I'm Not Dead, Yet

She said, with a very bad, Pythonesque British accent.

I am, however, all cramped up…though I’m better today than I was when I wrote my last entry.  I could barely get out of the car when I got home from work that day.

I’m taking a diuretic now.  When I went to the doctor for my 3-month check, my blood pressure was just slightly high (140/90).  It had been the last couple times I had it checked.  I was going to ask her about it, but she brought it up first.  She said that normally she wouldn’t be particularly worried, and would attribute it to my thyroid normalizing, but given my mother’s history (and the fact that I seem to be turning into her, physically), it was better to be safe than sorry.

Of course, this diuretic causes potassium loss, which causes cramping.  It made for a miserable weekend.  I got to work Monday, and kept having to stretch and grab at muscles that were cramping.  My boss, who is a nurse for those who are new to the wonderful world of Sheryl, asked me if I was getting enough extra potassium.  I told her I was having two bananas, and some yogurt that had 10% RDA of potassium in it.  She said that’s not enough.  So yesterday, I upped it to four bananas and the yogurt.  And it was better.  My sides and legs didn’t cramp at all until last night, and only my stomach, back, neck, shoulders, and arms cramped during the day.  That may not sound like much of an improvement, but trust me – it was.

Other than that little bit of wonder, the doctor upped my thyroid medicine again.  We discussed numbers this time, and she said that on the first test they did, my TSH level was at 60.  Normal is 0.5 – 5.  Higher is hypothyroid, lower is hyperthyroid.  So yeah, I wasn’t doing so good then.  She went on say that the second test, after I had been on the meds for 6 weeks, the level went up to 80, which is worse.  The next one, it was down to 30, and this time it was at 14.  That is still considered very high, but better.  

So yeah, another increase.  Every time that happens, I get…weird for a few days.  I have insomnia, I can’t seem to stop talking (or signing, which freaks people out because I never do that in public), and my short-term memory is nonexistent.  On the plus side, I’m able to entertain my co-workers for a few days.  

I plan to write more later today because it’s kind of a quiet day here in the office.  Of course you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men…


(Just as a note – Robert Burns is terrible to read in dialect form.  Give me plain English, thanks.)