::finding a good doctor::

When I first started this blog I thought most if not all my problems were related to candida overgrowth. Although it was hard to believe that one day I could tolerate 6 T of coconut oil and the next day even a teaspoon gave me die off pain, that's what people kept telling me. Or rather, the people on the candida Yahoo group I found. That was in October of 2007. I had good intentions of starting the diet on November 1st but never did stick to it. At the time I had PMS every 7 days for 3 days - it was awful. Every time I had PMS I would give in to things like bread, dairy, sugar, etc.

January 2008 I got tired of being in pain every day and started seeing Dr. Sherfey in Monterey, TN. I had gone to get a massage, hoping it would help with the pain, and Donna, the massage therapist recommended him. Bob and I went together, the doc spent 3 hours with us taking the medical history himself, ordered some blood tests, and charged us $500. My insurance company paid 60% of that.

He found bacterial imbalance, high iron levels, c. diff infection, lots of other stuff, and eventually pretty bad adrenal fatigue. When I first started seeing him I thought he was being very thorough and felt it was a good thing I went to see him. At this point I am not so sure anymore. He DID find high iron levels but obviously they werenn't so high that they were the underlying source of my problems.

I had another appointment where he checked me for metabolic imbalance ($75) and then one to examine my distented stomach. Before going to see him I said he would weigh me but not to tell me how much I weigh. Weeeeeeeeeeell, he didn't, but he said I have no medical evidence of fluid retention and maybe I "just gained weight". I wanted to shoot him. This is when I had been swollen every single day for close to 30 days and even I found it hard to believe that it wasn't actual weight gain. My anxiety was sky high during that time, I was depressed, and basically didn't knwo how to make it through the day. So to tell me that, after I told him repeatedly about my eating disorder, was horrible.

Two days ago I got another bill from him in the mail for that "examination" of my stomach and all the email and phone conversations we had - $375. Ouch!!! I sent him a check and asked if he could apply it to the office visits since I doubt my insurance company will pay for phone or email conversations.

My orthotics still haven't come in and waiting is driving me nuts. I am beginning to think that candida is the least of my problems. There's probably some overgrowth but my guess is once I start wearing my orthotics and then get my back adjusted, the pain will go away. What I thought is a toe nail fungus is just a really bad, thick nail. The podiatrist I went to see took a sample and had it evaluated at the lab - not a fungus. I have also been reading that problems with your spine will cause nerve intereference so that the brain cannot communicate with the rest of your body as it is supposed. This can then cause health issues anywhere in your body, including hormonal imbalance. I am not saying my feet are ultimately the problem of my hormonal imbalance, but I wonder if that is why my body is having such hard time getting back to where it needs to be. My diet may not be perfect, but I eat good 95 % of the time, I exercise 4 to 6 days a week, and since I have quit my job I rest more, take baths 3 to 4 times a week, and in general do a lot of stuff to take care of myself. Yet I am not getting the results I had expected.

I also started reading the book Empowering Your Health by Dr. Asa Andrew. He uses a whole body approach by looking at structural, emotional, and chemical imbalances in your body. I figured this is exactly what I need since I am also still wondering if I have some brain chemistry imbalance going on that is contributing to the frequent PMS. So I did some searches on the internet and found a blog by a woman who went to see him. I went back in her blog and read about her appointments with him from the start. She had actually gone to see Dr. Mercola who I love, but he wasn't able to help her. Dr. Asa however has been able to heal her of the Type II Diabetes she has been dealing with.

I made an appointment with Dr. Asa for October 16th, 2008 - it's the first available appointment he had since he is going back to medical school. Oh yeah, he's a chiropractor but in his book he keeps talking about medical rounds and they refer to him as a "board certified physician". Then they called me and said they had a cancellation for today at 11 AM. That was a few days ago and I took it. Yesterday, wanting to be prepared, I did some more searches on him and came across this blog. Needless to say I was starting to question I if I really want to see Dr. Asa. I did find it odd that they schedule appointments 15 minutes apart when in his book he speaks of the importance about spending time with each client. So I clicked on the comments and found this. After that I really did not want to see him and cancelled the appointment. I had also found Dr. Jana (from the comment) and we started emailing back and forth. It turns out she does the same thing he does but at a different chiro clinic. I made an appointment with her and felt a little better. However, as we started exchanging emails, I realized that she can't order blood tests, she can't prescribe my Armour thyroid med, and she doesn't do x-rays at her location. She's also only been doing hormonal balancing for 1 to 2 years and she can't prescribe hormones so I am NOT going to see her.

At first I was really bummed last night and even regretted canceling the appt. with Dr. Asa, but maybe it was all for the best. Maybe things WILL improve when I get my orthotics and I won't need a new doctor. If not, then I still have the appointment with Dr. Asa on October 16th and in the meantime I will be doing some searches for alternative practitioners in the Nashville area.

In the meantime I am trying to stay positive although I am PMSing again and I am on day 4 today. All my clothes are tight, I feel like my butt has doubled in size overnight, as have my thighs, and my stomach looks like I am pregnant. How awesome it would be if that didn't bother me but it does. That along with the headache and backache is enough to make me mad. I am taking 5-HTP and St. John's Wort to try and keep my mood up. Actually, I decided to get back on the St. John's Wort every day since it needs time to build up in your system. When I first started my current hormone cream I thought I wouldn't need it anymore, but maybe I do.