HELLO! been a while....

[nhnancy]

Hi everyone, its been a while since I have been here! I think about you all. We have experienced many ups and dows and right now its down.....I am experiencing extremely low energy and weakness. I am anemic but last blood work was 11.4. so not too bad, but the weakness/fatigue is scary. Tomorrow, I go for another blood count. Hubby is home also, on short term disability....PTSD and other issues, its been a roller coaster, which. seems to be a bit better. I had to get a new Ipad as the other is too small to read. Last September/October, I started back couponing, have. done well, gettin much for much less, its a ton of at home work/planning. I will stop back, thinking of you all! I am hoping my current fatigue/weakness is just an absorption issue and I need more vitamins, etc....

xo
Nancy.

[christel]

Oh, Nancy, how nice to hear from you again! It is NOT nice that you (and your husband) have been having troubles. Are you still able to spend summers at the water? I recall how much you enjoyed your getaways!

Low energy and weakness are common without being anemic.. Hope you get to the bottom of what is causing the anemia.

Let's get this board going again, shall we?

Christel

[jeffn]

11.4 just makes it into the normal range IIRC. Hope that energy comes back. Like Christel said are you back at the lake for the summer? I have been trying to find time to get up to Vt. for a weekend, not having much luck with that.

All the best to you and Hubby! Hang in there Nancy.

[christel]

There is a little variation in some normal ranges, Jeff. I think the low end of normal is usually 12. My all time low was 8.9 and I felt it!

Nancy, can you update us on your lab results from today?

Christel

[jeffn]

Ha beat you with a 7.2 back in early 2007. I think the normal they were using here at that time was 11.2. Took me two years to get back into the normal range at 11.2. Probably close to 3 years if the normal begins at 12. Moved up from 7.2 pretty quickly but hovered in the 10s for quite a while. I do notice every time I get blood work they have moved the ranges around.

And yes 7.2 REALLY sucked!

[nhnancy]

Hi, ok...I went lower, below 10, so today, I had my stomach checked via endoscope and treated with Argon/laser, the Doc said it wasnt too bad, but needed to be done...so now, maybe, onto iron infusions.

On a lighter side, I have been to my trailer 3-5 times, not as much as before, anything that takes work, I avoid, this year the chipmunks got into the A/C and I had to get Serve pro to clean it, then a new mattress because of a broken skylight, ugh...It took the whole month of May, I kinda lost enjoyment of it...I am constantly on guard for critters,...got all sorts of stuff, fox urine, sticky pads, poison, traps.spray foam, steel wool and he last time I was there, I found a wiggling mouse, on a sticky trap, EWWWWE! ...getting too old I guess! I like the pool. The heat has been awful, too! and I dont like it, so looking forward to the break, supposed to be this weekend.

I never really got my "old energy" that I had before SD, All in all, I think I have done well, and continue to try to learn, the best things for me! Heck, I dont even see a rheumy, ...my GP. gives me my mino, she has seen the results and respects my treatment of choice!
Its hard to tell which is sclero, which is age,!

LOVE TO ALL, stay kool!
Nancy

p.s. , still finger typing on an ipad, hard to see! lol!

[jeffn]

Hey Nancy hope the laser treatment does the trick for you. Are you on anti inflammatories? That is what my was the cause of my GAVE, well that and the predisposition from the SD. My gastro guy said at the time just to give up NSAIDs and it did the trick. I never had the laser as he is a visiting doc and did not bring the laser to the island with him. He did say that would be my course of treatment if I did not improve but my red count began to climb immediately after I gave up the NSAIDs. It was diificult with out htem for a while but the boost in energy more than made up for it. AS I mentioned above it did take me quite a while to reach the normal range but I did get up close to normal realativly quickly.

Just a thought.

Lots of critters up there in N.H. huh.

[nhnancy]

Hi Jeff! The G.A.V.E or watermellon stomach, came along with my SD, I never took NSAIDs for anything!, I am a big tea drinker, I thought maybe that, but no one seems to know. Doctors. really dont know much about this, it doesnt get much press. or funding, so it is what it is. I only know, I am exhausted!..... My hands and feet are very skinny now, without padding, Its difficult to walk now, for me. We all have SD, we all have different symptoms/difficulties to deal with.

Yeah, critters, we may pull the trailer off the site for this winter, not really sure whether to sell or go back next year, hubs is out of work and I doubt he will ever go back, Its nice to talk with others, that have this, though less and less people are here, jusy you,
Christel and Randy.

love and best wishes!
Nancy

[jeffn]

It was just a shot in the dark. I was seeing an ortho doc before Dx and he had me on a series of different NSAIDs for several months. I had always had a somewhat touchy stomach but the NSAIDs put me over the edge I think. At any rate when I gave them up things began to improve right away. Did not even take an Advil for over a year after. Nice that you are not on them, one less thing to irritate you stomach.

Yes pretty quiet been that way for a while, maybe everyone else has healed.

[christel]

Great idea, Jeff, that everyone else has healed and hasn't got a need for this board any longer! I will be sure to say goodbye if that happens to me...!

On the homestretch to my son's wedding next Saturday! Somehow I feel like I will have so much free time again... How will I spend it?! It will undoubtedly be spent dealing with my ongoing issues--recurrent teeth problems (even after root canals), leg ulcer, bilateral foot pain, wrist pain, and the ever present fatigue. I really do need to get a life, don't I?

[jeffn]

This SD stuff really cuts into ones free time doesn't it? We need better hobbies I have been working on some of my son's electrical jobs mostly doing load centers and wiring heating systems and my hands and wrists still get really sore. BUT at least I can still get out there and back to my pre SD routine, for the most part. Back in the day my hands were really junk and for a couple of years I could not do any of this stuff so I have definitely progressed to a better place, just still hurts. I have not used any DMSO in years perhaps I should try that again?

Have fun at the wedding!