After sleep study

Well, that was fun. :-)

Anyway, they did discover I had a few episodes of "shallow" breathing. Nowhere near the threshold where they test a c-pap machine, though. I also snored some. Doctor still needs to look at results for final diagnosis, then send to neurologist. I got my normal amount of sleep, just not at my normal times. Nice room - even a sleep number bed so it was like being at home in that regard. Tech was amazed I barely moved all night. That's the wonder of a sleep number bed...once you find that number, you don't move much in your sleep.

I had been given good instructions, so showed up with what was needed. Got a free breakfast in the food court at the Medical Mall, too. The tech even gave me tips for getting all the gels and adhesives and stuff out of my hair! She was very good.

She had said that she may be giving me instructions during the night, but once everything was set up, there was no peep from her until morning. I'm assuming whatever episodes I had didn't raise any serious alarms. They would have tried a c-pap machine if I had 30 episodes of shallowness/closing of my airway, but I was nowhere near that number.

Now I just have to wait and see what the recommendations are.

Sleep Study

Guess what! After hearing nothing since my visit to the doctor, the sleep study folks gave me a call today. I will be having my sleep study tonight. I need to be there by 9:30 pm and will be discharged at 6:30 am. I even get a free breakfast. :-)

So, after about 8:30 or so tonight, you won't be able to reach me. I'll let y'all know how it goes when I get home in the morning. I'll be going to St. Joseph's for the sleep study. Insurance even approved it with no argument, amazingly enough.

New neurologist

Just got home from my first visit with the new neurologist. She is going to have me do a sleep study to see if I have sleep apnea. She said the sleep apnea can cause headaches. I don't think I do, as I wake up feeling pretty rested and all that jazz. But, she wants to rule it out. So, that will probably take a couple of weeks to authorize, schedule and complete. She also is reviewing records from all my docs to see if any tests were overlooked or should be redone.

No other news. Still hanging in there.

Another drug failure

Latest drug trial did no good, in fact the headache is the worst it's been in a while. Just got home from a doctor's appointment. I'll stop taking the Bystolic and go back to my old beta blocker. At least the headaches remained the same with that one.

The Bystolic apparently also drove my high blood pressure down so far it was low! Haven't taken the medicine for hypertension since Friday. My blood pressure was UP to 101/74 this morning. When the numbers start looking high again, I'll go back on that med. And, yes, I have a blood pressure cuff so I can monitor it.

I'm going to be calling and getting an appointment with another neurologist (this will be my third). My doctor suggested this one as an acquaintance of his who has had similar headaches for 25+ years says she feels this neurologist may be making headway. Hey, I'm willing to try! My poor doctor feels so badly that he can't figure this out...I know he asks for ideas any time he is talking with other doctors.

Other than the headache, I'm doing pretty well. I seem to be stabilized on my other meds. Life is not overly exciting right now, but at least I have a nice comfy new recliner! Doesn't solve anything, but I sure do like it.

New drug to try

I went to the doctor today as I was concerned about some swelling in my legs. Looking back at my chart, he saw that I've gained 6 pounds in under 4 weeks. He's having me try a mild diuretic just to see if I'm retaining water for some reason. Bobby and I went out and bought a scale tonight, per doctor's instructions, so I can see if there's a weight loss from the drug.

He asked if I felt fatigued and I told him I don't have much desire to do anything. So, he also gave me a sample of a slightly higher dose of synthroid..he said my thyroid numbers were toward the low end of normal, so he wants to see if a slight boost might help met.

But, the interesting news.....he was at a medical conference last week that was about cardiac issues. One of the doctors, in a talk he was giving, mentioned that a new cardiac drug has been getting some anecdotal reports of eliminating headaches that did not respond to other drugs/treatments. It's a new beta blocker. (I'm already taking a beta blocker, Toprol). Dr. Bernhardt asked this doctor if there was any potential problems in patients taking other beta blockers, like, for instance, Toprol. The response was that there was no problem, just switch the Toprol for the new drug. I got some samples of that to try and I began taking it tonight....hopefully I'll have some kind of answer in a few days. I start out with a small dose, then move up to a higher dose after a few days. I have enough samples for a month. I just hope there's reason to keep taking them that long. The drug is nebivolol, brand name Bystolic. [Info says there's a low incidence of side effects - which include dizziness, headache, fatigue, swelling in extremities, etc.. Of course, I wouldn't know if I had any of those side effects! Thought that was just funny.]

So, wish me luck. Love to all!