and lung sounds are good. I lost 1 1/2 pounds since yesterday, so I guess that isn't gonna make me cry either.
Now the not-so-good news.
The pulses in both of my feet are very weak and barely detectable.
My feet were both purple and blue and extremely cold to the touch.
The doctor called another doctor in to examine me to get a second opinion.
So, according to these rheumatologists, they don't think I have Reynaud's Disease.
They think I have peripheral vascular disease caused by what they believe are arterial blockages in my legs.
I'm very puzzled at this point. My cholesterol is GOOD. My weight is GOOD. Blood pressure, pulse, lung and heart sounds all GOOD.
The upper half of my body registers a GOOD strong pulse.
I also attribute this to all the walking I do. Exercise helps your body develop collateral circulation, extra blood vessels. Walking is great for this.
Anyway, I'm told that if this crap going on with my feet gets much worse, and the pulse stops in my feet, then I will be left with necrosed ( dead) tissue and they will have to amputate both my feet.
They think I have blockages in both my legs - somehow.
They prescribed me a medicine to 'try': Procardia, which also goes by a few other names. This, according to the literature from the pharmacy, belongs to a class of medications called calcium channel blockers (CCBs) that are used to treat angina (heart pain), high blood pressure, and abnormal heart rhythms.
PRESCRIBED FOR: Nifedipine ( Procardia) is used for the treatment and prevention of angina resulting from either an increased workload on the heart (as with exercise) or spasm of the coronary arteries. It is used in the treatment of high blood pressure, to treat abnormally fast heart rhythms such as atrial fibrillation, and in the prevention of episodes of rapid heart rhythm originating from the atria of the heart.
It also is used to dilate blood vessels that go into spasm such as those causing Raynaud's phenomenon, a painful condition of the hands caused by spasm of the arteries supplying blood to the hands.
Okay, but they said I do NOT have Reynaud's and my blood pressure was good- yesterday it was 116/70 and today it was 112/68.
They want to relax the blood vessels to try and improve blood flow to my feet.
They also want me to go see a vascular doctor now. I had to get another note to clear me from work, which also does not count with my employer.
I'm waiting for the call to see when I have to go for this appointment, and they want me to undergo Doppler studies ( which is non-invasive) first, and perhaps some other studies to determine if I have arterial blockages.
I was told I must not get cold. I'm supposed to keep my body, legs and feet very warm. ( No, really? I thought I'd go streaking through the supermarket in January. Duhh.)
I'm not supposed to get 'stressed' either. LOLOL,OLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL, which is a hilarious statement to make to ANYBODY who LIVES in this world. Do they actually teach these people to say this stuff in medical school, or are they just improvising?
Sigh. So, I filled the prescription but I'm concerned as to whether I should take it. It has alot of side effects and the doctors said it doesn't always work on people, but I could 'try' it.
I'm concerned about taking a hypertension medicine when I don't have hypertension.
I also got them to aspirate the cyst on my left wrist ( they acted like they didn't wanna do it, for some reason) which was a little barbaric to me ( jabbing me with a needle after spraying 'freezy spray' on my wrist. The only thing 'freezy' about this spray was that it was freezing cold on my skin. It didn't NUMB anything, so when they stuck me, I was almost biting through my tongue.
I don't think they aspirated all of the gel from the cyst. Doesn't look like it anyway.
( Maybe I should've kept slamming the cyst with the bible, and give the bible a worthwhile purpose for a change. Jeezuz.
They ALSO stuck me in the arm with a cortisone shot, since they THINK I have tennis elbow, NOT bone spurs, as I was told yesterday by the other Whitecoat, my primary doctor. Some inflammation was seen on the x-rays from yesterday.
All I can say about this is OWWWWWW.
Not really sure I want to take this medicine until I learn more about it.
So I went from being told I have 'cellulitis' to no, it's not cellulitis, to being told it's Reynaud's Disease to being told no, it's not Reynaud's Disease, it's peripheral vascular disease and arterial blockages ---all in the space of three days.
Interesting thing is, in the past, my mother was also told she has 'blockages' and underwent the same Doppler studies and other invasive procedures to check for blockages in her aorta all the way down to her feet.
The report came back as ' no blockages'. She just has narrow blood vessels in her legs. I wonder if this could also be the deal with me.
Either way, I'm looking at spinning on this merry-go-round for who knows how long and I really don't trust their chemical cocktails or what they're telling me.
They really need to lose the 'freezy spray', too.
I'm researching all of this for myself. You know what a miracle is? Getting two doctors to agree on the same thing at the same time.
That's what a miracle is.
Cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching.
Next co-pay, please.