Meh
I last had my iron levels measured a few months ago - I don't remember precisely when, but it was when I first started having bad muscle troubles. The doc was worried about the iron being half what it should be: "8" (presumably serum iron in µmol/L? Or would it be serum ferritin, where the measurement would be in ng/ml?). It's now up to 22 - where it should be. But the recent test was late in the afternoon, apparently when you're not meant to take them? No cholesterol probs.
The really bad muscle troubles started about 3 months ago, and since then he hasn't been able to find anything. No sign of myopathy. I was sitting in his surgery today saying "I have trouble brushing my teeth, walking, or sitting in my seat at times. Right now, my entire body just *aches*". Yes, I can't sit in my damn seat at times. Some weekends involve me struggling out of bed, sitting for 30 minutes at my computer, crawling back into bed (just to lie, not to sleep), thinking I'm fine enough to get back out an hour later, finding I'm not so great 30 minutes later, and repeating until 5pm. Shaking the razor dry most mornings is hard work.
Other tests show that it turns out I do have lactose intolerance - but I'm not sure it's just a lactose intolerance. I have been putting lactose free milk (lactose already digested by lactase) on my breakfast (seems to make the breakfast cereal dissolve quicker too) with no change. I tried soy milk, which is not too great, with no change. But soy triggers the same allergies in a fair proportion of cases, due to similar proteins. When I don't have any milk, I feel fine. When I tried goats milk for as long as I could bear it, no gastro problems (horrible disgusting stuff. But different proteins that don't tend to trigger the same allergies).
I've been keeping a diary of what I'm eating when, and what symptoms hit me on the day. No correlations yet, other than I feel worse when changing between shifts (but I've only had 1 and a half shift changes since starting the diary). Otherwise, it seems to be completely unpredictable as to when I'm going to deteriorate. That would suck if I can't continue my job anymore because of my health. And why now, after having done 14 shift weeks in the year prior?
Could the muscle pain be depression, he asks. I suspect not - I don't feel at all like I did when I had depression. The muscle tenseness I have when I'm not sore, doesn't feel like an anxiety - I'm not anxious about anything other than the fact that my health seems to be failing me for no detectable reason. At this stage, I hardly care about the fact that my thesis hard deadline is in 6 months, and I haven't touched it in 2 months because I haven't been well enough.
In summary, is teh suck.
The really bad muscle troubles started about 3 months ago, and since then he hasn't been able to find anything. No sign of myopathy. I was sitting in his surgery today saying "I have trouble brushing my teeth, walking, or sitting in my seat at times. Right now, my entire body just *aches*". Yes, I can't sit in my damn seat at times. Some weekends involve me struggling out of bed, sitting for 30 minutes at my computer, crawling back into bed (just to lie, not to sleep), thinking I'm fine enough to get back out an hour later, finding I'm not so great 30 minutes later, and repeating until 5pm. Shaking the razor dry most mornings is hard work.
Other tests show that it turns out I do have lactose intolerance - but I'm not sure it's just a lactose intolerance. I have been putting lactose free milk (lactose already digested by lactase) on my breakfast (seems to make the breakfast cereal dissolve quicker too) with no change. I tried soy milk, which is not too great, with no change. But soy triggers the same allergies in a fair proportion of cases, due to similar proteins. When I don't have any milk, I feel fine. When I tried goats milk for as long as I could bear it, no gastro problems (horrible disgusting stuff. But different proteins that don't tend to trigger the same allergies).
I've been keeping a diary of what I'm eating when, and what symptoms hit me on the day. No correlations yet, other than I feel worse when changing between shifts (but I've only had 1 and a half shift changes since starting the diary). Otherwise, it seems to be completely unpredictable as to when I'm going to deteriorate. That would suck if I can't continue my job anymore because of my health. And why now, after having done 14 shift weeks in the year prior?
Could the muscle pain be depression, he asks. I suspect not - I don't feel at all like I did when I had depression. The muscle tenseness I have when I'm not sore, doesn't feel like an anxiety - I'm not anxious about anything other than the fact that my health seems to be failing me for no detectable reason. At this stage, I hardly care about the fact that my thesis hard deadline is in 6 months, and I haven't touched it in 2 months because I haven't been well enough.
In summary, is teh suck.