My ankles have been trying to sneak away again. I must beat them into submission!

My doctor switched my Norvasc from 5 mg two times a day to 10 mgs one time per day. SO, that meant that yesterday I actually took 15 mgs (5 mg in the morning and 10 in the evening) total. I'm paying for it today - my blood pressure is so low all I feel like doing is sleeping. Really low blood pressure makes me feel heavy - as if its a huge effort to even move. All things aside, I would MUCH rather have low blood pressure than high!! I'm going in search of some caffeine so I can wake up enough to go out tonight with Ken.

The dilemma over the missing ankles has now been replaced by the addition of an Extra Fat Lip and a Head Lump. Thanks to my son, I now have both of these lovely added body parts. The Extra Fat Lip came me lifting him out of his highchair and him throwing back his head at the exactly timed correct moment. His head connected with my face and my Extra Fat Lip was born. After seeing stars, and having to sit down on the floor as to not fall over, I recovered and went to the bathroom to review the damage. Upon surveying, I discovered the whole inside of my bottom lip is cut open along the line of my teeth. Lovely. No less than two minutes later I was helping my son onto the potty in his bathroom when he added the Head Lump to my collection of injuries. Again, at the perfect moment, (making me wonder how he is choreographing this so perfectly) he swung his head around and smacked it against my forehead. I forewent checking for damage because... well, what's the use? *shrug* I did see more sparkly stars - they were pretty. How he keeps coming out of these messes unscathed is beyond me.

My ankles have returned, but not without one last-ditch fight on their part. After going to bed last night I woke up with a bad leg cramp at 12:30 AM - I suppose it was the least my ankles to do to protest the use of my Lasix diuretic. I jumped out of bed and massaged the offended muscle (who, apparently, had forged a partnership with my ankles to try to gang up on me and resolve the issue of who is in charge of the ankles' whereabouts - me or the ankles.) After triumphing over the cramp, I downed 4 calcium supplements and 3 sodium bicarbonate tabs with a full glass of water. I then curtly told my ankles (and legs) to shape up or face certain amputation. Good thing they listened - it would look pretty funny if I tried to get around with no lower body. My ankles think they are very funny, though... Today I crave nothing but salty food, but, I will not fall prety to my ankles' tactics to regain control! MUST... RESIST... POPCORN!!!

Humm... I noticed tonight after I got home from work that sometime during the day my ankles seem to have disappeared. My legs go right down to my feet, now. I also caught my knees trying to sneak away, but I think I was on to their little trick before they could get far. Now they look lumpy and disappointed because its truly hard to be sneaky while being so knobby and strange at the same time. As my ankles are gone, one would think that missing body parts equates to my body weighing less. Alas, in their absence, the ankles have decided to invite their very good friend "edema" to take custody of the place where they once held my feet to my legs. Edema weighs about 5 pounds more than my ankles do, so, we're having a very difficult time becoming friends (in fact, I don't see this relationship lasting much longer). I'm hoping the Lasix diuretic I just took will gently, but firmly, convince my ankles that their proper place is below my legs just above my feet. If this won't do the trick, then I fear I will need to take more drastic measures and recruit a baseball bat to harshly remind my ankles where they're supposed to be.

< hysterical laughter > Oh yes. And I would also like to announce that all these supplements make my pee bright neon yellow. That, in itself, is a little scary considering my pee has resembled water for quite some time, now. < /hysterical laughter>

I had my second chiropractor/natural doctor appointment this afternoon and it went very well. To the liver and heart/circulatory supplements that I'm already taking the doctor added one for my kidneys and an additional iron supplement at my request. The liver supplement I've been taking since last week gives me nearly 90% of the "daily recommended iron" but in my case, I need a lot more than that right now. My goal is to get my blood iron saturation back up so I don't have to go back for any more of the IV iron treatments (since the last one failed miserably and it was a horrible experience). My nephrologist tests my blood every few weeks and so I should see fairly quickly if my body takes to these new iron supplements better than the ones I tried before (which basically had no effect). I seem to tolerate the liver supplements quite easily, so I'm hopeful the iron supplement will be accepted by my body as well. The chiro reviewed my x-rays with me that he took last week of my spine. My back and spine are pretty good, considering all of my health problems. I'm a "Phase 1" for subluxations which can be corrected in about 6 months with regular chiropractic adjustments. I will go twice per week for the first 2 months and then once per week after that until everything is aligned. What is really cool is that this doctor offered to make special payment arrangements with me so that I wouldn't have to pay so much... and for me, every single penny I save on medical expenses helps. As for my other health problems, the chiro will continue to monitor my supplement intakes and test me using the Applied Kinesiology technique he used last week. I am looking forward to having a little time pass to see if there is any improvement that shows up in my clinical lab tests - to me this is really the ONLY way to see if this is really working or if its just me tricking my mind into thinking it is. Regardless - I've felt GREAT since last Thursday and I really don't care why, how or who is to thank for it. I honestly feel it's a combination of everything. However, I'm fairly certain I like the idea of adding "natural" medicine to my already extensive medical and clinical treatments. Hey, whatever works, WORKS :)

Ok. SO. Apparently all the drugs I'm taking finally kicked in. Since last night I've been feeling kinda funny - dizzy a little. I took my blood pressure this AM and its 90/45 Whoa! Biiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggg difference! I would much rather have my blood pressure too low than too high. Much better for my kidneys. But, it sure feels weird!

I woke up this AM with No Headache for the first time in 2 weeks! Yay!

Yesterday I felt worse than ever. I came to work and then went home after about an hour and a half. I ended up sleeping all day until about 2 PM. A couple of people at work all suggested that I go see this natural doctor who is also a chiropractor. I was so miserable I figured it couldn't hurt. My boss set up the appointment so I wouldn't have to pay the regular price and I crawled to the appointment at 3 PM. I am one of the most skeptical people when it comes to doctors in general - let alone "natural" doctors and chiropractors (I wouldn't quite venture to say that I think they are all quacks, but I think a lot of them are kinda strange) My appointment was nothing at all like I expected it to be... I expected it to be some back-cracking and thats about it. Instead I was there for about 2 hours and went through a complete evaluation. This doctor used several 'techniques' on me before he even got to the chiropractic stuff. He used APPLIED KINESIOLOGY first (which took about an hour) and determined my body issues. It was very weird - he had me hold my arm up and then push against his downward pressure and he poked me in various parts of my body. As he poked me in specific spots (almost like acupuncture points) my arm would weaken and I couldn't hold it up as he pressed down on it. He made note of all these places and then he did some muscle strength tests of other various sorts. Based on these "tests" he determined that my liver and circulatory system (heart) needed support and prescribed two supplements (vitamins) for me to take. He also tested me for allergies (I had none) and took a full x-ray of my spine. Before we were done he gave me an "adjustment" of my neck, shoulders and lower back. At first I didn't feel any different. The pain in my neck was *slightly* better, but it still hurt. I still had a raging headache and my BP was still quite high. I could attribute some of this to the fact that I hadn't eaten all day and felt weak but overall, I didn't feel much different than before going. But, like I said, I felt so miserable, I would try anything. After I went home and ate, relaxed and calmed my body down I did start feeling better. But still, nothing on a miracle level. This morning, though - I felt great! I still have a headache but it's not nearly as intense and it's more like a dull pain. My blood pressure finally dropped(although I really attribute that mostly to all the medical drugs pumping through my system) but it's not even close to as low as it needs to be. As for my neck pain - it's not even there anymore! The appointment and supplements only cost $129 total - considering I got x-rays, medicine, treatment and a 2 hour appointment, that's a great bargain. So, whether it was the placebo effect or something that actually worked, WHATEVER! I feel better! ---EDIT--- I forgot to mention that the fact the doctor pointed out my liver and circulation makes complete sense to me. I take so many drugs and they are all metabolized in the liver that I've often wondered if my liver could be stressed. The circulation problem is directly related to my high blood pressure. He said my kidneys are weaker than normal, but holding their own and nothing else needs to be done for them right now. I'm already taking a special supplement for kidneys prescribed by my nephrologist so there's not much on that front that can be done.