[Note: This post may be updated in the future if more information is available.]
2021:
After about 6 months of consistently meditating and manifesting good health as suggested by my functional doctor, and about 2 months after receiving the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, I fainted in the shower and hit my head. I woke up very confused on the shower floor, climbed to my feet (bad idea), and called for my husband who was still sleeping. He woke up despite being a very heavy sleeper and having the white noise sound machine running in our bedroom. [Side note: He later attributed waking up out of a dead sleep to the fear in my voice. He says he will never forget what my voice sounded like when I called out to him that morning from the shower.] He ran into the bathroom just as I was fainting for the second time, and he caught me before I hit the ground. He turned off the water, laid me down the rest of the way on the shower floor, and was getting ready to call 911. Right as he said that he was going to call 911, I became conscious again and told him not to call 911. He drove me to the Emergency Room, and they ran a bunch of tests. There were numerous items that needed to be addressed with my doctor, but nothing that was an emergency, so they sent me home.
My husband had been in contact with my functional doctor in Nevada while we were at the ER, and we sent him the test results. The most pressing item that needed to be addressed was severe iron deficiency. He ran a battery of conventional blood tests to determine if something else was going on, but most other items besides low iron came back in the “normal” range. Due to my stomach issues, I cannot take iron orally, so he ordered IV iron infusions at our local hospital.
My vaginal pain was also still very much an issue. The functional doctor told me that I needed to start using natural hormones based on the results of the urine hormone test (not covered by insurance, of course) I completed multiple times over the last few months. The conventional blood tests used for hormone testing are not always accurate (as was the case with me), so we had to use a more advanced urine test. I knew that hormones were not the root cause(s) of the problem, but an effect of the root cause(s), so I didn’t want to add in the natural hormones. However, he told me that if I didn’t do it, then he would no longer be my doctor.
Other than treating my iron deficiency and hormones, my functional doctor was unsure of how to help me. Some of the additional testing (not covered by insurance, of course) that I had recently completed indicated abnormalities, and he didn’t know why. His frustration level for not being able to figure it all out was hitting an all-time high. At one point, he even exclaimed in an exasperated tone, “You are taking too much of my time!”
We were shocked by his statement, so we didn’t respond verbally. We could tell by the tone and attitude of many of my previous doctors that they had felt similarly, but none of them had actually said it out loud.
What immediately went through my mind was, “Um. Okay. Aren’t you the doctor?!? You would be spending a lot less time on my case if you just figured it out. This is fucking bull shit!”
He also tried to imply that it was all in my head even though there were test result markers indicating that it was not all in my head.
At this point, we knew we needed to try to find a different doctor, but we knew that we couldn’t end our time with him until we had another option. I still needed regular blood work and iron infusions until we could figure out the root cause(s).
We also decided that we needed more specific support in the emotional health category, so I asked a friend of mine for the name of her therapist who specializes in chronic illness and trauma. We had worked with some great therapists, but it seemed like we could use someone who had training and experience in this specific area. I had been noticing that my husband had started withdrawing emotionally, and that had never happened before in our relationship. I knew that my health situation had been taking a toll on him as the caregiver, and I knew that we needed someone with expertise in these topics. I wasn’t about to let chronic illness take my husband and best friend from me. He is one of the reasons I have fought so hard to get well. Our love for each other and our dreams for our life together inspire me to keep fighting on a daily basis.
Just another day of . . . This Brutiful Life: The Brutal & Beautiful Moments of My Life.
This Brutiful Life 