2005
Medical
During the first part of 2005
I was in relatively good health
I am 5’8” and weighed about
135 lbs. I was doing cardio five
days a week with a trainer. I did
everything including walking, jogging, stairs, swimming, paddle tennis,
racquetball and basketball. I did
an additional weight-training program with another trainer twice a week. I felt good. Some days I would do cardio with my trainer for an hours, do
weight training for another hour and sometimes swim for another thirty to sixty
minutes! My nickname was Energizer
Bunny. I was always on the
go. I had sold my business and
building and bought 120 apartments.
I was on the BOD of our HOA.
I was President of our family Foundation that has given out over 1000
performing and visual art scholarships over 15 years. I was free-lance writing for two public relations
firms. And finally, I had started
drawing again. Life was good. Especially, since I had found the man
of my dreams, John, and we had a wonderful relationship. We had met in August, 2000 through a
mutual friend, Kristyn.
2006
Medical
January-2006
I was very depressed. I could
not understand why. I was not on
hormones. I had been on them for
about six months after my hysterectomy (in 2003) but did not like taking them.
Everything was great in my
life. I could not shake the
depression.
I went to a psychologist and
she referred me to a psychiatrist.
The psychiatrist after an hour said I was clinically depressed and gave
me several boxes of pills. I believe they were anti-depressants. I took them home and Googled the
medication and made the decision to throw them out. I didn’t like the side effects. I would force myself to beat the depression. Why not? I would work through it.
February-April-2006
I noticed sudden weight gain
(about 6 pounds) and my hair was falling out. I went to a dermatologist who gave me propecia and promised
great things. Within a week I had
white facial hair all over my face including my cheeks and chin. I stopped the propecia and returned to the
doctor. He gave me cream for
my face, which I used and it caused a serious facial rash. I called the doctor and he told me that
I could get my face waxed.
Lovely. Can you
imagine? What a treat. I didn’t return to the doctor.
Why didn’t he ask me for a
blood test before treating me?
May-2006
I continued gaining weight
and decreased my calories to less then 900 calories per day. I was still exercising but experienced
ongoing tiredness. I just couldn’t
seem to “beat it”. I was sleepy
all the time (not simply tired).
John and I went to get a
colonoscopy. I was fine but he was
diagnosed with Colon Cancer.
We had him in surgery within seven days after the diagnosis.
In June-2006
I stopped all exercise
training because I was too tired.
I told John and my trainers I had been exercising forever and was simply
going to take the summer off. That
should have been a big “red flag” for everyone. I love to exercise or at least the feeling after I have
worked out.
I could barely keep up with
the basics and helping with John’s recovery.
July-2006
I went for a blood test. I went to our Internist, Dr. Gregory
Katz, a UCLA Alumni and liked him.
His nurse was a tough old bird and difficult but he was good. John had his blood tested at the
same time and got a return call in four days. After six weeks of calling I finally got a phone call from
Dr. Katz with no excuse for not returning my calls to tell me my thyroid was
not working. I asked him why he
didn’t return my calls and he simply said he had gone on vacation and was
busy. So I spent six weeks without
being treated because Dr. Katz didn’t think I was important enough? I think he finally returned my call because
I told the receptionist I was going to camp in their waiting room until I got
my paper work. Dr. Katz told
me my thyroid level was a 14 on the scale 1-3. He gave me about 50 mcg of Synthroid and patted me on the
head. I went down to his office
and picked up my blood test results.
Is he an incompetent
doctor? No. Does he have a nice bedside
manner? Yes, when he is not
defending his nasty nurse. Why
didn’t he call me back? We will
never find out because I moved on.
We now see Dr. Richard
Kenney. He is a good doctor. But what is nice about Dr. Kenney is if
you have a problem he will try and help you figure it out or refer you to
someone who might…..that’s good.
Aside note…one of the
symptoms of Thyroid disease (which about 20 million folks have) is
depression. Why doesn’t a
psychiatrist when visiting a patient for the first time ask the patient to
bring a blood test to show hormone and thyroid levels? Would it be that they might not have as
many patients? I am outraged that
a physical problem causes depression and a psychiatrist would not ask for blood
work. You have to be
diligent. You have to be your own
medical advocate, researcher and helper.
I know it is hard. Damn
hard. If you can’t do it then you
must ask another.
August-2006
I went to my first
Endocrinologist, Dr. Saltman, in Fullerton. He is older gentleman.
My Mom’s Neurosurgeon at USC, Dr. Martin Weiss referred me. He and Dr. Saltman are old friends.
It was impossible to get into
see a Newport endocrinologist without waiting two months. Dr. Saltman got me within a day because
of his friendship with Marty. Dr. Saltman ran extensive tests.
I told him I had gained 15
pounds, was sleeping all the time, hair falling out and so brittle I could
break it off, dry itchy skin, diarrhea, my joints hurt every time I moved. Especially my shoulders, I would nearly
cry when I moved them and hot flashes.
I was depressed. I would be burning up one minute and
freezing cold the next minute.
The quality of my “physical” life was going down hill rapidly.
Dr. Saltman also did a
sonogram. The results were that my
thyroid was asymmetrical. But the
extensive blood tests simply said that I needed Thyroid medicine. Lots of people use it and live normal
lives. It seemed easy enough. I should feel better soon, get back to
exercising, lose weight and everything else would fall into place.
He put me on 90 mcg
Synthyroid. Everyday, I felt
worse. My cholesterol that
had always been low around 135 (like my blood pressure) was now over 300. Impossible.
At this point I started
taking John with me to all my doctors appointments. I know it’s a luxury and many people can’t have their spouse
or significant other take time to join them at a doctor’s appointment. But my belief is ---how can’t you? You need an advocate if you don’t feel
well. You need a second pair of
ears. You need to take notes, ask
questions and make nice with the physicians. They are not Gods.
They are people. If you do
your homework and ask questions and take notes they appreciate your due
diligence.
November-2006
I waited two months and
finally got in to see a Newport Beach Endocrinologist, Dr. Iyers. (At this point I left Dr. Saltman in
Fullerton. He is a nice man
and a good physician but Fullerton is about forty-five minutes to an hour from
my home. Isn’t there a competent
Endocrinologist in Newport Beach?
We will see).
Dr. Kris Iyers was Chief of
Staff at Hoag Hospital. He is an
arrogant man who thinks very highly of himself (in my opinion).
He is short and stocky and in
his mid fifties. He is very
condescending, at least to me.
My neighbor goes to him and
thinks he is great! Of course,
Beth is tall, blonde and looks like a playboy bunny in a good way. He must think he died and gone to
heaven whenever she walks in the door.
He looked over the tests from
Dr. Saltman and my new blood work he ordered (which he insisted I use the Hoag
Hospital medical lab—it’s important to use a competent medical lab but to use a
hospital medical lab is going to be 4 to 8 times more expensive and usually not
covered by insurance unless you are a hospital patient. I finally got the encourage and told
Dr. Iyers that I could not afford the hospital lab fees and needed to use an
outside lab like Westciff or Lab Corp.
My blood work went from $500 to $$75.00 and with the same results.)
Dr. Iyers lowered my Synthyroid
to 75 mcg. I told him that I had
gained 17 pounds, was sleeping about 13-15 hours a day, my hair was falling
out, that I had severe joint pain, no libido and I was depressed. I felt the medication was not working
at all. Although, when I forgot to
take the correct dosage one day I slept the entire day. What was wrong with me? My life was slipping away.
He patted me on the head and
said, “don’t know what the problem is”.
Then he told me how hard he worked. That he thought he would be retired at 55 years old but he
has too many patients. His
self-involvement is incredible in my opinion. He essentially spent 15 minutes telling me his problems. He told me come back in six months.
2007
April-2007
I went back to Dr. Iyers and
told him that I was sleeping all the time, still gaining weight and I was
scared.
My joint pain was so bad I
had a hard time moving. I told him
I was walking five miles a day and it was becoming more difficult.
He told me that there wasn’t
anything he could do and that middle-aged women have some struggles to deal
with. I was depressed and again
all the symptoms above persisted.
Dr. Iyers just left the room with my file and said, “see you in
December”.
It was my belief that
Endocrine doctors dealt with hormones and the endocrine system. Please click on the web page below to
find out.
About the Endocrine System
and Endocrine Health.
But it turns out that most
Endocrine doctors work mostly with diabetes, thyroid and some pituitary
patients.
They don’t do anything
“usually” with the female hormones such as progesterone, estrogen and
testosterone. They leave that to
the OB-GYN docs. What a riot.
My girlfriend, Jayme had
great success with Dr. Sun and referred her to me. So I went to Dr. Sun.
John was with me. My blood
tests showed (according to Dr. Sun) I did not have any testosterone, estrogen or
progesterone.
Dr. Sun walked into the
room. She is a small woman with a
serious appearance. I found her
very difficult to follow as she reviewed my blood work. Dr. Sun has a heavy accent. Her sentences are choppy and hard to
follow. And she speaks in
almost a whisper. She sat
across from John and me and drew pictures of my gut and intestines and
explained how the general population of North America was eating and causing a
great deal of harm to their bodies.
Dr. Sun convinced me (and I
am embarrassed to say) to let her inject a hormone pellet in my butt. She said she knew exactly what was
wrong with me. She said that my
gut was all messed up from all the bad food I was eating.
I explained to her that we
eat very simply. That we don’t eat
red meat and only chicken and a little fish, that we eat mostly vegetables and
fruits. I told her that we seldom
if ever eat fast food. I explained
we do not drink caffeine, eat deserts and/or processed food. She didn’t seem to like my
answer. So she turned her head
away from me and lectured John on the evils of red meat and processed
food. I told her three times
we don’t eat like that but she wasn’t listening.
The pellet has testosterone
and estrogen and progesterone. The
problem with the pellet is that the doctor must guess the correct amount you
need for each hormone. The pellet
comes in three or five sizes. So
it’s the doctor’s judgment call.
If the doctor makes a bad guess and gives you too much the side effects
are awful. Personally, I think the
pallets should be outlawed because it is simply a guessing game. If the doctor gives you a pellet with
too large a dose there is no way to get the pellet out. Dah! You (the patient) simply have to suffer the side effects
until it wears off. It could take
up to six months.
Dr. Sun also increased my
Synthroid to 112mcg. (Same blood
test results as Dr. Iyers but she increased my thyroid medicine).
.
Within hours of getting the
pellet I was shaking, weeping and nauseated. I called Dr. Sun’s office and left a message. She returned my call and told me to
meditate. That I was making myself
upset and why did I want to do that?
That I should sit in a dark room and relax. She said everything would be fine in a day or two.
By the next day my legs were
so swollen I could barely walk.
Now I was really scared. I
layed in bed and called her offices.
The nurse said she was not in but would call me ASAP. Six hours later I called the offices
and asked when would I hear from the doctor. “What was wrong?” the nurse asked. I nearly exploded and said I was coming
to the office immediately. There
was something definitely wrong with my legs.
Two hours later I finally saw
Dr. Sun. She looked at my
legs, touched them, prodded them and gave me a prescription for diuretics. She reviewed my blood work and said,
“there is too much acid in my blood.”
When I looked at the test result it was high normal but still normal. She said that it was too high and kept
repeating herself.
Again she told me to meditate,
to stay calm, to feel good.
However, in the next ten days
I gained ten pounds. I now
have gained 27 pounds since I first felt symptoms.
Our old trainer, Ryan, told
John that if I didn’t start really
walking and exercising I could gain a lot of weight with too much
testosterone. John helped me
walk 12 miles a day: 4 in the morning and 8 in the afternoon so I would not
gain any more weight. The rest of
the time I slept. I was barely fit
company. A month later my
testosterone was up to 800 mg/dl. Normal was 14-80 mg/dl.
She had “guessed” wrong and overdosed me with testosterone. There was no way to remove the pellet. She told me that it was only a matter
of time before my testosterone levels were normal and I would feel great. It took over six months. There was one week that I actually felt
good. One week. I felt strong and like my old self but
Dr. Sun ruined nearly six months of my life. When I complained of the weight gain she said, “don’t
eat anything unless you are very very hungry.” Then eat only a little and that’s all.
She charged me $500 for the
pellet.
During my last visit to her
office she decided that I probably had mercury poisoning. I asked her how would I get that? She asked where I lived. She said it could be from the soil? I asked her what she based that
assumption on. She said all soil
was poisonous. I am not kidding. Seriously. Then she inquired about my teeth. I told her that I had all my silver fillings taken out ten
years ago. Well, she went wild
with that information. How many,
where, etc. All information that I could not answer but she was convinced I had
mercury poisoning.
She asked how often I ate
tuna fish and I told her once a week if that and she jumped on that information
as an explanation for my mercury poisoning. She said most insurance companies paid for the blood tests
but many don’t. If not covered by
insurance my out of pocket cost would be $500.00 plus. She handed me a little box and
told me that she would call me. As
I was trying to decide what to do her nurse looked at me, pointed to the box
and shook her head “no.” She
looked over at Dr. Sun’s door and whispered, “don’t do it.” I did not say anything. I paid my office visit fee.
I left the box on the counter
and said, “thank you to the nurse.”
Dr. Sun should not be in
practice. She may help some folks
short term but she is a dangerous person disguised as a doctor.
August 2008
I went to a new
Endocrinologist, Dr. Amy Teresi in Newport Beach. She lowered my synthroid to 60 mcg. I could barely function. I gained more weight. I went to her three times.
Each time she kept me waiting
over three hours. The third time I
called the office to make sure she was running on time. They moved my appointment from 11:00
a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (my previous appointments had been at 2:30 p.m.). They assured me she would be on
time. I called at 2:00 p.m. and
they moved me to 3:00 p.m.
I arrived at 2:45 p.m. and
was told to have a seat. At 5:00
p.m. I was taken into a patient room.
At 5:15 p.m. I left. I did
not find out my lab results. I was
billed for the lab and office visit. I called several times (10 times) to get
the lab work. I only got voice
messages. I never received a call back.
I paid...I didn’t have the energy to fight the incompetence.
August-2008
I went to a rheumatologist,
Dr. Burt Rahavi in Newport Beach.
My joints hurt so bad I had to stop my evening walks. He tested me for fibromyalgia. I think you need 17 points for
fibromyalgia. I only had 14. He
told me that I didn’t have fibromyalgia.
I left his office in tears.
A real jerk. He asked John
to leave the patient’s office.
Then he leaned forward and asked me what was really going on with
me? I left his office in tears and
never went back.
November 2008
I went to a new ob-gyn, Dr.
Amy Vanblaricom, in Newport (my regular doc was in La Jolla and on
vacation). The ob-gyn said
that all my hormones were in the low range and she could give me hormones but I
didn’t want any more. I told her I
didn’t have any libido so she gave me the name of a doctor that specializes in
sexual dysfunction. I threw that
name away. Still recovering
from Dr. Sun’s experience… I wasn’t going in that direction. She told me to go to the Women’s Health
Center at Hoag Hospital.
At this point I got the flu
and was sick for the next five months.
I could not get better.
January 2009
I changed my primary care
doctor. Dr. Kenny. He helped me get rid of the congestion
and cough. I told him about
my desire to feel better. He went
over all my symptoms. He said he
would try to help. He knows John
and I told him that this wonderful man wants to marry me and I can barely move
and had no libdo. He called me
back later and prescribed cream testosterone. A huge bottle.
It must have been 16oz. He
told me to go to another ob-gyn.
John and I had decided to try
Nutra System. I could barely wear
size 10 pants and was scared. We
went on Nutra System and I gained 6 pounds. So I stopped the Nutra System program.
March 2009
I went to a Woman’s Doctor,
Kelly McCann. She is an internist
that specialized in woman’s health problems. She was recommended because she uses both eastern and
western medical philosophies.
I told her all my symptoms.
She took a battery of tests.
She said I needed hormones
and wanted to give me a test for my Adrenal Glands that cost $500.00 because my
insurance would not cover it. I
asked her what if my Adrenals were not working? What would that mean?
Did that explain why I could not stay awake? She said she was not sure it was I could not stay
awake. But she believed it could
contribute to my weight gain. She
said she would prescribe supplements if my adrenals were not functioning
properly. There was nothing really
to be done. I asked her why she
thought my Adrenals were not working and she said no reasons but it would be
eliminating them as a problem.
She told me that I would feel
better if I went on a hormone protocol.
She said it was likely that I
would gain about twenty pounds (initially) but I would feel better and
eventually have the energy to exercise the weight gain off. The program she advised me to go on was
the Wiley Hormone Protocol Replacement Therapy. I emphasized that I had been on hormones twice before with
terrible side effects.
She told me to think about
it. That was her recommendation
and the Adrenal gland test. I did
not go back to her.
March 2009
I called up the Women’s
Center and made an appointment to see a registered dietician. She told me to keep a three-week record
of what I did everyday including diet and exercise. By this time I was sticking to a 900-calorie
diet. I could not lose weight but
was not gaining weight. I weighed
around 165. I had started walking
and swimming daily.
We got Wii Fit and I was
working out with that. But I did
not have the energy to do anything else.
Working on my illustrations and books was nearly impossible. I did everything I could but nothing
worked.
At the Hoag Woman’s Center
the Dietitian was shocked at my metabolism test results. The results said that I could eat 900
calories a day if I did 9-½ hrs. of cardio a week.
She sent me to her
Endocrinologist, Dr. Chang. He is
Lake Forest (South Orange County).
I went to Dr. Chang and he
switched me from Synthroid 75 mcg to
Levoxyl 75 mcg. I told him I was gaining weight, was
tired all the time, sometimes I could not stay awake during the day, my hair
was falling out, my quality of life was falling rapidly to zero.
For the next two months he
took tests and patted me on the head.
I stopped eating almost
completely and lost three pounds.
He was very excited. I told him I had stopped eating. But he didn’t listen. He wanted me to start Hormone
Replacement Therapy. I told him
the two previous times I had started replacement therapy I had gain nearly ten
pounds in a few days.
No worry, he said. Just go to the OBY-GYN.
I went to OBG-GYN, Dr. Marsha
Granese and I told her what was going on.
She never spoke to Dr. Chang but tried. She put me on the lowest dosage of Premarin. I was on it for six days and gained ten
pounds. I know this is hard to
believe. I find it hard to believe it myself. I called her office and she told
me to stop the Premarin immediately.
I never changed my exercise or eating. I went into her office and she asked me why I gained so much
weight. She said she didn’t
understand the weight gain. She
could not help me.
I left her office pretty
discouraged.
I went back to Dr. Chang and
he was furious with my weight gain.
Accused me of eating chips
and cookies. I simply left his
office in disdain.
I got on the Internet and
studied for hours. I started with
the thyroid because I knew that was a problem. I then went to the pituitary because it told the thyroid
what to do. Perhaps there was a
problem with my pituitary? Also,
my Mom had died from complications of a pituitary tumor. I read about Human Growth Hormone and
how the Pituitary makes it. That
we need to grow and as we get older we need less. Perhaps I had Pituitary deficiency?
(My friend, Sara told me her
sister was on HGH)
I called Dr. Chang’s office
and asked if I could get a pituitary deficiency test. They called back and said to come in the next day.
They never told me the
protocol for the test. I read
about it on line.
You need to be fasting and have
done no exercise. Try to be as
calm as possible up until the time of the test. I had the test done.
The following week, Dr. Chang
burst into his office and said exclaimed, “who ordered this test?” I said, “you did.” It showed my HGH level was 51 (normal
88-300---real normal for my age is 125).
He ordered more blood tests.
I asked if he was retaking the HGH test and he said, why? I said I had eaten and walked four
miles in the morning. He said,
so? I told him there was a
protocol for HGH testing. He
ordered it anyway. I was
upset. He seemed more concerned
about proving me wrong then what the test result said. The following week, John went with me
to the appointment.
My HGH test was 90. Dr Change informed me that I was barely
over normal and way below the “real normal” of 125 for my age.
I thought we would all be
happy. Yeah, we found out the
problem.
But it was not a happy
meeting. Dr. Chang said I needed
an MRI immediately to see if I had a tumor. No one had a test result like mine without a tumor or
sever trauma to the pituitary.
Dr. Chang said I would need to get insurance approval for an in-depth
HGH test. The test could be very far away (I said, well, not Michigan?). There was a lot of work to do. The test takes four hours. On and on he went. I asked how many adult HGH deficiency
cases he had? He never answered
the question. Said he had been in
practice for 15 years, blah, blah, blah.
I left his office with my head down. His nurse was very nice. I called her later and told her not
to bother with calling my insurance and ordering the test. I did not believe Dr. Chang was the
doctor for me. That was the only
time I had ever done that. I just
couldn’t take his accusations and negative comments. It became too much.
John agreed.
I went to have an MRI and
fortunately, I did not have a tumor.
I remember my Mom’s tumor
discovery. They said it probably
had started growing in her mid to late fifties. It was not discovered until she was 73 years old. An ophthalmologist suspected her
tumor. He was right. An MRI showed the tumor starting to
block her vision. She had many
symptoms that everyone had said were due to menopause and old age. Weight gain, tired, itchy and dry skin,
itchy and redness around the bridge of her nose, tremors, milk from breasts,
balance problems, compromised eyes sight, memory loss, inability to give simple
directions and more. She suffered
for nearly two decades before she was diagnosed.
I went to UCI, Dr. Choi, an
endocrinologist. He is an older
gentleman. An old high
school friend recommended me. Her
first choice was on vacation so I went to Dr. Choi. John came along.
We took all my paperwork and tests. I asked if he had anyone on
HGH. He said yes. But I am not sure about that.
He said he could give me the
test right there. I felt lucky.
Someone knew what I was talking about. UCI was in our backyard.
His staff was very friendly
and got insurance approval quickly.
I had the four-hour IGF-1 test.
I quickly realized that this staff and doctor had never given an IGf-1
test together. They were relying
on the pediatrics doctor upstairs to give the proper instructions.
I was very concerned that the
test was done correctly. Remember
I was supposed to stay calm? The
test cost $4000. Insurance paid
60%. Fortunately, I had two
insurances.
A week later, Dr. Choi said
that the IGF-1 was inconclusive.
He said that since I had a
100 (88-300) I would need to take another four-hour test, the insulin tolerance
test. I said that it was my
understanding that normal for my age was 125 and that the test clearly showed
that I was deficient. He said
insurance would never cover my HGH medicine with out another test. He said he would have to get insurance
approval and assured us that it would be given. But he also had to get the nurses approval because they
would need to have a Defibrillator nearby in case I had a rare but possible bad
reaction to the test. Both John
and I felt he was simply playing “the mad scientist” that wanted another
test. I went home and read about
the insulin tolerance test and cringed.
I have since talked to folks that had it and said it was the worst test
in the world. Doctors have told me
that they don’t believe the test is in given any more.
Now what to do?
I sent my tests over to my
Mom’s surgeon. He offered to show
it to an endocrinologist at USC, Dr. Peter Singer. This did not excite me because I had read what Dr. Singer
said about hypothyroidism in the newspaper comparing it to the same symptoms of
falling in love. What a crazy
analogy. I also, remember my Mom’s
visit with Dr. Singer when she went to visit him. He spent nearly all of his time talking with my Dad. Later, he advised me to go to an
endocrinologist at Cedars Sinai, Beverly Hills, Dr. Vivien Bonert.
Mom had seen her and liked
her. She had suggested Mom should
try HGH in 1996. That would have
been considered a new protocol. My
Dad said absolutely not. (They
also said - Dr. Shlomo Melmed - that my Mom’s tumor re-growth after her initial
surgery was elective surgery and not necessary---very bad advice). I called Dr. Bonert’s office. She was
on vacation. They wanted me to fax
all my information. I was going to
do it but I guess I just ran out of energy. I sat and cried for a long, long time.
August 2009
I had started reading about
HGH deficient patients (only 6,000 diagnosed a year in the U.S.
I read about who was using
HGH. Turns out mostly HIV Positive
and Aids patients are using it along with professional athletes and movie
stars. Anti-aging doctors are very
popular in southern California.
They seem to know a lot about HGH, too. The problem is that insurance won’t pay for it. The costs are prohibitive.
A friend told me about a
doctor, Alex Martin. He is an
“anti-aging” doctor. He told me
some things no one else told me.
He said that my cells were
withering and unable to accept hormone treatment and/or food because of my lack
of HGH. That is why I was
gaining so much weight. He
wanted to put me on regime of HGH and Vitamin B. But he did not take insurance. He did not really work with patients that were HGH
deficient. Mostly with
wealthy/celebrity types that wanted to feel a little better, little more
energetic and avoid getting old too quickly. I could not afford his pricey $3800 a month treatment.
My dentist suggested I talk
to Dr. Martin Hertz.
Dr. Hertz is a
psychiatrist/endocrinologist. My
dentist assured me Dr. Hertz was a good choice because he was on HGH and very
familiar with problems of the pituitary and thyroid. I met with Dr. Hertz once. He drew a lot of pictures and took a lot of notes.
He suggested that I might
need to take a variation of synthroid quantities. He had me cutting synthroid tablets into quarters and
eighths. He was fixated on me taking
too little or too much. I spoke to
him on the phone. He kept delaying
giving me a prescription for HGH.
It was weird. Like he kept
changing the medications and the amounts.
I couldn’t keep up. He
didn’t take insurance and when I filed on my own it was denied. I gave up and moved on.
Another friend told me about an allergist/immunologist. Dr. Paul Cimoch in Fountain
Valley. I went to see him. He agreed I needed HGH. He wanted to get more information and
more blood tests. He said I was T3
resistance and was Vitamin D deficient.
I had other vitamin
deviancies that needed to be addressed.
Okay.
He put me on natural T3 like
Armor but not Armor. In two days I
was flat on my face sleeping 24/7. I could barely move. Dr. Cimoch tried putting me on all
Armor and the same thing happened.
I went back on Levoxyl 75mcg.
Dr. Cimoch said he would apply to insurance to get me the HGH. Then he told me to take as much Levoxyl
as I needed to keep me awake. He
said it would only be short term.
He also said that I needed to be conscious of rapidly heart beating and
other important side effects.
I found I could stay awake with 225 mcg dosage of Levoxyl. But my entire body ached. I pushed through four-mile walks daily.
It took Dr. Cimoch over two
months to turn in the paper work for HGH insurance. I don’t know why except his
office looks like a paper mill. John finally got him to get the paper work
in. At the time I had two
insurances, Blue Shield and Anthem.
Both insurances agreed according to my tests I needed HGH but Blue
Shield needed an endocrinologist to prescribe it. Anthem wanted me to try Humantrope and/or Nutropin
first. Both were made with
preservatives and cheaper.
(As of January 2010 I dropped
my Blue Shield insurance. It was up to $1400 a month with a $2500
deductible. I had the insurance
for thirty years. In the past
three years it doubled in costs.
As a single woman I have always paid more then my friends with
kids. John needed insurance and we
could get it through a California Corp but I needed to get it with him. So for a year I paid for both and
finally in January I dropped Blue Shield.
My Anthem Blue Shield is more reasonable at $550 a month but with less benefits.)
December 2009
While waiting for insurance
approval I decided to buy HGH off contract. At Costco, Genotropin cost $800.00 for 28 days.
I was told it would take 3-6
months to start working. By the
second week I felt like my old self. I jumped out of bed in the morning and was
dancing. But by the fourth week I
was back to sort of my old self.
Meaning, I didn’t have the great energy level of the second week. I was able to decrease my Levoxyl
dosage to 125 mcg. But I had
plateaued. I was just getting
by.
February, 2010
Dr. Cimoch sent me over to a
doctor, Endocrinologist,
Joseph Baloga. He is around forty with orange spiked
hair. He’s a vegetarian, which I
liked. He is in Laguna Niguel,
south Orange County.
I had been buying HGH off
contract for three months.
He said I needed to get on
Humatrope because insurance would cover it. It took several weeks to get approved and get the nurse out
to teach me to use the pen. I took
it for four days and broke out in hives from head to toe. Now I am waiting for Nutropin to be
approved by insurance.
Dr. Baloga tried to put me on
a dosage of of 60 mg of Armor and 60 Levoxyl and I was dead on my face. Then I tried 30 Armor and 90 Levoxyl
and was sleeping away my life. I
went back to 200 mg Levoxyl, which is barely keeping me up.
Unlike most, I think, I have
a severe reaction to medications.
If I don’t take my thyroid
meds I feel it immediately. I have some friends that if they don’t take their
thyroid medications they don’t notice it.
I seem to be different than most.
Because I was very allergic
to Humatrope I went off of it went back to Genotropin. On Friday I realized I only had one
injection left. Costco could not
get any in until Monday. So I skipped
Friday and Saturday nights. I have
been in a foggy sleepy daze most of the weekend. No Doze, Monster drinks, anything I can get my hands
on to help me stay awake.
I decided this morning I
could not spend the entire weekend sleeping so I used my last injection of HGH
this earlier today.
It has helped although I am
still sleepy.
Last month Dr. Baloga did a
blood test that showed I had no levels of Cortisol. He did a more in-depth test that showed I had barely normal
levels of Cortisol. What is wrong
with this problem?
Thursday, I took a four-hour
glucosamine test. I don’t think
there is a problem there but he wanted to eliminate the problem.
I go to see him on Tuesday.
I think I have been able to
hold my weight at this level
because I refuse to stop exercising.
Nearly every doctor has told me to either stop exercising or lower it to
minimum amount. I also, have
kept my calorie intact low to mostly below 900-1000.
I am tired Kent....this was a personal account to an old college friend.
I am sure this is going to be
too difficult to figure out from there….
I about at my wits end….
I feel like my life is
slipping out of my hands (if that is not being overly dramatic).
I am not drawing or writing
much. The reunion has given me
something to do to pass the time until I can get my energy back.
I will be so indebted to you, Kent, if you can figure this out.
A miracle in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment