Medical Mystery Tour Wiki

Ha! Just kidding on the wiki part. Friends have been asking me how I’m doing, and I kept thinking, how handy would a wiki be here, right? I could write with tons of footnoted links, and friends could contribute what they know about conditions, or, better yet, stories of me texting at odd hours convinced I have different diseases. It could be a Frankensteinien mashup, which would reflect my past year medically pretty well.

Here goes with a quick linear narrative (no wiki), just to get this stuff out on paper, since if three friends have asked lately, probably more are curious. Thank you.

The mystery began a year ago with low hormones in my labs. Which lead me to the endocrinologist down here in Brownsville. Her concern: my HPA axis, the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands and how they all work together—or don’t work, in my case. Here’s a quick rundown of medical stuff from the year.

• ACL rupture at the start of the year meant surgery, three different physical therapists, two chiropractors, and knee swelling that I’d rather not have, but I know that’s something so many of us share, am I right?
• Pituitary tumor was a hunch by the Brownsville endocrinologist, which sent me on an unpleasant hunt for a brain MRI, which was its own house of mirrors. Whatever, no tumor.
• Adrenal insufficiency was also her diagnosis, which sent me on a hunt for another endocrinologist since I was far from her by then, which, again, was its own house of mirrors. That rude endocrinologist in Houston needs to learn some manners.
• Bad menopause, according to one practitioner. Enough said.
• Chronic insomnia—which is so much better, thanks to a supplement the bad menopause lady pointed me to, plus an anti-seizure med a neurologist has me on (for RLS and neuropathy). Hallelujah, full stop on that big problem of insomnia.
• Skipped heartbeats, up and down glucose, cataracts, freaking eyelid cyst, yadda yadda on the multitude of weird medical conditions you discover when you delve into things you’d rather not know. I’m not going to give them the honor of italics here. Mere plain text for these!
• Thyroid nodules have sent me to three different imaging centers for ultrasounds over the year, and now a much-anticipated follow-up next week.
• PTSD, chronic and possibly complex, which is probably no news to any of you, dear readers, but was forehead-smacking news to me. This, too, creates suppressed HPA axis whatever thingamabobs, although my endocrinologist here in Brownsville isn’t on board with that connection.

You heard me, I’m back to seeing the endocrinologist down here in Brownsville, after all the problems last year with incompetent medical staff. You know what: I’m here, she’s here, and she wants to figure out the continuing wonky lab results as much as I do, so I’m full circle.

There’s my update! Which I hate to use a blog post on because, by now, I’m rolling with these weird diagnoses and close calls, I’m exercising, and I’m sleeping. These are the things I can control at this point, and I’m grateful for that.