Category: ME

Sorry for being MIA again. It’s been a really rough start to 2014. For over 13 weeks, starting right after our holiday to Nelsons Bay I have been REALLY unwell with extreame fatigue, aches & pains, really bad headaches, chest pain, stomach upsets and excessive hair loss. You name it, I’ve probably experienced it. So there have been almost weekly trips to the doctors,

lots of tests (blood tests, walking stress test, heart check) ,

CT scans (lungs & head) and pelvic ultrasound,

and even an endoscopy & colonoscopy,

At the end of all this I have discovered I am insulin resistant, have oesophagitis, a hiatal hernia and had low iron stores (which was the cause of most of my problems). So I’ve been put on a miriad of medication and iron supplements and after 2 months of taking the supplement my iron stores are finally back to normal and my energy is returning. Unfortunately there are still some bad days but I’m able to get out walking the dogs again and things are definitely improving.

So all the testing I had done really didn’t help much BUT it did rule out a LOT of potential problems so at least I know that other than the above issues, everything else is working pretty well :-).

Of course, just I was getting better I went for a routine skin check and the dermatologist took 6 (!!!) biopsies.

All were fine except for one on my shoulder which is a basal cell carcinoma. I’m not really that surprised as it’s right near the other one that I had removed. Luckily it’s just going to be removed in his surgery in a months time.

The biggest issue, other than being in pain and spending most days on the couch, is that I have gained back ALL the weight (plus some) that I’d lost at the end of last year and over Christmas. With not being able to spend time in the kitchen making my healthy food, resorting to more takeaway and packaged meals,  and then starting to feel sorry for myself and medicate with naughty snacks, on top of  no exercise, I guess it’s not surprising. But it is rather disappointing and depressing. Especially as I even survived Christmas and vacation eating low sugar!!! Oh well, if I did it once, I can do it again. And because I now know I am insulin resistant, I know why it’s been so hard for me to lose weight and hopefully the medication I’m on will help rectify that once I get back to my “normal, healthy, low sugar diet”.