Wow, a whole slew of things to ask for vibes for

Thanks Carol. The shortness of breath should just be from the VCD - my vocal cords don't open the way they should some time, and it gives you an effect similar to asthma. The increased heart rate is weird, but it at least didn't keep me up last night.

Sent my friend some stuff that I hope makes him laugh today. Its hard figuring out how to be there and support someone who mostly wants to keep to himself right now. The best I can come up with is to try and keep his spirits up, and let him know that if he wants to talk or anything, I'd be there to listen.

Keep the vibes and the prayers up - I am still hopeful for a miracle. They are very much appreciated!

I'm glad for the good news about your cousin, but I am SO sorry to hear about your friend.

I'm sure the stress is contributing to the increased problems with the GERD/VCD issues.

Continued heaps of vibes on the way

Laurie

Many and . I hope everything turns out okay.

So, So sorry and hope things get better!

Thanks guys. Tonight has been really rough - been crying on and off all evening. I'm afraid that its all the stress that is making my heart rate go crazy, but I don't know that there's really anything I can do about it.

I'm going to call my doctor's office in the morning - earlier my heart rate was in the 110-130s, and I'm having trouble sleeping or even napping. With any luck, I'll get in tomorrow or Tuesday.

Still praying for a miracle, and just offering things up like a good Catholic for now. Keep the vibes coming, we need them!

Continued prayers, Pam, hang in there

Thanks, other Pam!

Well, no luck on getting an appointment in with the doc who diagnosed my GERD/VCD, but I was able to talk to a nurse with the office, who consulted the doctor. Right now, they're thinking the increased problems with the GERD/VCD and the heart rate thing are probably anxiety related, which is definitely possible, given all the stuff going on, I suppose, on top of some grad school issues from last semester that I still have to deal with.

So they're calling in a prescription for Effexor, an antidepressant/anxiolytic, to go on top of the antidepressant I'm already on - amitryptaline. That sure is a lot of antidepressant for someone who's not depressed.

I'm not particularly pleased by getting another prescription, especially having not been seen yet, but I'm willing to try it to see if it helps the not sleeping and the heart rate thing. I'm finding that getting a little wound up emotionally is turning into getting really wound up emotionally, just because parts of my physiology are already revved up, and its feeding back on itself. Annoying. Hopefully this helps some, and I'll see them in a week at my already scheduled appointment time.


Still thankful for all those vibes!

Bleh, I just sent an email to my boss saying I would be in after lunch. I hate these pills. I'm sleepy but can't sleep, nauseous, balance is a little off, and my hands/jaw are trembling with a little in my legs. I tried to call the doctor yesterday to see if he'd just let me not bother with them, but he wants me to wait and see if the side effects wear off.

I think I'm more stressed on this stuff than off it!

Ah Pam still sending good thoughts that way

Originally Posted by Sandtigress

Bleh, I just sent an email to my boss saying I would be in after lunch. I hate these pills. I'm sleepy but can't sleep, nauseous, balance is a little off, and my hands/jaw are trembling with a little in my legs. I tried to call the doctor yesterday to see if he'd just let me not bother with them, but he wants me to wait and see if the side effects wear off.

I think I'm more stressed on this stuff than off it!

Click to expand...

I hope things settle down for you

Thanks for the continuing vibes!


As of today, the nausea is gone, but I'm still getting tremors in my hands and legs a bit. Worked (and slept) at home for most of the day, and now I'm finishing things up in the lab. MUCH more mentally alert than yesterday - I got distracted so easily yesterday, people had to stop talking to me to let me do whatever I was supposed to be doing, or I would forget!

Not sure if I'm going to be intact enough to drive down to Houston like I was hoping to tomorrow, but we'll see. I'm going to work in the morning, so if I don't feel 100%, I won't go since I was going to drive down by myself and most of my friends in town are doing school stuff that I don't want to distract them from.



If we could get some major vibes and prayers - my mom has talked to a friend of hers who works at M.D. Anderson, one of the top cancer hospitals in the world, located in Houston. I don't know what the chances are of someone there being able to help my friend out, but it is a hope, at least. I haven't told him yet - I don't want him to a)get annoyed at me spreading his personal life around (yeah, he doesn't know anything about me asking for prayers for him, and he won't find out - but I need this just as much as he does) and b) getting his hopes up if there's nothing that can be done.

I'm hoping to hear from her soon, so please pray that someone might be able to give him a better prognosis than he's gotten so far!


Thanks all!

My brother went to MD Anderson for treatment of CLL, a type of leukemia. It's a completely different kind of cancer from what your friend has, but MD Anderson was awesome. Continuing for your friend and for you.

Doctor's appointment in the morning, finally! I can't believe I'm so excited to go see a doctor. I want off the Effexor - its making me feel sooooo sick. I'm really hoping he takes my fast heart rate seriously and doesn't just write it off as stress. It might be, but I've been plenty stressed before and not had a heart rate of 110+ 24/7.


Unfortunately, my mom's friend who was checking into doctor's at M.D. Anderson for us is leaving for the Philippines today, and wasn't able to talk long enough with the doctor to get any answers. She won't be back until the middle of July, and I just don't know if he has that kind of time to wait. So now, I guess I just have to ask my friend if his doctor has thought about contacting them directly.

Still hoping for some kind of help for him - this guy means a lot to me!


So some good luck vibes for both of us would be great. Thank you guys for supporting me in all this mess!

Good Luck

Oh Pam, I'm so sorry to hear the Effexor is making you feel so crappy, and I'm equally bummed to hear your mom's friend wasn't able to get any answers before taking off for so long.

Continuing to send lots of vibes for you and your friend.

Laurie

Okay, my mom's friend whose husband had recurring brain tumors was able to get us the name of the doctor he saw at M.D. Anderson. He was told several times there was no treatment for him, but is now doing fine. So maybe there's something that can be done for my friend as well. I've passed the information on to him, so cross your fingers that maybe this is how God is answering our prayers.


As for me, I am off the Effexor! I'm doubling some of my other medications, but those have none or very mild side effects, so I'm perfectly okay with that. I got some blood work done today, and my specialist is sending me to a family practitioner who can better handle cardiac stuff than he can. Its backwards, I know. I'm a student, so I just tend to use the student medical clinic for minor stuff, but I see a hematologist and my allergy/asthma specialist for other things.

I see the new doctor tomorrow, so hopefully they can figure if its just stress or something else causing the elevated heart rate. At least he didn't just brush it off today - the campus clinic seems to do that a lot, so I hate to go to them for anything more than "is my ear infected or not?" kind of questions.


Thanks for the vibes and prayers guys!

Oh that is GREAT they got the information to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you're off the Effexor! Seems like today was a MUCH better day!

Good luck tomorrow.



Laurie

P.S. There are a lot of different types of brain tumors, and within the different types, there are varying grades. I don't know about you, but when I'm confronted with something scary, I like to research it. To me, unknown is scarier than being "armed" with some knowledge. So if you want to read up on the disease, this is a great place to start: http://www.braintumor.org/GeneralMenu/ Perhaps your friend can tell you more specifically about the diagnosis.

Thanks for the site, Laurie. I actually have a bit of a background in neuroscience and a pre-med/genetics type major, so some of the science is familiar to me. The survivor stories and such are great though. I might pass the site on to him, and to one of our other friends that knows. I appreciate it!

What a long, slow path toward resolution -- I devoutly hope both you and your friend get better news very soon. Man for tomorrow!

Well, its not my thyroid, and its not my hematocrit levels that are causing my elevated heart rate. EKG was normal too. So I get to go visit a cardiologist on Monday, get fitted with a halter monitor for a day, and then an echocardiogram and visit with the cardiologist on Tuesday, right before I fly out for LA on Wednesday. Plus, I have blood work to do, and a visit with my hematologist on Monday. Wow, I see a lot of doctors.

The plus side is, as a former anatomy/physiology TA and a biomed major, I find all the tests interesting, and it kind of entertains me to actually get the tests that I show the class done. I'm the goof who had my head turned during the EKG, thinking "well, that looks pretty normal".

Another plus is - though my platelets are at the highest I've ever seen them, I have a week to be good about my iron pills before I see my hematologist, and hopefully I can get them low enough that he won't threaten to medicate me to bring them down. I don't want any more medication!!

Thanks for the vibes guys! Hopefully the cardiologist comes up with something on Tuesday! And hopefully my boss won't have a panic attack over unfinished work for our meeting in LA early next week.