A lot has happened since my last post. About 2 months ago I started feeling pretty lousy. I turned to my husband one night and said, "My heart is racing, and I don't know why." We were just sitting in the living room watching the news. I thought maybe I was just tired, and went to sleep. The next morning, I woke up still feeling like my heart was racing. I thought, "I just have to wake up a little more, and I'll feel better." Well, the day went on and my heart kept tachy-ing away. I did a couple of cases which went pretty well, except I felt like garbage. I was having hot flashes (remember, the OR is freezing cold). I had tremors; you should have seen me placing the IV in this patient; good thing he was asleep. And of course, my heart kept racing. I went home and went to sleep early, hoping that I could just sleep it off. But the rest of the week went pretty much the same way. Of course, I hooked myself up to the OR monitors, and indeed my heart was racing - as high as 168 beats per minutes. My normal is in the 60s. I had someone do an EKG on me, and it was sinus tachycardia. By the second week of this, I had lost a pound a day, and was still going, despite my ravenous appetite. I decided to seek medical attention. I couldn't get an appointment for another three weeks, so like any medical professional, I self medicated. I put myself on some medication to slow my heart (only after I got the EKG- didn't want to worsen WPW). I felt better after a few days. Although my symptoms were milder, I was still experiencing them. I continued to lose weight -a total of 16 pounds in one month, and have now levelled off. What is the differential diagnosis?
-Coronary artery disease
-Hyperthyroidsm
-Anemia
-Early menopause
-Adrenal insufficiency
Well, I had a guess, but needed laboratory confirmation. 2 weeks ago I went to see a primary care physician, who ordered labs and tests. 2 days ago, I got the results. Yesterday, I saw an endocrinologist, and today I started treatment. I have Grave's Disease, which is an autoimmune disease in which I produce autoantibodies against my thyroid, so that it stimulates my thyroid to produce too much thyroid hormone. The symptoms I experience are classic. It felt like someone had slipped me cocaine.
While I am relieved that I have something that is treatable, I am disappointed that I now have a chronic disease. On top of that, I have gotten accustomed to living day-to-day "ramped up," and full of energy, not to mention the weight loss. Correction of my condition will likely lead to a decrease in energy and metabolism. But that is small price to pay for my health. And certainly, I am grateful that I do not have anything more serious.
To add to all of this, I have also been worked up for diabetes. It, too, is an autoimmune disease (at least one type of diabetes is), and I am now one of the 20.8 million people in the United States with this disease. Many of you know that my sister has had type I diabetes since she was nine years old; she is now in her 30s and, while she is currently doing well, she has struggled with it most of her life. My father is also diabetic, as are my uncle and some of my cousins. I had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy, so it was in the stars for me to become diabetic. I have worked hard at trying to ward off this family foe for years by exercising and eating right (although I have been known to give in to occasional cups of frozen custard), but to no avail. While I am not surprised by this new diagnosis, I didn't think it woul invade my life this soon at age 36. I was hoping to put it off another 20 years. Oh well.
As I struggle to accept my newly diagnosed conditions, and try to change my my lifestyle to accommodate these diseases, I reflect on my sister's lifelong battles for her health. At the age of nine, and throughout her adolescence and young adulthood, she battled so much: the illness itself and all its life-altering complications, the temptation of carefree living, judgemental people who were too ignorant to understand her illness. Now, she is a wonderful, happy, healthy, successful young woman, with a new lease on life, and an inspiring story to tell. She is wise beyond her years, and yet youthful at heart. I can only hope to gather half as much courage as she has shown throughout her life.
-Coronary artery disease
-Hyperthyroidsm
-Anemia
-Early menopause
-Adrenal insufficiency
Well, I had a guess, but needed laboratory confirmation. 2 weeks ago I went to see a primary care physician, who ordered labs and tests. 2 days ago, I got the results. Yesterday, I saw an endocrinologist, and today I started treatment. I have Grave's Disease, which is an autoimmune disease in which I produce autoantibodies against my thyroid, so that it stimulates my thyroid to produce too much thyroid hormone. The symptoms I experience are classic. It felt like someone had slipped me cocaine.
While I am relieved that I have something that is treatable, I am disappointed that I now have a chronic disease. On top of that, I have gotten accustomed to living day-to-day "ramped up," and full of energy, not to mention the weight loss. Correction of my condition will likely lead to a decrease in energy and metabolism. But that is small price to pay for my health. And certainly, I am grateful that I do not have anything more serious.
To add to all of this, I have also been worked up for diabetes. It, too, is an autoimmune disease (at least one type of diabetes is), and I am now one of the 20.8 million people in the United States with this disease. Many of you know that my sister has had type I diabetes since she was nine years old; she is now in her 30s and, while she is currently doing well, she has struggled with it most of her life. My father is also diabetic, as are my uncle and some of my cousins. I had gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy, so it was in the stars for me to become diabetic. I have worked hard at trying to ward off this family foe for years by exercising and eating right (although I have been known to give in to occasional cups of frozen custard), but to no avail. While I am not surprised by this new diagnosis, I didn't think it woul invade my life this soon at age 36. I was hoping to put it off another 20 years. Oh well.
As I struggle to accept my newly diagnosed conditions, and try to change my my lifestyle to accommodate these diseases, I reflect on my sister's lifelong battles for her health. At the age of nine, and throughout her adolescence and young adulthood, she battled so much: the illness itself and all its life-altering complications, the temptation of carefree living, judgemental people who were too ignorant to understand her illness. Now, she is a wonderful, happy, healthy, successful young woman, with a new lease on life, and an inspiring story to tell. She is wise beyond her years, and yet youthful at heart. I can only hope to gather half as much courage as she has shown throughout her life.
