Latest update!
I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been dealing with severe vertigo and a bunch of new, ongoing GI issues (nausea, weight loss, decreased appetite, stomach pain). Well, my GI dr. and neurologist quickly got me in this week, and I’m so glad I was able to see them. They’re wonderful!
On to the not-so-good news:
I am down to about 79 lbs. And I can hardly eat without getting terrible stomach pain and nausea. It’s most likely that I’m dealing with delayed gastric emptying which is dysmotility of the stomach.. This is common with mitochondrial disease. See how mito can affect basically any part of the body?
It especially affects organs that demand a lot of energy like the brain, heart, muscles, GI system, etc.
Because of this, I have to be on a mainly soft food/liquid diet for now, and that’s not good news since I’ll probably lose even more weight. Dr. P couldn’t even hear any abdominal sounds with his stethoscope—this means the food isn’t moving well out of my stomach. He’s putting me on a proton pump inhibitor drug and a compounded medication that will hopefully help this dysmotility issue.. I see him again and the nutrition therapist in less than 3 weeks!
My neurologist has come to the conclusion that the vertigo I’ve been experiencing for a whole month now is from an inner ear disorder (which usually happens after whiplash or concussions!). I’ve never had either of those, but you know me.
I’m not the typical patient! At the appointment, Dr. G induced vertigo by doing these different maneuvers, and it wasn’t fun at all! She put in an order for me to have intense vestibular rehab. She also prescribed a vestibular suppressant for bedtime to see if it will help me sleep better. As you can imagine, it’s very hard to get restful sleep with vertigo.
The CRPS pain has been ramping up again, too—my feet get really discolored, and the burning pain is just horrible. I sent a message to my pain dr., and he told me he needs to see me for a visit. I called to schedule an appointment, and he is booked until May 8th! But do you want to hear an answer to prayer?
He has a cancellation in 11 days!
These symptoms on top of everything else has been challenging to manage all at the same time, but I thank and praise God for His mercies that are new every morning !
I just want to close with a quote a dear friend shared with me. The last sentence that I highlighted gives me chills!
