What Do I Do??

I'm having too many of these moments lately. I find myself in a "situation" and I feel like I can't make a decision for fear of making the wrong one. In this case my doctor is really pushing BP med. My BP has been elevated to about 140/90 for the last year. I refused medication initially because I hate to take prescription meds, and I didn't do my homework. I finally researched and realized having untreated hypertension is much worse than taking medication.

I also didn't realize that many people have had success stories with homeopathic methods. So I let my doctor put me on BP prescription meds. Now that I know about the homeopathic options I'd like to try those. However my doctor really doesn't want me to be off prescription meds, she's really pushing them. I told her I'd follow her advice. But now I'm second guessing things. I guess ultimately it's my decision. Even though I respect her advice as a doctor, she is a "guide" in my health care. I don't see what's so wrong with *trying* the homeopathic course for a few weeks to months with daily checks of my BP. If that didn't work, of course I'd switch back to prescription meds. *sigh*

Sandostatin and GH update

It seems like I'm doing extremely well. I just had my 4th Sandostatin shot. Physically I'm finally starting to look like I did 10 years ago, I'm very excited! I still have some headaches but that may be related to my hypertension. I'm trying to keep my blood pressure controlled with prescription medication, but I've read some home remedies really work. I'm hoping to try a combination of garlic and calcium, or possibly the apple cider vinegar and see if I can get off the prescription meds.

I also talked to my primary care doctor about doing the shot in office. She refused in the beginning, but I just found out her husband and partner in the practice has done the shot before. They're going to start doing them for me starting next month so I don't have to travel to San Francisco!

GH Level

I had another oral GH test. GH level is still about the same at 1.4. Need to have my IGF-1 checked again as well. My endo in SF changed again. This time when this dr gave me my shot he hit a nerve and it was painful. I'm not impressed with him so far. He doesn't seem to take me seriously, and takes 2 weeks to return messages. My first visit he asked if I could be seen by another endo closer to home, basically because he didn't have time for me. As if I would travel 3 hours roundtrip to SF every month if I didn't have to. Unfortunately my primary dr refused to do the shot, and the only other endo I saw closer to home I personally didn't like, and felt that he was unqualified to treat me. I'm tired of dr's who just don't seem to care. I asked my primary dr again if she'd consider doing the monthly shot. She said she'd consider it but I haven't heard from her in 2 weeks either.

Picture Timeline

I thought Alecia had a neat idea with the acromegaly 'before & after' surgery picture timeline so I made one too. It helped me pinpoint when the physical changes started, probably around early 2003. In 4/02 I had my retainer adjusted because of the gap between my teeth widening. In 5/03 I had my rings resized larger. However I don't know when exactly the disease began of course.

My first Sandostatin Shot!

I went to SF for my first 10mg Sandostatin shot. Yay!! My Dr says since my GH was so close to normal, and my last IGF-1 was about 370, he doesn't think I'll need to go over the 10mg Sandostatin, but we'll see in a couple months.

It was all easier than my scary imaginings :-) I imagined a HUGE needle and that it would hurt really badly. But it was very quick and felt like a normal shot. I also have to remember to call an hour before each injection appointment so they can take the medication out of the fridge. Oh yeah, and Dr told me to stay away from fatty foods so I don't get gallstones.

Good news!

My insurance finally approved 12 monthly visits to UCSF + 12 Sandostatin LAR injections. I really had to stay on top of them. I basically had to assume my insurance, and my primary doctor were complete idiots who don't communicate, and call them about everything constantly. But it worked :-D I should start injections next Tuesday as long as they get the med in time. Oh, and my oral GH testing was 1.3, should be <1.

UCSF Update

I'm excited to have some good news today. My doctor told me that we're going to skip the 3 weeks of daily injections and go straight to the monthly injections of Sandostatin LAR. I'm a little worried about the side effects, but as long as it works out it will be so much more convenient. I've also been taking cortef (oral hydrocortisone) and levoxyl (synthroid) prescribed by another doctor and he told me I can begin weaning off those as it doesn't appear I need them based on bloodwork. So the only med I'd need would be the injection, yay! I hate to take any drugs I don't need. I'm actually beginning to see I have more side effects than I realized thanks to the cortef most likely. Maybe I don't have fibromyalgia after all, just side effects of cortef.

I also now know my GH level based on blood tests is 7.4 ng/mL. This number may have been affected by my taking the steroid hydrocortisone. The doc says normal accepted level used to be 5 ng/mL, now it's 2 ng/mL. I'm going to do the oral glucose tolerance test for GH next week. And hopefully within 3 weeks when I return to UCSF and insurance approves I'll start on the Sando shot.