The Ramblings Of Jenn Shuey

By the time we get me straightened out health wise I’m going to be so sick of doctors.  I had yet another doctor’s visit this morning, and all he really did was schedule me for yet another visit next week.  We’re still just monitoring my blood pressure, and he didn’t lower my medications at all.  I’m still taking 15 pills a day.  It does look like once we get the whole bp thing under control I’ll still be looking at how to lose belly fat. Losing so much weight so soon was just a tease because at this visit I’ve actually gained weight. It was only 5lbs, but still…I should be losing it not gaining it.

We did discuss the fact that I can’t take regular birth control until we get my bp straightened out, so he gave me a pill that is non hormonal.  I’d tell ya the name of it if I could remember, but I can’t and I can’t read his writing on the script either.  Then again it wouldn’t be very doctor-like of him to have decent handwriting would it?

I asked about the night sweats I’ve been having.  I wanted to know if it’s just a side effect of the medicine or just something hormonal…or maybe both?  It’s not like I’ve been through the whole post partum thing before, so I wouldn’t know.  What I do know is that it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night or how long I sleep.  I’m going to end up sweating like a pig…I mean to the point where I”m sleeping on a towel because I can’t keep waking Hubby up to change the soaked sheets.  This started while I was still in the hospital, so at first I thought it was the hospital bed causing it, but then it continued and actually worsened once we got home.  Dr. Fox confirmed today that it’s probably a side effect of the massive amount of Labetalol that I’m taking.

I’ve been wondering if the Labetalol is even working for the simple fact that 4 doctors kept looking at my numbers and just upping the dosage instead of trying a different medicine.  There wasn’t really much of a difference in my bp at 200mg  and 2000mg.  I’m still staying in the 130-140 over 90-105 range when I take it at home.  In the doc’s office I’m reading in a normal bp range around 120/70s. 

I think Dr. Fox is wondering the same thing because he scheduled me for a return visit in 2 weeks, but this time he wants me to stop taking my meds completely for 24 hours before the visit so he can see what happens when the medications are completely out of my system.  I’ll be monitoring my bp, and if it starts to rise drastically he wants me to go ahead and take my meds, but if there’s no change we’ll know the meds aren’t working, and the numbers are starting to lower slightly on their own.  If the meds are in fact doing their job we’ll know that it’s time to start looking into other methods of treatment including a long term plan beyond your average preeclampsia.

I’m crossing my fingers and hoping there isn’t some underlying condition that causing me to have other issues.  The doctor seems to think since I’ve never had any blood pressure issues in the past that my body is just taking a lot longer to readjust, but we can’t be sure yet.  If after 6-8 weeks I”m not back to normal then something else is definitely going on with me.  I’m just so ready to get this all figured out.  On top of that new mother exhaustion I’m dealing with the fatigue caused by the medicines combined with the extra fatigue of running back and forth to the doc’s office for  both of us.  I honestly don’t know how much longer I can take all this without needing to take a day for a full mental breakdown.