Blood Work and Ultrasound--Done

I got the blood work done on Wednesday night. I got the ultrasound done this morning. She had me turn my head to the right, so she could do the left lobe. Just looked like gray stuff to me. With 1 really dark spot, but I don't even know where she was on my neck. It was probably the carotid artery.

This is what a normal thyroid ultrasound looks like...It's like another language.

When I was done, I told my husband it looked like a snail was in my neck. We both laughed. We'll probably get the results Monday (I'll be calling the doctors to give them a slight nudge). The blood work will definitely be done Monday. In fact it may have been ready today, but I didn't feel like bothering Dr. Goldstein. He's been really good to me recently. He's gone out of his way to make sure I get the appropriate tests done and I am very happy about that.

I was not going to get the ultrasound before the blood work came back, but I reconsidered. Even if my results were "normal" in the back of my mind I'd be wondering why it changed so rapidly. With the blood work and ultrasound we will know exactly what is going on or what is NOT going on. Possible goiter? Nodule? We will know soon.

2 days ago I did a LOT of singing. Since taking voice lessons, I've been trying to practice a lot. Getting better at hitting high notes with ease and being able to sing long phrases. Well I overdid it. Yesterday I woke up with a chest pain. It was really weird. It hurt when I exhaled, when I laughed and if I let my lungs get too empty. Today it is much better. I didn't sing AT ALL yesterday, which was hard for me. I sing all the time even without knowing. There is definitely still a little bit of pain, but way better. Obviously I pulled some sort of muscle in there! Leave it to me to pull a muscle in my chest.

Good News--More Questions

The visit with the ENT went great. He was very thorough and felt all of my lymph nodes. He said that everything was OK with them and he said there is no need to get a scan. He was probably one of the nicest doctors and person I've ever seen. He took the time to explain EVERYTHING and because of this I will I can move on to my thyroid issues.

The interesting thing was that he was more concerned about the diabetes insipidus. He was asking me a lot of questions about it and when I was diagnosed. When I told him I had an MRI that came back clear, he looked more relieved. I think the mercury is causing that one. Makes sense to me---didn't tell him that though haha!

Unfortunately I have no answer on why I am itching. Last night we went to the store and while there started to get itchy. My husband said my face was all blotchy...I fought through it and didn't take a zyrtec.

I am very relieved that my lymph nodes are normal. PHEW... I have the thyroid ultrasound scheduled this Friday to see what is up. If nothing comes back with this, I'll just start detoxing again.

Satire: Global Warming Is Gonna Get Us!

This a little something I made today. Gave me a little chuckle. Click on it to see more detail.




Let's see what the sun looks like today. There are NO sun spots. It has been like this since for a while now and that is why things are cooling down on Earth. The sun goes through natural cycles. Just another amazing thing we take for granted! Previously the sun was in a very high cycle thus we were on a warming trend.


Back in July, NASA was saying it was very very normal for a sun to be this spotless. But now in September it appears that it is becoming a little unusual. To have as many spotless days as we have had (back in sept) you have to go all the way back to 1954.

On September 27, we were at 200 days without spots. That would mean we are now at 280 days of a spotless sun. After some digging I found out that the last time we have been 250+ days without sunspots, was back in 1912. We are rapidly approaching the record from back in 1913.

Only need another 45 days or so.

The neo, globalists are now changing the terms. It used to be global warming, but now they just say climate change. This is no mistake! All of these trends have nothing to do with SUV's and CO2 (breathing) and everything to with taxing us further to get us into a 1 world global government.

ENT Appointment Is Scheduled

I have some good news today! My ENT appointment is this Wednesday! Holy cow. The lady on the phone was like, "how about the 17." I was like..."you mean this month as in like a few days from now?" "Yeah" My jaw dropped. I am glad that I was wrong on the time frame. Everything could potentially be resolved on Wednesday if he looks at the nodes and says nothing is wrong. Then again this could be the beginning of another nightmarish chapter.

I also told the PCP I won't do a radioactive iodine uptake test, but an ultrasound is fine. She said that is OK! Phew...

I visited my family today and had an itchy attack while I was there! YIKES. I immediately took a Zyrtec because I didn't know how bad it would become. The good thing is is that I'm not itchy tonight. The Zyrtec definitely works, but I hate taking it all the time. I forget how bad the itching is when I take it and I want to be able to explain to the doctor exactly how bad it is.

The blood work paper from Dr. Goldstein did not arrive today. Maybe tomorrow.

Didn't Feel Very Good Today

Today I had more of the nausea from last week. I did get some food in me though, so that is good. At one point I thought I was going to vomit, so I laid down in bed. Started to get really cold and took my temperature. 97.5 degrees F. Wow that hyperthyroid is really making me get a fever! (sarcasm)

While laying in bed I started to get itchy. Oh noes and nearly scratched through the skin on the back of my upper leg. Scratching the itch is somehow pleasurable. Like eating a cone of your favorite ice cream flavor or seeing a friend from school. I know it sounds really strange, but I get this. It actually FEELS GOOD.

Once it started to get itchy, I shake and do my usual grunting and grrr noises. I did take a picture of this one, but I'll spare all of you. It wasn't very pleasant looking after digging at it for a while. I can't figure out how a thyroid would make me itchy all over like this. What am I supposed to do about it? I can't take Zyrtec for the rest of my life without ever knowing what is causing the itching. It is one thing to take a medication after you know what is causing it to give you temporary relief until a permanent solution is in place. However this process really shouldn't last more than a few weeks/months in my opinion.

Monday I'm just going to call an ENT and schedule an appointment. Seems like I just have to do things myself. With my insurance I don't need referrals so this shouldn't be an issue. Wonder how long the wait is? I'm going to guess 2 1/2 months and we'll see how close I am on Monday. =)

The Alcohol Experiment

The 1 beer kicked my ass. Wow I forgot what it was like to drink. It's just been so long that my body wasn't prepared at all.

About half way through, I was very buzzed. It made me sooo tired and a little itchy. Not too bad though. I practically collapsed...with the oven on! Thank goodness my husband was paying attention. I may have burned the house down last night!

Everything went well except for one weird thing that happened. The insides of my ears and the back of my throat was very itchy. I was actually using a pair of tweezers! to scratch my ear...I know not the safest or smartest thing I have ever done. But it was SOOO itchy. I was trying to scratch the back of my throat with a q-tip...Today they aren't itchy, so that is good. I couldn't figure out what would have caused that one though.

I came across this little video series while searching google for itchy ears after alcohol consumption. Thought it was interesting nonetheless.
http://www.videojug.com/interview/lymphoma-diagnosis-2#what-are-the-symptoms-of-lymphoma

My kidneys/lower back were hurting really bad this morning. This happens on mornings I don't drink, so it probably isn't related, but certainly worth mentioning.

Even though things went OK, I don't think I'll be drinking any time soon. Unless it is to do another experiment. I just don't like it at all.

Getting Thyroid Labs Redone

I spoke to Dr. Goldstein today about my ridiculously low TSH! He was also in agreement with me that something isn't right.

Back in the end of August, my TSH was 1.077. The ONLY thing that has changed since August is that I have had my amalgams out and started DMSA. My goodness I hope DMSA hasn't totally ruined my thyroid. My blood count recovered, so that is good. Phew...

I am getting EVERYTHING re-checked. T3, T4, TSH, antibodies etc. A complete work up of my thyroid rather than bits and pieces of information. Having all of this done will give Goldstein a complete picture. The PCP wanted me to get an ultrasound done because she was concerned that I have a goitre. A regular ultrasound is fine, but she wanted me to have a radioactive uptake test too. NO way in hell I am having one of those done. It destroys your thyroid. I told Goldstein about this and he also agrees with me on this. This is why I love this doctor. He has common sense. He told me to NEVER have one of those done because iodine isn't only found in the thyroid. It is in the breasts and basically part of the entire endocrine system. It isn't safe whatsoever. 10 points for Dr. Goldstein there. YAY!

Now I wait on the blood work paper from Dr. Goldstein to get it all done. If it still comes back low, then we can see what is going on from there. He said that my T4 doesn't match the low TSH at all. If I had true hyper, then my T4 would be through the roof. If I had a secondary hypothyroidism (pituitary problem) then my T4 would be low. He kind of laughed and said he had no idea what was up. I'm one of his most complex patients. He has told me this over and over. That's when I suggested that perhaps the lab result was a fluke or misinterpreted. Maybe someone messed up a decimal point?

The PCP has now completely dismissed the swollen lymph nodes. She said that they don't exist now that she found the low TSH (I am not making this up). Rather than cervical adenopathy, she feels it is a goitre. If my thyroid is so enlarged that it is reaching the collar bone area, then I am in serious trouble. You can't see the thyroid at all when looking at me. She also shrugged off the enlarged lymph node in my groin...I think that my time with this doctor is over. It took 5 days to finally get an answer and she didn't even respond to the swollen lymph node in the groin. They NEVER faxed me the results. If it wasn't for Goldstein's office, I still wouldn't have them! This office had their chance and it is time to move on. I'm not gonna burn bridges, but I'm just sort of irritated how they have handled everything.

I really want to get this lymph node in my groin checked, but have no idea where to go. Really concerns me how huge it is...

I stopped the iodine as soon as the rashes started, so I'm not sure what to do at the moment. I'm gonna wait to start back up on it until I get these new labs done. Then we can get a clearer picture of what is happening. All of this may be my pituitary finally sputtering out. I have been taking my medication for DI, so it hasn't been working recently.

Tonight I am drinking a beer (yep with elevated liver enzymes HAHA) to see if I can even do it. Woot Guiness! It has been at least 8 months since my last one and I couldn't even finish it. So far so good. I'm about 5 sips in and I have no pain or weird feelings. This is an experiment. :-) What a good experiment as long as the lymph node pain doesn't start...

New Bloodwork Results---Truly Unbelievable

I am sort of at a loss for words with these new blood work results. Something is just not right with me, but apparently no one knows...Right now I am pretty fuming, so please excuse any frustration in this post.

I actually got these results from Goldstein (I had the lab send them to him as well) because the other doctor's office I went to is NOT cooperating with me. I contacted them on Monday with no call back. I called them, Tuesday and Wednesday too. Finally someone called me, but the message was NOT relayed to the doctor (about the lymph nodes in my groin) and my blood work was NEVER faxed to me. What is with doctor offices these days? My goodness, if the doctor had taken 1 look at my results, I think she would have called.

As a reminder I had the following tests done:
CBC (no differential)
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)
T4
TSH
CMV IgG AB (Titres)
Sed Rate (ESR)

CBC-All of my blood counts were normal...Wow what an improvement from 2 weeks ago where my white blood cell counts were 3,800. They were 4,900 this time. Unbelievable! There is no differential, so I do not know what my neutrophils or eosinophils are this time around.

CMP-Showed elevated liver enzymes at 60. Specifically the ALT. Now they aren't THAT high, but what in the world is causing this? I use no OTC pain relievers and I don't drink.

T4-8.9 This is in the reference range.

TSH-This one actually made my jaw drop........ 0.01 WTF! Holy shite, I went from Goldstein saying I may have slight hypothyroidism to super crazy hyperthyroidism? Or maybe it is my pituitary? I haven't taken iodine for about 4 weeks and I was only taking 1 tab a day. Even Goldstein says this amount is completely healthy and normal to take. The people in Japan consume more iodine than this in a single day... Once again, complete loss for words. What makes NO SENSE is that my T4 is normal. In true hyperthyroidism, T4 should be elevated too. I am thinking my pituitary has finally called it quits.

CMV Titres-No active CMV which includes EBV! Yay! This made me so happy. I am at 0.91 which is 0.01 away from saying I am completely NEGATIVE for antibodies. The fact that I had EBV and it is showing this low is amazing to me.

Potassium- Low at 3.5 What the hell is wrong with me. Why is my potassium always low...damnit I have made it a mission to get this higher too with NO luck whatsoever.

Sed Rate- Normal at 3. Range is 0-20.


Now I have no idea what is going on with me. /sigh These results truly make me even more frustrated and confused as to what's up. I may call Goldstein tomorrow to see if he'll look at these for me. The thyroid numbers are totally jacked. I may need to start taking Armour at this rate.

Old Arm Injury Showing Itself Again

About 5 1/2 years ago, I hurt my arm while I worked at Pier 1 Imports. I used to help do truck early in the morning (like 5am) and I actually really enjoyed it. Even though I am very personable, sometimes I just like to be left to myself in a stockroom. I enjoyed organizing the shelves and keeping tabs on what inventory was available. That way if someone was interested in a table set, I immediately knew if we had it in the back. I've always taken my work very seriously even when making $7.00/hr. I was Associate of the Year in my store! HAHA It is still something that really makes me chuckle when I think about it.

For those of you who haven't ever worked in retail, doing truck doesn't mean you get out of being on the sales floor. Basically you do the jobs of what 5 people would do at a real corporate setting. For this reason, that is why there is such a huge turnover rate.

Now with the economy in the toilet, turnover may not be quite so high since it's extremely difficult to find a NEW job. You have people with master degrees working at Kohls, Walmart and other retailers. Doubt me? Ask around! I worked alongside 2 women with master degrees who couldn't find work in their field! Whenever you can't find a job for whatever reason, just remember you are competing with people who are OVER qualified.

While I did truck, I lifted a lot of heavy stuff. Looking back, I actually had a worker's comp case. However, it is just one of those things you don't think about at the time. Now it wasn't an injury that occurred overnight. My shoulder/arm was injured doing the repetitive task of moving tables, dining chairs, entertainment centers and heavy boxes from the truck to the stockroom. Then from the stockroom to the sales floor. If a customer needed 6 dining chairs, you had to get them from around the perimeter. Phew...imagine me with heels standing precariously on a ladder carrying down multiple dining chairs! I don't know how I did it.

Eventually I started to notice my left shoulder was bothering me. It was more of a nagging pain at this point and didn't think about it. It started to get MUCH worse over the next few weeks. I was having difficulty driving my car. Making a simple turn in my car caused severe pain to shoot into my bicep and into the shoulder. Taking shirts off and lifting my arm higher than my heart was almost impossible. At this point, I went to my manager and told her I was hurt. She was VERY concerned and immediately and permanently took me off of all truck. I was told not to lift anything heavier than 10 pounds, which is really hard at Pier 1. That week I went to the doctor and immediately started physical rehab. I went through several months 3 x a week of phys rehab to get my arm back to what it used to be. For these past few years, I have babied it. The physical rehab helped it, but it has never been back to 100%.

Just a few weeks ago I decided to try out violin. It's been something I have always been interested in. What I didn't consider was if my left arm could handle being up above my heart for extended periods of time. Well I am finding out that it cannot. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. It may come down to finding a new instrument to play.

Complete Break From Detoxing

If you are following my blog, I bet most of you have already assumed this. However, I am taking a complete break from all detoxing until everything else can be either ruled out or diagnosed. A little part of me is "missing" the detox, but my body needs a long break. I'll never know if the mild neutropenia was caused by the DMSA.

I now recommend everyone to get a full blood workup before starting the Cutler detox. You should have kidney, liver, thyroid and adrenal function checked, and a CBC with differential. Adrenal function is usually better tested with a saliva test. This way you have a good starting point. If you never get these done and then 3 months into the detox, your liver starts acting up, you won't know what caused what and may quit the detox indefinitely. Sometimes the liver, kidneys are working at just enough pace that they don't cause you problems until it is stressed more than normal. Detox is stress no matter how "gentle" of an approach you take.

This week I will be calling my doctor (today actually) to see what the results of the blood work were and where we go from here. I will definitely get them faxed over to me as well. I'd like to see an ENT to have him/her check my lymph nodes out. This is what they do on a regular basis, so they will have a better feel (pun intended) of what the lymph nodes should look like. I would like to have my groin lymph nodes examined too, but I don't think an ENT would do that.

/sigh
All of this is so frustrating!

Trying Zyrtec

Darn it, I broke down and picked up some Zyrtec. I hate doing this, but my husband is right. I am not living life at all right now. Everything I do (or don't do) is because of the stupid itching skin/hives. All they had was the 10mg kind, but this is probably best. I took it a few hours ago and I'm still itchy. Hopefully though it is making it more bearable though.

Perhaps I'd be in full blown crazy itching if I hadn't taken it. We'll see how this goes and this way I can tell my doctor whether or not Zyrtec helps. I'm starting to think that Benadryl did nothing other than make me fall asleep. You have no way of knowing if you are itching if you are sleeping...I guess you could set up a camera to see if you scratch during the night, but that's a bit crazy.

Update: I am glad to say that the Zyrtec is working! It just took a few hours to kick in, but I feel great!! Seriously I forgot what it was like to not itch. haha!

The Itchiness Was Unbearable

The itchiness was totally unbearable yesterday. I was a little itchy throughout the day, but easily kept my mind on other things. Then all of sudden for absolutely no reason all hell broke loose.

It first started on my sides, then went to my back, then the spot on the back of my leg near the butt. Eventually just everything was itchy. I was shaking and screaming in agony because I couldn't do anything about it. The itching is so intense. Then once I started to scratch it, I started to break out in the "rash". Hives were popping up on my skin and the back of my leg was bright red from me rubbing it. Pictures at this point are worthless, so I haven't been taking any.

I drank a whole cup of strongly brewed coffee and decided to take a Benadryl. I thought the coffee would counter the drug. I was still itchy by the time the drowsiness kicked in. I can only assume the itching went away when I finally fell asleep around 3:30PM. I didn't last more than 30 minutes before the Benadryl kicked my butt.

I fell asleep at around 3:30PM yesterday and woke up around 1am. That's what Benadryl does to me! WTF that's 9 1/2 hours of sleep! I vaguely remember my husband saying, we need to fill the Zyrtec prescription. HAHA

This brings my use of Benadryl to ~5 in my whole life time. All of them being in the past 5-6 weeks. Something is seriously wrong.

First Labs Came Today

Well I got the first labs today in the mail from Goldstein. Thank you Goldstein!

There is some interesting things on here that honestly concern me even more...I have noticed that the lab references are a lot different at this new place. Some results say things are "normal" because the lab ranges are WAY too big. In other instances, the lab references seem too short. I don't understand why there could be such huge difference.

I've converted some of the numbers so that the numbers from the government site(s) match the numbers here.

WBC is 3,800 wbc/mcL Pretty Low
Neutrophil # 1.38 Very Low
Neutrophil % 36.9 Very Low
Eosinophil # 400 cell/mcL High
Eosinophil % 9.3 Very High

I have mild neutropenia which slightly increases your risk of infection. Is this from the DMSA? I must be very careful about who I am around and where I go. My body also has low WBC, so if I get some sort of illness I could find myself in the hospital. High eosinophils usually mean allergies, but I have had elevated eosinophils for over a year.

None of the doctors ever seem concerned including Goldstein. If he would have looked on my prior CBC's that I brought to him, he would see that it's ALWAYS been high. He put some notes on my paper saying that the rashes are from an allergic reaction.

Rather than give Butler Hospital's lab references which seem really outdated, I'll give you what our government recognizes as normal. (Oh my, I can't believe I'm looking at a .gov site for accuracy LOL. Remember this day because it will be the last!)

• WBC normal references-4,500-10,000 white blood cells/mcL (cells per microliter) Some places say 3,500-10,000. I don't understand how there is such a huge difference.
  
• Eosinophil normal count references-Less than 350 cells/mcL (cells per microliter)
• Neutrophil normal count references-varies by website-Greater than ~1.50-7.50X10 9th power.
  
• Eosinophil % references-varies by website-One range says 0-3%, another says 0-6%
  
• Neutrophil % references-45%-70% of WBC
  

The previous lab showed I was low on their range when my WBC was 4,600. While this hospital says 3,800 is normal! Talk about a huge difference! Which one is right?

I guess I will call the doctor and forward these to her. Then she can compare them to the one I just had drawn the other day when those results come in.

Activated Quercetin For the Rash

The Activated Quercetin came in the mail earlier today (8am). I took one as soon as it came and I definitely noticed a difference in itching. Even my husband was like, you haven't been itchy much today! He didn't know I took one though, so that was somewhat funny. hehe

Right before bed, I started to get so itchy. I thought I was going to need to sleep on the couch, but decided to take the Quercetin. Well I think it may have helped a little. Last night was a really bad sleeping night for me. Remember last night for me was from 12noon-9pm. I woke up hot like 15 times, then I had to use the bathroom, then the cars outside woke me up. Needless to say in all the time I was actually awake I didn't feel itchy. Now this "morning" at 9pm those same spots started to become itchy again (near my butt, shoulder and back), so I popped a couple more. I'll see if my husband notices me NOT complaining about being itchy. I'll forget that I took it in a few hours. hahah!

The recommended dose on the bottle says to take 3-6 capsules daily divided up throughout the day, in between meals. I took 3 yesterday, so it is good to know that I could have doubled that!

If you have allergies (even seasonal allergies), I'd give this a try. We bought the Source Naturals brand because it also has a small amount of bromelain in it to help absorb it better. I saw that quercetin doesn't absorb very well in the stomach, so you need to aid it as much as possible.

On a totally unrelated note, I got new glasses yesterday and I am not happy with them. UGH...they don't fit the bridge of my nose AT ALL and I can't believe the lady didn't tell me this in the store. They are plastic so nothing can be done to them. They are soo big and they keep sliding down my nose. I can't STAND people who wear their glasses lower on their nose, so the top frame sits right at their eye level. I want to walk up to them and push their glasses up. Well with these glasses I've become one of those people. I doubt they will even take them back, but the lady we had the last time was retarded (no offense to the mentally handicapped). She didn't know how to use the computer, how to figure out the insurance and almost sold us the wrong pair of glasses/lenses! I should have run out of there then...

They talked me into getting a new frame when all I wanted was to have new lenses put into my old frames. "With your insurance it will cost about as much for new lenses in your frames than a new frame and lenses." That's what they kept telling me. New lenses would not have cost what I paid. Now I have $265 glasses I hate. My prescription is pretty high, so I have to get High Index lenses. Without it I can't see through them. I get headaches, nausea and a terrible distortion on my peripheral vision.

Later, I'll have to call them and see what can be done. I already looked and the company doesn't make the glasses in any other sized bridge but 17mm. There were no other frames that I liked at all. Everything was hideous or too big, which doesn't surprise me considering how small I am. Maybe I can get store credit which will apply to lenses or contact lenses. I can't wear these things or I'll be constantly pushing them up on my nose and that is annoying. If they sat further up on my bridge without falling down, I'd be so happy with them. They look nothing like what I've ever wore, which was what I was going for. Here is a picture of the frames.

Findings At the Doctor's Visit

I went to this new doctor with the lowest expectations possible. I was thinking, she will probably call me a druggy, crazy, in the need of taking some meds! I set myself up for the worst possible doctor visit ever. I am happy to say that yesterday went fantastic! This time I decided to go to a D.O. A D.O is a doctor who isn't completely blindsided by handing out prescriptions in hopes to stop specific symptoms. Typically D.O's are more involved in the "whole body" and they try to help their patients prevent problems before they happen by evaluating a family's background and risk factors. You'd think this would be common sense, but most M.D's don't care. There are exceptions (of course), but most of them just hear your list of symptoms and hand out a pill (s).

The visit was much better than expected. She is very concerned about my health and I could see it in her eye when she felt the lymph nodes. I think she was scared... There are enlarged lymph nodes near my collarbone and further up on my neck. I told her that I haven't been "sick" for a LONG time, so we are forgoing antibiotics that may take care of a lingering illness. I had a bunch of blood work done yesterday.

• CBC (Complete Blood Count)
  
• ESR (Erythrocyte sedimentation rate)
• TSH (Thyroid-stimulating hormone)
• T4 (Thyroxine)
• CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel)
  
• CMV (Cytomegalovirus) Titre

I repeated a few of them because I didn't want to deal with getting the results from Goldstein's office. Sometimes his office is REALLY difficult to work with especially something like this. They don't know how to use a fax machine...They won't even call you with results! That is totally up to you and they always sound very annoyed by it. I have never seen a doctor that doesn't call immediately as results come in.

CBC, I am curious to see how the results compare to Goldstein's.

ESR will show any inflammation in the body. Many months ago I had a C-Reactive Protein checked and it was very low, so we'll see what happens with the ESR.

TSH and T4 are thyroid markers, which I expect to come back completely normal.

CMP is a whole list of things including liver tests. Once again, I didn't want to deal with getting results from Goldstein's office. It's just too frustrating for me to handle. I still can't understand why Goldstein would order a BMP and a liver enzyme test...A CMP does all of that in one.

CMV Titre. I don't know how accurate this is going to be since I already had EBV when I was 16/17. I told her this so I'm not sure what she is looking for. From what I've read it's very difficult to interpret the results if someone has already been exposed to one of the viruses. Part of me is concerned that she will blame everything on EBV is this comes back high. Let's hope she has an open mind!

I am just glad that I finally found someone who listened to me and went ahead and felt my neck for swollen lymph nodes. She felt lymph nodes that I had no idea were enlarged. The ones she said were enlargde usually indicate something very very bad like metastatic cancer or lymphoma. However this is only the first step and I'll probably need referred to an ENT to do a biopsy if they deem necessary. I'd at least want a PET or CT-scan to check everything out.

The Rash & Primary Care Doctors

Trying to find a primary care doctor that will see you quickly is difficult. I have an appointment scheduled 3 months from now to see a good doctor in my area. 3 months...

Now I am forced to go to a place that looks like it might be a complete waste of time. Ugh...they can see me today too. That's a terrible sign! In my experience any doctor that is good has always had a long wait.

It appears that I am having very itchy skin, but the rash is from me scratching it. I did a little test today to see if I scratched myself whether or not a "rash" would form in the spot I scratched. Every single time I did this I got a large rash that looked like hives. It would disappear within 30 minutes. Google is absolutely amazing. I found out that there is a very common condition called, dermatographic urticaria, which means "Skin writing hives". I've never had this before in my life, so it is new within the past 5 weeks or so. I wonder if the first set of hives set something off inside my skin.

You can see exactly what this looks like here. Don't click on that link if you are freaked out by red irritated raised skin. This one artist even uses her skin as her canvas. Even this was a little too strange for me! Now some of these people say it doesn't itch at all, so that makes me wonder. These spots and the skin underneath itch like hell for me.

Now I am realizing that I'm just itchy all over. Sometimes it gets so bad that I want to scream and now that I know I CAN'T scratch it, it makes things a lot worse. I feel completely helpless because I can't do anything to relief the itch! My doctor said to try quercetin, so I've ordered some to try it out. It is a natural bioflavonoid with anti-histamine properties. It is found in apple peels, onions and teas. Maybe that's why I really like all of those things! ha!

I'll be sure to report how the doctor's visit went. I'm expecting the worse possible scenario where she calls me a cocaine addict, stupid and a psychiatric patient. This way if something other than this happens I'll be pleased!

More Rashes Today

Sigh. I've had a lot of rashes today. The redness on my right hand, I thought was dry skin. However today I discovered that it is in fact related to the other rashes. When I begin to break out, everything starts to break out. My hand got even more red! The red itchy rash was even on my forehead today.

Usually it starts with a small tingling feeling, almost hurts, then it begins to itch, itch and itch. This is what they looked like today.
I'm still very itchy right now. Today I get to call the doctor to see what I do next. Whatever doctor I go see, I am definitely taking my camera full of pictures to see what they think.

What If It's More Than Just Mercury?

I need to thank Dana Herbert, you can check out her blog at danaherbert.blogspot.com, for informing me that lymphoma can cause red rashes. This is where my focus is going to be at the moment. This needs ruled out immediately. Part of my gut tells me she is right...

You may think that I am over reacting, but this is a real possibility. I have almost EVERY- single symptom and I have had them for years. I certainly think I need to have this checked out before doing anything else.

Hodgkin's Disease symptoms

• A painless swelling in the lymph nodes in the neck, underarm, or groin
  
• Unexplained recurrent fevers ( I don't have this one)
  
• Night sweats
• Loss of appetite
  
• Unexplained weight loss
  
• Itchy skin
  
• Red patches on the skin
• Severely itchy skin, often affecting the legs/feet
• Alcohol-related pain

Now I never wrote about this before on my blog, but I suspected lymphoma the night I went to the ER in 2007. You may all recall that I had the doctor from hell who said I was a heroin addict? Well I told him about my swollen lymph nodes and cysts, but he had already decided in his head that I was a heroin addict and was collecting fibers in my joints from filtering it. He stood there and explained how it all worked. I told him I had never done drugs, but he didn't want to hear it! Nope I was looking for drugs in his head.

If I really do have Hodgkin's Disease, this could have all been resolved over a year ago. My PCP yelled at me for losing weight and completely dismissed the swollen lymph node on my neck as nothing to worry about. She said it was probably a virus and the rash I had at the time was probably just poison ivy. I told her I wasn't even outside, so there was no way it was poison ivy (didn't matter to her). I still had my hair back then, so it's been at least a year! I'm thinking it was some time in May 2007. My sister was diagnosed with her brain tumor in March of that year, so that sounds about right.

I had night sweats the whole week before going to the ER. I never experienced anything like that before, so it was strange. They weren't drenching, but it was certainly waking me up at night. Now more recently, I had terrible night sweats on Nov 1, 2008 and Nov 2nd, 2008. My entire side of the bed was soaked like I had jumped into a bath tub, but I just figured it was diabetes insipidus. Maybe it still is?

The loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss really sneaked up on my this time. I knew I had been eating less but I didn't realize just how much less. Yesterday I got some food in me, so that is good. However it is still wanting to go right through me for some reason. I can't figure it out.

Itchy skin/red patches of skin. Look at the 1st picture on the 2nd row. I did some digging last night and I found an entire forum dedicated to Hodgkin's Disease. A ton of them had the itching, red skin prior to diagnosis that a doctor shrugged off as poison ivy, dermatitis, a need to change laundry detergent or to get rid of a pet. The itching I am experiencing is so unbelievably itchy it actually makes me shake. I remember having an itchy face when I went to the ER in 2007. No one cared. All they were thinking about is whether my husband beat me or if I wanted drugs. Never at any time did I ask for pain medication, so I can't understand this. Yes the pain in my neck was terrible but I actually hate taking pain meds as all of you should know by now. My goodness, I don't even like taking a Tylenol or an Aleve. That whole encounter totally puzzles me to this day!

Prior to visiting the ER I started to develop the "pain" from drinking alcohol. This was the strangest thing. It would start at my neck and go through my stomach. At the time I thought that perhaps yeast or gluten was bothering me, so I just stopped drinking alcohol. My husband started researching what can cause this and it came back to Hodgkin's Disease. You can read a small case report of it in this medical journal.

When we went to the ER that night, we hadn't gotten the blood work results from the doctor yet. If I had them, then things would have went much differently. As you can see, I list "illness" from alcohol as part of my mercury poisoning symptoms. Even if I drink 3 sips of alcohol, I begin to feel very sick. Therefore I no longer drink it in any amounts. Mercury poisoning can cause this though, so I'll have to see.

I know I have mercury poisoning, but what if it is more? I certainly shouldn't turn a blind eye to all of this. Especially because of everything that has happened in the past 4 years. My health just went downhill very fast. It was like someone had turned on a switch. My sister had a very rare type of brain tumor and she is likely listed in some case study somewhere today. She told me there were a ton of people watching her during the surgery because she was a "medical anomaly". These are words her doctors used.

Let's hope that in a few days I'll report that everything is OK. If it isn't OK, then I'll have to decide what's next. I refuse to take their poison chemo/radiation, so I'll have to figure something else out. This is going to be a stressful week to say the least.

More Pictures of the Rash

Here are more pictures of it from tonight. I'm going freaking crazy.

First one is from my chest right before we left to get some groceries. It was unbelievably red.



Front of my neck. Very itchy but went away within 25 minutes.

This one was weird. Very blotchy. It totally faded away though.

Mercury Exposure According to Immunization Records

I thought this would be a little neat. I found my high school diploma the other day and inside of it showed me most of the vaccines I have been given during my schooling years. Now looking at this, I don't think it is complete because I remember getting the stupid Hepatitis shot in 6th grade and that is not listed on here. This isn't going to be completely accurate because I don't know brand names, but I think most brands across the board either have thimerosal or don't.

Here we go-I was born on 4/13/1984

Diptheria and Tetanus * It says on the bottom that they are usually combined in DTP, DT or Td. I have no way of knowing what I had unless I asked my mom.

• 1st dose 6/15/84
• 2nd dose 8/23/84
• 3rd dose 10/12/84
• 4th dose 10/14/85
• 5th dose 4/12/89

According to this chart that I got from the American Academy of Pediatrics
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;104/3/570/T1, all DTP have thimerosal in them. Each shot has 25ug/0.5ml of mercury. A ug means micrograms. I think they do this so it isn't confused with mg. Leaving off the c in there could be fatal!

From that one vaccine series alone, I got 125 micrograms of mercury. Thanks mom! All before the age of 5! I probably lost a lot of IQ points...

Polio * It says 3 doses of oral or 4 doses of Inactivated (Salk) vaccine. It looks like I got the Salk vaccine.

• 1st dose 6/15/84
• 2nd dose 8/23/84
• 3rd dose 10/14/85
• 4th dose 4/12/89

Supposedly the Salk vaccine didn't have thimerosal in it. There's really no way to even verify this and they lied about it being contaminated with SV-40, which is the main source of the increase in cancers we have seen today. If you got a polio shot from 1953-1960 you probably got injected with SV-40! This wasn't by mistake though and they admit that here....
Merck Drug Company Admits Injecting Polio with Cancer Viruses

Measles, Mumps, Rubella * It seems I got 1 shot with all 3 of them in it. Supposedly no thimerosal, but it is a live virus which is really bad for a developing immune symstem.

• 1st dose 7/12/85
• 2nd dose 5/4/91

TB * I can only assume that TB means Tuberculosis. This wasn't a "mandated" vaccine, so I don't know why I was given this. I don't remember anyone in my family having TB. This one is also a live virus, so no thimerosal. Although a quick search reveals that it isn't recommended to give to kids because 1) it isn't effective and 2) you can get TB meningitis from it...

• 1st dose 10/11/95 (I would have been 11 years old)

Hepatitis B * It isn't listed on the sheet, but I know I was "forced" to get it in order to be allowed in 6th grade. That is a scam in itself. Now in my research this is one of the vaccines that USED to have thimerosal in them, but are now "free" of thimerosal. This doesn't make me feel any better...3 doses of Hepatitis B vaccine contained 37.5 micrograms of mercury. This info was hard to find, but I did find it on a medical journal website here.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/13/1278

• 3 doses-No specific dates available. Approximately 10/11/95 up to the summer before 6th grade which would have been 8/31/96

In the meanwhile, by the age of 12 I already had TONS of amalgam fillings in my mouth, lost the baby teeth with the amalgams and then had new ones put in. Right around 14 my family stopped going to the dentist and refused to take me. In some way that may have been a blessing, but I used to be so mad at my family for this.

Just from vaccines alone I have been exposed to 162.5 micrograms of mercury. Now let me explain to you how terrible that is. In order to be considered "symptomatic" the FDA says you must be excreting 25 micrograms of mercury in your urine. How in the hell does this even make sense? Injecting it directly into your bloodstream which bypasses every single safety mechanism your body has, is totally OK!

In the bad challenge test I did (which you should NEVER EVER DO) I excreted 30 micrograms of mercury from only 60mg of DMPS. Most other challenge tests shoot you up with a few hundred mg of DMPS, so I can only imagine what the results would have been then.

You may be thinking well lots of kids had all of those shots and are doing "fine". I laugh at people who say these sorts of things. Do you think since you've only see white cars, that only white cars exist? Do you think if you close your eyes that no one can see you? This may sound stupid, but saying that everyone is doing fine or things would be a lot worse off is the same type of mindset. If it doesn't affect YOU and someone YOU are close to then it doesn't affect ANYONE. Can I have what you are smoking!

What is fine to most people? Still walking and breathing? Most people would look at me and think, pretty young girl, thin, she must be doing fine! haha When in fact, if I'd lift up my hair and show them my bald spot, then my recurring rash and let them see how fast my heart rate races on a daily basis, they would quickly back down from their "doing fine". A lot of people in their 20's are now finally getting sick and it is a "hidden sickness". These people LOOK okay.

Mercury poisoning doesn't make you grow 4 ears. It looks like what "getting old" means to most Americans. You just start to slowly deteriorate and for some people that happens sooner. I think MS, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, chronic fatigue and most autoimmune disorders is directly related to heavy metal load. Most people who suffer from these DO NOT chelate properly, so they never see the results.