Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Story-Time Tuesday - If Good Health was Easy...

I'm making myself write this story.   Partly because my Naturopathic Doctor just published a very interesting book and I want to share it with you.   Partly because I'm pushing myself to write more.   And partly because I think this story might be YOUR story.  And sometimes reading makes pain hurt a tiny bit less.  This story will be pretty candid...I'm not attempting 'the glass half full' philosophy here.  I know it could be worse. 

I'm using the Story-Time Tuesday format for this and each week I will be doing a giveaway for "A Different Kind of Medical Care" but Dr. Tina Marcantel. 


You can read about this book by clicking here.

Giveaway Information:   Enter to win a copy on this post today or you can purchase at that link.   10% discount code is 'healthy1'.

I will have Mr. Jenny select a random number from all the comments on this post.   Feel free to enter any time before Monday.

Winner will be announced next Tuesday along with the continuing story.  Autographed book will be mailed out on Wednesday!

The winner of last weeks book is this comment:

Ms. Asaid...
So many of these symptoms sound exactly like what happened to me, when I was on medications that my body couldn't seem to process like it was intended to do!


Congratulations, Ms. A!   If you could e-mail your snail mail address (jennymatlock at cox dot net with the words BOOK GIVEAWAY) and I'll get the book out to you  before Friday! 


Jenny Matlock
 

PART FIVE - IF GOOD HEALTH WAS EASY, EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE IT!


Within a few days we were at the new doctor’s office.
 

I had been physically sick with anxiety in the hours leading up to the appointment.
 

“Will she help me? Will she hurt me? Will this just be a dead end? What’s the point?”
 

Unanswered questions that tumbled in chaotic repetition through my pain-pill addled brain.

 

When we were kid’s we learned fire safety as, ‘Stop! Drop! And Roll!’ During especially severe pelvic and leg bone cramps, I would mutter that to myself as a distraction. The bone cramps did that to me. Literally. The attacks would be so sudden and so intense that I would stop whatever I was doing, drop whatever was in my hand and drop to the floor where I would writhe and roll about in pain trying not to scream. I didn’t always succeed in the not screaming part…especially awkward while in public or in close confines such as a car.

 
My poor husband would turn pale, try to rub my head while I shoved his hand away, get me cold washcloths or whatever he thought might help. Nothing ever did. Usually partway through the bone cramps my heart arrhythmia would get involved and by then I’d be praying that a heart attack would kill me.


On the way to the doctor’s office for that first appointment, I had an especially horrid cramp in my pelvic bones. By the time we got there it had subsided, but I was left shaky and weepy and sweaty. My skin was a lovely, flattering greyish green and my clothes were damp and wrinkled.

During those months I could not get in or out of the car unassisted. Mr. Jenny helped me out and then helped me walk inside. I was in my early 50's but I felt like I was 95. And NOT a young 95! I was shaking with exhaustion by the time we traversed the short distance to the office door.

Mr. Jenny helped me sit on a long, plush couch. I closed my eyes and just cried while he checked me in.
 

I didn’t look around. I just sat there hoping to die.

 
“She’s not gonna help me, she’s just gonna hurt me more,” I whispered to

He hushed me.
 

If you know anything about me, the fact that I easily followed his direction is an indicator of how badly I felt at that moment.

 
A woman’s voice called my name a short time later.

 
I cried harder when Mr. Jenny helped me to my feet.

 
I hobbled the short hallway back to the exam room and sank into the chair.

 

I can tell you today, years later, what the doctor looks like and what her offices are like, but that day all I could truly do is sit in the chair, crying. I was hopeless, helpless, broken.

 
Mr. Jenny and I have talked about that visit many times. To be honest, I don’t remember much of it. I had done all the paperwork prior to the visit from home and answered a multitude of questions.

The only thing I recall clearly is looking into the very kind golden-brown eyes of the doctor and feeling afraid.

 
She felt like my last hope.

 

That probably sounds dramatic. It probably IS dramatic, but I was truly at the point where I couldn’t keep living as I had been. I wasn’t sitting around thinking…hmmmm…pills or razor blades. I was just praying to die…in a passive way…that wouldn’t make my family feel bad…and wouldn’t actually hurt me.


The Doctor asked a few questions and then left the room. She came back a short time later with a large glass filled with some milky liquid. “Magnesium,” she said before we could ask the question.

“Let’s start with the magnesium and potassium. Let’s get your heart issues and the bone cramps under control.”

We left her office over an hour and a half later with a big shopping bag filled with at least twelve different bottles of supplements and support potions. The bag also contained a flat blue box filled with small empty vials for saliva testing, an order for precise blood work, and a diet listing specific foods and where to buy them.

Once all the testing came back, we would jointly develop a plan to improve the quality of my life.

 
I don’t remember this first hand. I remember the kind eyes, crying in the office and drinking the milky liquid.

 
My husband tells me that during the exam he learned my blood pressure was quite low, I had extreme dryness in my ear canals, that my heart arrhythmia was quite possibly caused by hormone depletion leading to marked magnesium/potassium deficiency. She told my husband that many of the problems I currently had were decades old. She talked about estrogen imbalance and cortisol production, and yeast overgrowth (okay, this is probably way TMI but yeast overgrowth is not necessarily yeast infections. I had never had one of these infections in my life) caused by the surgeries, illnesses and related antibiotics over the years.

 
While we were waiting for the tests to come in, I was to follow an extremely limited diet (Candida diet), take all the supplements EXACTLY as ordered, minimize and try to eliminate the use of narcotic painkillers and I was supposed to rest, rest, rest.

 
She told my husband which supplements might help with the bone cramps, which support mixtures would probably make me feel sicker before they made me feel better, and gave him multiple pages of instructions.

 
I’m sure if I had been able to look beyond my own suffering, I would have seen a scared, bewildered husband. It makes me sad to this day to think of all he suffered with my health issues.

 
We went home and organized all the bottles on the kitchen counter.
 

We read the saliva testing instructions together.

 
Mr. Jenny scheduled the blood tests and went to the store.

 

I lay on the couch waiting for the next bone cramp attack and for the arrhythmia to start up again.
 


TO BE CONTINUED NEXT TUESDAY


Part one - linked here.
Part two - linked here.
Part three - linked here.
Part four - linked here.

PLEASE READ BOOK GIVEAWAY INFORMATION AT THE TOP OF THIS POST.
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16 comments:

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

So I had that exact same crying jag in my Dr.'s office last December and all she did was give me a prescription for anti anxiety meds. I did figure out I needed potassium by myself by doing a little internet research, but I will try adding the magnesium. If I don't take a potassium pill every day or so I wake up with cramps in my feet.

I never had anywhere near the terrible symptoms you had, but they were enough to get me to pay more attention to my health.

Thanks for sharing your story, it helps to know that you aren't the only one...

xxoo,

RMW

Gail said...

I cannot imagine what you and the Mister have been through. I just thank God and the doctor they have discovered what works.

I won't even go into details but natural medicating has helped me more than years of doctors.

I am so glad you found her.

Jeanie said...

God bless Mr. Jenny.

"Alone again.... naturally!" said...

I fired my old dr and in the process of looking for one like you have! I am so tired of feeling like I am being ignored and disregarded. I have gone to him for the same thing a few times and every time I come out of there with something different and no further ahead on a diagnosis and he is constantly contradicting himself....NO MORE!

Linda @ A La Carte said...

Jenny your fear and pain jump off the page. I am so grateful you found this amazing Dr! I'm ready to see this story get to the healing part!
hugs, Linda

Stef said...

Wow! That must have been awful. For both of you!!

Theresa said...

Oh my friend! Happy you got the help just when you needed it;). Hugs and prayers

Naperville Now said...

these posts are heart-rending, Jenny. can NOT imagine what you've been through. but it seems that you went through hell and kept going. amen, sister.

Terra said...

Jenny I am so glad you telling your story, so real and so heartfelt. I am in agony with you every week -

Sue said...

I just went back to the beginning and read it all...and I'm not even sure what I'm thinking. I am so sorry that this was your life, you so didn't deserve it. I'm feeling grateful that while I've had some issues that have made my life not exactly "normal", I haven't had physical pain. I feel guilty that I was whining on my post yesterday about being sick...it is nothing, really nothing. I'm also thinking you are the strongest person I know to have survived and to be the sweet, kind, funny person you are today. Hugs to you my friend.

H said...

I'm really hoping that this all helped!

Paige @ Little Nostalgia said...

I just came across your blog today, and I'm absolutely riveted by this story! You've been through such unimaginable pain, I'm glad you're finally on the up and up. Can't wait to hear more about this amazing doctor you found! Definitely bookmarking this for the future.

Rita said...

I'm glad we bumped into each other (can't remember how now) so that I can hear your story. I am so glad you (must have!) found some relief. Waiting to hear the rest of the story as it unfolds. :)

Busy Bee Suz said...

Again, I thank YOU for sharing this with us. If your story helps one person.....{and I'm sure you have} it is worth you retelling your pain.
You are awe-inspiring Jenny.
XO

Susan Anderson said...

It's great that you are sharing this, Jenny. I have a feeling you will help a lot of people.

And I think I may need some magnesium myself!

=)

LLM Calling said...

I haven't had the emotional strength to read your story until this week, but I'm now on my knees and reading f eels like my only option. Pain hasn't beenmy thing, but problems breathing, no energy, no hormones, no thyroid, endless depression and umpteen diagnoses have been. I'm now facing a diagnosis of bi polar and hope seems so far away. I knew I needed to read your story, I know I was meant to meet you, I now pray that as your story continues it might be something that will help me too. God bless xxx