November Update

I went for my follow up at the VA this past Monday.

I'm happy to report that the 4 month fall of 11 points on the renal test rose back up 11 points in the month I was off of the metformin.  This is good news and bad news.  The good news is, no kidney disease and it was medication related, and whatever brought it back up, whether it was simply the lack of taking the metformin, or the addition of the supplements or a combination of all, it's back up.  The bad news is, that now I can't be treated for the PCOD, at least not with the standard of care, that helps monitor and regulate weight and digestion etc.  I'm going to be seeing an OB/GYN to see what they recommend, I guess there may be another treatment, but whether it's as helpful or no, we'll have to see.  I guess one way, I could go on BCP, which can also cause weight gain, and also raise % of certain cancers, but since female cancer has not yet been a part of my family's genetic make up, there's a good chance that wouldn't happen.  I'm not sure the other alternative, but I guess it's in place of metformin, so might have some aid for digestion instead of my body sending all I eat to be stored since it doesn't know what to do with it.  Perhaps it'll be even more effective if I'm a good candidate.  I know after over 20 yrs of being diagnosed at the 99% of the progression of PCOD, I've avoided diabetes, but without the aid of metformin or a similar drug, I may cross the border that I've come close to for the past few testings.  As my Doctor puts it, I'm testing at a "prediabetic" state, which she's identified as borderline testing.  I guess we'd all fall into that category if we didn't test for diabetes if you think about it, but still.

I think part of what's helped so far, is my appetite isn't very big.  Since my body doesn't process food well, I've kind of been stuck in a limbo of eating one to two times a day, and sometimes not at all if I'm not home and forget to eat since sometimes my body doesn't tell me I'm hungry or haven't eaten.  So not eating a lot throughout the day has possibly helped with my body not progressing to a diabetic state.....but I'm more than certain it's hit me hard in the metabolic area.  I'm sure my metabolism is all but non existent by this point.  So there are definitely drawbacks as well.

My Doctor wants me to go to PT for evaluation to see about my spine again, but all that's done in the past was cause me to be so stiff I couldn't get up to go to the restroom on my own.  I'll give it a go, but I think chiropractic would be more beneficial though my spine is what it is.  It's just simply a crappy spine LOL, I'm used to the pain from it to a certain extent, but there are days that it's more difficult to cope with than others.  I think she's also sending me to a pain clinic, to try and see what, if anything else there is to do, but I'm not hopeful, you can't control pain from a spine that's simply got curves here, there and everywhere, when you can't just slap braces on it to straighten it out like teeth.  I have misgivings about PT and dread going, though I suppose I could call back and suggest that chiropractic helped more than PT before, since PT had me unable to walk for 3 days afterwards, and the chiropractor at least had me able to stand for more than 5 minutes without stiffness and pain from it.  I know it's not "healed" or "fixed" but longer is still better than can't do anything at all.

I know part of her reasoning is that perhaps PT can help me find things I can do to reduce weight, however, she's forgetting the PCOD part of the equation when thinking about the spinal part of it.  If I can't control food digestion well, no amount of exercise will help.  I'm alreadying eating well under the caloric count for a non active lifestyle, and I'm still not thin.  While that doesn't bother me because I know it's not something I've done to myself.  All one has to do is look at my arms, legs, face, wrists, ankles, hands etc to tell that it's not over eating.  All of those are boney.  An over eater has fat fingers, face etc.  But they're not the only ones, someone with a thyroid problem may also present those affects, so you can't just look at someone and assume it's something they've done to themselves over some genetic disorder causing it, unless you're in a grocery store and all they've got in their cart is a ton of junk.  If that's the case they're likely over eating.

At any rate that's the current update on me, hopefully things are going well for all of you!!