Thursday, January 12, 2012

Day 3 with Dr. Dahlgren and Treatments

I slept horribly again, waking often, woke up with a headache, and my heart rate went up to 168 as I was brushing my teeth. I am so tired of the heart racing. Took my HC and the beta blocker as usual, as well as my new supps, and ate a BAB. The headache eventually went away but my heart rate did not come down to normal levels. I brought this up to Dr. D when we talked and mentioned that I was hesitant about taking a sauna again. She said to go ahead and do it but lower the temp this time so she called Desiree, the woman assisting me with the sauna today, and told her to keep the temp lower.

I mentioned my concern with the heart racing in regards to HC. Basically, I don't know if I have some kind of virus or bacteria giving me problems thereby increasing my need for cortisol and the low cortisol is causing heart racing or if I am truly on too much T3 which requires more cortisol. I had my T3 with me so she muscle tested me for it and said it's not working for my body right now. She said that either means my body can't utilize it or I am on too much. Since we have another long appointment scheduled tomorrow during which she was going to muscle test me for my current meds and supps anyhow, she is going to see tomorrow if I need to lower the dose.

After my appointment with Dr. D I got another UVBi and like last time, it really helped to lower my heart rate. However, there was some clotting this time. Gayana, the nurse doing the UVBi said this means I need enzymes so she let Dr. D know.

Yesterday Dr. Beck assisted me with the sauna and Desiree did the colonic. Both are very nice but I truly enjoyed talking with Desiree. She eats a Paleo diet as well and we just had a lot in common and a lot to talk about. So I was thrilled that she was assisting me with the sauna and the colonic today. I had also told her about Mark's Daily Apple and GAPS so I had written some websites down for her.

So Desiree ran the sauna at 97 degrees versus 99 degrees. I didn't think 2 degrees would make that much of a difference but it was so much better. I got a good sweat out of it but I didn't feel like I was going to faint when I got out. The colonic wasn't quite as bad as yesterday either, but still unpleasant with cramping and mild nausea. I was glad when it was over and felt so much better. I wish I could get a UVBi every day.

I was done around 11:40 AM and had until 12:30 PM before my next appointment. So I walked across the street to this live/play/work area and sat at Starbucks for a while with a nice cup of coffee. After that I walked back to the clinic and talked to Carrie, the neurolinguistic programming therapist. That was an interesting sessions. We talked about my past, things that happened with my parents, and more. I am still not sure what to think of that session and whether it really helped. Before I left Desiree gave me a card with a note thanking me for the links to the Paleo sites. She also gave me her email address and said she would like to stay in touch. I thought that was really sweet.

I was ravenous when I got back to the hotel around 2:30 PM. I had hoped to wait until dinner to eat, but I had breakfast around 5:30 AM and was ready to eat then. Sometime later, while I was driving around Kirkland, after I had gone for a walk in a pretty park, I started to have pain in the right side of my colon. Every time I hit the break or switched back to the gas pedal in the car it hurt quite a bit. The pain seems to be gone now but it wasn't pleasant.

Tomorrow's appointment with Dr. D is 1 1/2 hours long. She is going to do a bunch of muscle testing and I hope to get some more questions in. I am hoping to sleep better today. That is something else I mentioned to her this morning. One of the supps she has me taking has GABA in it, which is supposed to be calming. However, 5-HTP is supposed to be calming as well and it gives me energy and I feel more alert when I take it. Conversely, l-tyrosine is supposed to be energizing and it puts me to sleep when I take it. I mentioned this to her and she said to try taking it in the morning instead. It's actually a probiotic with GABA and zinc.

I am ready to go home, have home cooked meals, and be in my own house, but I am going to miss the support I get from the doctors at the clinic and all the wonderful treatments.

2 comments:

Bridgette said...

Thanks so much for sharing this with us Kristina. I truly hope this sets you on your path to reclaiming your health!

Kristina said...

Thank you Bridgette, I hope so, too. Hope you are feeling better and better with each new day.

~k