My Kangen Journey

I was introduced to Kangen Water after I got home from a 4-day hospital stay at the end of October 2012.

Brad and I decided to start trying for a family in June of 2011, and we learned pretty quickly that it was going to take a little more than trying to get our blessing, so I visited a fertility specialist in August of 2012, a little over a year after we first started trying.  While at our first appointment, our doctor let me know I’d need to repeat the surgery I first had in July of 2007, followed with quite a bit of medication and a set of Lupron injections.

I had the surgery in September of 2012, and at my follow-up appointment, I was quickly prescribed about 3200 mg of various medications.  All of those medications, along with a doctor prescribed change in my diet, led to my trip to the ER, which you can read more about here.  The final diagnosis: ACIDOSIS, meaning my body was dangerously acidic.

It was definitely a difficult and frustrating week, and it left me feeling hopeless and scared.  Not only did I feel like I was back at square one regarding my desire to have a baby, but I NEVER EVER EVER wanted to feel that way again.  I told Brad several times on the day we went to the ER that I felt like I was dying.  I felt silly saying that at the time until we realized just how serious things were and how sick I really was.

We hadn’t been home too long when I got a call from my high school youth minister, Jimmy Reynolds.  He introduced me to some very simple facts about WATER, and then asked me a question.  Seven very simple words changed my life forever: Would you like to try the water?  As I mentioned earlier, I was desperate to NEVER get that sick again, so I was willing to try anything.

Part of my prescribed fertility treatment was to take care of myself and try to get as healthy as possible – the healthier I was, the "easier" it would be to conceive.  Not to mention I had endometriosis on my bladder, which caused CONTINUAL bladder infections (so severe I would end up vomiting for days at a time and miss countless hours, sometimes days of work).  Needless to say, I had already cut out caffeine, and I eventually decided to cut out everything but water.  I was drinking between 3 and 5 bottles of Dasani water a day, so I was pretty shocked when the kidney specialist told us just how dehydrated I was…enough to need 5 bags of IV fluids over the course of 3 days, which I was told is just about the entire amount of fluids my body requires to function.

Did you know that the bottled water you religiously drink, thinking you are hydrating and helping yourself is actually ACIDIC?  It doesn’t even qualify to go through city pipes, and if it did, they’d be rusted and ruined! On the scale of acidity, 14.0 being alkaline, bottled water is 2.5.  TWO POINT FIVE.  If you’ll take a look at a pH scale, you’ll quickly see that level promotes sickness and disease in your body.  

After talking with Jimmy about the various types of water people drink today, I quickly learned just how wrong I had been about what I thought was a healthy habit to have.  Each of those bottles had directly contributed to the acidic state of my body and were leading causes of my severe dehydration.  I was able to have a loaner machine in my apartment for 30 days, thanks to Ty Musser, my middle school youth minister. He was extremely helpful in our introduction to Kangen water.  He came and installed the loaner machine and talked with us for a good 2 hours, answering all of our questions and telling us some of the stories from things he had seen.

Brad and I agreed we would do anything possible to keep from going back to that state again, so we purchased our machine in January of 2013 after getting settled in to our new home and finishing up with the holidays.

I had high hopes that the water would keep me out of the hospital and, more importantly, keep my hydrated (which it has done both), but I had no idea all of the other ways it was going to help me.

One of the wonderful side effects of the endometriosis I have is IBS, and I have a pretty severe case of it.  I had my FIRST (and yes, there have been multiple) colonoscopy when I was 17.  Each test (colonoscopy, scopes, gallbladder tests, cat scans, endless blood work, etc.) has come back with the same results: inconclusive.  And each doctor left me with the same outcome: no answers, no suggestions, and NO relief. (I received my first OFFICIAL diagnosis of Endometriosis at 21 and IBS at 27…I went to my first doctor appointment for severe stomach pains at the age of 16.)

It is this area of my life and health that has seen the MOST improvement, and this alone was worth purchasing the machine for me: I went from having diarrhea between 5 and 7 times a day, EVERY. SINGLE. day of the week (and no, I am not exaggerating for added effect), to not having it AT ALL.  (If you are praising Jesus right now, SO AM I!)... I realize this might be a little TMI, but it's also TTT (totally the truth) and part of my story, and I hope that I can share the waters with other people that have a similar story.

I have been able to see other improvements from the water as well, including added energy, no soda withdrawals (I now CRAVE water), no headaches (these were actually starting to become a weekly occurrence as well), but I am even more excited to see what’s to come.  I hope to learn ways to manage (or even eliminate) my endometriosis pain and the side effects of PCOS.  I know this isn’t the end of my Kangen testimony.  I am hopefully that someday I will be able to add a chapter about beating infertility. I’ll keep you posted on that one! ;)

My new worst nightmare

If you've been following my journey, you know that I recently had my first PCOS consultation with Dr. Howard.  I am already on some medication for endometriosis, and this consultation added 3 new medications to the mix, along with a new diet - the South Beach diet where I would strictly limit the carbs in my diet.  I started taking half of a pill of metformin (I had only taken 1 complete pill - 1 on Saturday and one on Monday) at dinner and 2 pills a day of Spironolactone (one at breakfast and one at dinner).  Dr. Howard had also encouraged me to start this new part of my treatment with an appetite suppressant each day at lunch time.

For the past two weeks, I had been really struggling with my appetite.  I'm honestly not sure how much of it was me feeling in control of what was going on and how much of it was me actually not being hungry, but I was eating even less than normal.

I had worked over the weekend to look into all of the prescriptions and research the South Beach diet (I'd be starting on Phase 1 which was pretty strict), and I felt ready on Monday to give it my best shot - eggs for breakfast, grilled chicken breast for lunch, and (thanks to my no-appetite) peanut butter for dinner.  I knew that going forward I'd need to eat more in order to stay healthy, so I was researching recipes and foods that would meet the requirements of South Beach but that I would be able to enjoy as well.

On Monday evening, right before bed, I took all 5 of the pills...I nearly choked on one and gagged on another to the point I thought I was going to throw up.  This process was just starting and I was already dreading it!  I HATE taking pills.  I hate depending on medicine. And I hate that my body starts to develop a dependency on those pills.  On Monday night, 4 months seemed like it was going to be a LIFETIME.

Our Nightmare Begins

Tuesday morning, around 1:30 am, I woke up and felt extremely sick to my stomach.  I barely made it into the bathroom before I started vomiting.  I had never felt so sick or so weak in my life.  I would get cold sweats throughout my whole body, to the point that the back of my hair was literally dripping.  I also felt like there were thousands of needles trying to poke from the inside out of my arms.  The worst part was my heart racing.  I kept telling Brad that I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

I finally got settled back down around 3:30 and was able to sleep until about 7:00.  The rest of the morning I was in and out of it, feeling extremely weak and praying I wouldn't get sick again.  Each time I would get up to go back to the bath room or anywhere else, I felt like I was going to black out.

I was also still trying to stick to my SB diet, so I decided I'd make some sugar free jello to start off with.  I fell asleep waiting for it to get ready, and woke back up around 1:00.  When I ago up at that time, I was already feeling pretty sick, but made it into the bathroom before dry heaving for what seemed like an eternity.  The entire time, I began to have the same cold sweats and needle-sensation I had the night before and the racing heart rate had yet to slow down.  I was sitting indian-style in front of our toilet with my arms crossed on the seat and my forehead resting on my arms.  I had NO strength to do anything but sit there until another round of dry heaves would start.

Around 1:30, still sitting in the same position and now throwing up what "acid" stuff was in my stomach, Brad began to question if we needed to go somewhere.  I really wasn't sure how I was going to make it ANY WHERE, but I knew I wasn't going to get any better at home, so we loaded up and headed to the ER.

Our time in the ER

We live next door (literally) to Baylor Carrollton Hospital.  We don't even have to get on a street to get in the parking lot of the ER.  We were there in a matter of about 5 minutes.  We registered, got my blood pressure and vitals taken, and then sat with the initial contact to let her know what all was going on.  I cried as I sat with a barf bag in my hands and no energy left to even dry heave.  I began to have more cold sweats and the pain of the "needles" came over me again.  I told her a little about my story and that I was beginning to question if it was really worth all this.

She walked us right back to Room 3 where Brad and I would spend the next 10 hours of our day.

The doctor came in to the room and immediately noted that I was severely dehydrated based on my lips alone.  She walked through everything that was going on and I told her what I could about all the medicines I was on.  She ordered 2L of fluid and multiple tests.

We started with a few blood tests along with a blood pressure/heart rate test where they would measure my BP and HR while I was laying down, then sitting up, then standing up.  With each test, my blood pressure would go down further and my heart rate would increase.  This can determine how dehydrated a patient is.  Apparently, I failed this test miserably.

What seemed like an afternoon trip to the ER for fluids quickly turned into a scary experience with more questions than answers.  My doctor began to get the blood work back, some of which looked fine and other pieces that looked off.  We knew my blood pressure was extremely low, my heart rate was very rapid, my glucose levels were too low, and we were starting to learn that there were some red flags in other areas as well.

While I was in the restroom (thanks to IV bag 1), Brad overheard my doctor outside our room telling Mattie, my nurse, that "Room 3 is very sick."  I think this might have been the first time we really started to worry about what was going on.

Shortly after that, a technician from a different area came in and explained that the doctor had ordered an ABG - arterial blood gas - which is taken from an artery as opposed to the normal veins.  This goes through muscle and nerve, and mine is located directly under my vein.  I'd have to say this was the WORST part of the whole experience.  The initial technician tried twice in my right wrist, followed by a 2nd technician trying twice in my left wrist, and finally my friend David got it in one shot back on my right wrist.

You can see the nice little knot that was
left behind after the ABG was done.

 Once my doctor got the results back from the ABG, she knew that something was wrong and went ahead with starting the admitting process.  She couldn't tell us much.  She didn't know why my levels were so off, but she knew that it was dangerous for my body and that we needed to get it figured out.

She could tell us that at this time the ph balance in my blood was too low.  When this is out of balance, it causes the various systems in my body to not work properly.  It can also cause kidney and liver damage and introduce issues with the brain.  Needless to say, we were scared and wanted to get things taken care of quickly.

I had already been stuck once for the IV and five times for the ABG, and the doctor had ordered more blood work.  My IV had stopped working - it wasn't letting anything in or out, and then it started really hurting.  So the nurse had to pull my original IV out and started trying to draw blood from other areas.  I was so dehydrated that they were having trouble finding a vein, and when they did, nothing would come out.

The first time we put anything on Facebook or told anyone besides our parents what was going on was around 7:50 on Tuesday night.  The doctor had informed me that if they weren't able to get any blood out or get a new IV in, they'd have to put the IV in directly to my jugular.  Another wave of panic set in and I knew we needed people praying for us.

A phlebotomist came in (after 2 others tried 4 other times) and got the blood drawn.  A second technician came in and was able to get the IV in with a smaller needle.  I'd been stuck 12 times by 8 different people since coming in to the ER, but they had all the blood they needed and I had an IV back in.

This isn't even HALF of the trash from trying
to get my blood drawn and IV in.

Once we had all the blood work completed that my doctor ordered, we were able to FINALLY head up to my hospital room.  We got settled in around 11:30 or 12:00 after what was the LONGEST day of my life and the nurse put my third liter of fluid in.  We knew the nurses would be in pretty often to check my vitals - I think the only thing that happened more than "the sticks" was getting my blood pressure taken - so we went right to sleep to try and get as much rest as possible.

Day 2 - Admitted

Day 2 seemed to get started way too earlier with very little sleep the night before.  The first nurse came in around 5:00 am to draw some more blood (Lucky number 13 and the 9th person) and she was pretty quickly followed by an assistant that came in to take my blood pressure.  I was also taken down to radiology around 9:00 for chest and abdomen X-Rays.

We didn't have much news about what was going on, but we knew we were waiting to see Dr. Kim.  He came in around 10:30 and walked through the past few days and talked about all of the medicines I was taking.  He gave us a little insight as to what was going on, deciding it was "the perfect storm" inside my body, but told us he wanted us to talk with a Kidney specialist before moving forward.

My parents got in around 11:30 and that helped tremendously.  Just talking to them and NOT focusing on all that was going on was a nice break.  I definitely underestimated the lack of energy I had when I got so tired from taking a shower.  My sweet mom helped me blow dry my hair...this was something she hadn't done in a very long time! :)

My sweet mom blow drying my hair :)

Still waiting for the kidney specialist 

We waited most of the day for the kidney specialist, Dr. Perri, but she talked with us for quite a while and worked through what was going on.  She confirmed what the 2 other doctors had suspected, stating that my body was in starvation mode when I came in the ER and that something called "Acidosis" was taking place in my body.  There was too much acid in my body fluids.  From my lessened appetite and eating, to the amount that I vomited, added to the medicines I was taking and the lack of carbs I ate on Monday, my body wasn't able to keep up.

Dr. Perri explained that the fluids should help to get everything regulated again, and she hoped I'd be able to go home the following day!  I had my fourth and fifth bag of IV fluids - these contained more "nutrients" than the normal sodium chloride bags.

Day 3 - Going HOME!

Day 3 was pretty much the same.  My 5th bag of IV fluids finished up around 3:30 in the morning and they unplugged my from everything (IV and heart monitor), so I was able to sleep the rest of the night more comfortably than the two before.

They came in around 5:00 for another round of blood (stick 15) that barely worked at all.  He said he'd turn it in and hope for the best, but about an hour later, another lab technician walked in (stick 16) to try and get some more.  Thankfully she was a little more successful!  There was another blood pressure test (laying, sitting, standing) and a shot of meds around 9:30, but after that - we were finally just waiting for word from the doctors that we'd be able to go home!

B working from the hospital room.

A second kidney specialist came in around 1:45.  He had taken a look at my kidney functions, ph levels, and all of the tests that the nurses had been running.  He said my kidney output had gone back up, my levels were evening out, and he felt I was ready to go home!  Then we just had to wait on word from Dr. Kim.

My favorite "meal" while I was in the ER
and hospital room.

Our Answers. Our Plan.

Dr. Kim came in a little before 2:30 and spent some more time talking with us about all that had gone on over the past few days and weeks.  He gave us his obvious recommendation of stopping the latest medicines I had added and to hold off on the South Beach diet for now.  This was something Brad and I had already talked about doing, so we were glad to hear him say the same thing.

He did let us know that this is something that can happen again, so we'll have to watch for the warning signs from now on and I'll have to make sure that I'm getting an appropriate amount of nutrition - even when I don't "feel" like eating.

This definitely puts a pretty big kink in our plans with Dr. Howard, but I am starting to see God tell me not to rush this (repeatedly...in more than one way).  So we are going to slow down and focus on the endometriosis first, and then work towards getting the PCOS taken care of.

I'll meet with Dr. Howard this Friday to see what all he has to say about the latest developments in his plan for my health and fertility.

Emmers was SO glad I was home and able
to snuggle with him on the couch!

Some tough bruises from after the hospital stay.

I'm thankful to have been in a hospital where I felt prayed
for and loved the entire time.

Who PRAYS for a shot?

These are copies of text messages/emails that I sent to my parents, Brad, and his parents at the time everything was going on, so please ignore any errors.  I wasn't going for grammar, punctuation, or capitalization on these.


October 25 at 1:37
Update on the shot.  I just got off the phone with Mackey and she has been on the phone with everyone today.

Yardi is in CA, so our insurance and pharmacy benefits company is out of California.

My doctor is in Texas.

When curascripts (in ca) goes to fill the rx, they won't send it to a tx doctor.

So they transferred it to a tx blue cross (prime therapeutics) and they won't fill it cause the insurance is out of CA.

Mackey also called Express Scripts, who we have our rx benefits through, and they won't do it either.

So right now I would have to do it as not covered by insurance and its $800 a shot...$3200.

October 26 at 10:18

Just got off the phone with Mackey. She has talked to everyone available and no one will budge. Because of something to do with laws between California and Texas. The shot has to come from there since that's where my insurance is, but they won't send it from an rx with a Texas doctor.

Mackey has talked with a lady that can get the lower dosage (3.75 instead of 7.5) for free.

Because it will be a lower dosage, Dr. Howard is going to have me double up on the Femara. 2 in the morning and 2 at night, (which means doubly tired).

I will go in and have a sono at the end of 4 months to see if my tubes are still blocked. If they are I will keep getting the shot (possibly 6 months to start). I will also have to get my blood drawn periodically to make sure it is in fact lowering my estrogen levels. The goal is under 20.

I am waiting to hear back from dr. Howard's office to get the new rx for the double Femara. And Mackey is waiting to hear back about when she can get the free ones. She is hoping to get a 3.75 sample shot from their rep so that I can start ASAP!

October 26 at 10:53

I just got off two more phone calls.  One with Teresa from Neovia, which is a consulting firm that acts as a liaison between Yardi and Anthem.  She called to get my doctors name and number and was calling Anthem back with that information.  She says she hopes to have this resolved by the end of the day.  I’m just not sure how she won’t run into the same road blocks.

I also just got off the phone with Mackey to get some information regarding all of the calls she's made and the trouble she's had on those calls.  – The latest on the background information from her:

She calls the Vendor in California at CuraScripts and says that Texas process their own claims so they won’t send the injection to Texas and that we need to work with the Blue Cross Texas vendor to get the shot.  The Blue Cross Texas vendor is Prime Therapuetics.  When she calls them, they won’t fill it because they don’t have a contract with Anthem (Blue Cross out of California).  So she tried to call Express Scripts because that is who our pharmacy insurance uses and they won’t fill it without us paying full price because it is an injectable and it is a specialty drug.

We could really use your prayers at this time that God would allow this situation to work out.  I'm already on 6 perscriptions, and adding more is just scary.  Not to mention the one I'd be doubling up on already makes me tired as it is.  The longer this process takes, the more my endo can grow and continue to cause pain and other issues.  Also, the longer it takes, the longer we have to wait to start our family.

Please pray that if we can't get the 7.5 shot taken care of through insurance, that the sample would come quickly to Dr. Howard's office and that Mackey's contact would be able to provide the free shots for us.  Please pray that this treatment will work even though it's not our original gameplan, and please pray for patience as we try and work through all of this.

And then there was PCOS

I've known for a while that I have Endometriosis (since July 2007).  What I wasn't aware of, until seeing Dr. Howard for the first time, is that PCOS is almost always found to be present in patients with Endometriosis (along with IBS and PMS).  I'm 4 for 4.

During my pre-op sonogram we took a look at both my ovaries, and the technician was able to show me the cysts on both my right and left ovaries.  By the second ovary, Brad was even able to point out the cysts that lined my right side.  It was confirmed before Dr. Howard even opened me up that I was going to need to be treated for the PCOS along with the Endometriosis.

I had my initial consultation with Dr. Howard on my anniversary, so might as well have my PCO consultation the day before my birthday!  I was able to meet with Dr. Howard today and learn more about what exactly is going on inside my body.

What is PCOS?

PCOS stands for Poly (or many)-Cystic-Ovary-Syndrome, simply meaning that many cysts line my ovaries.  Dr. Howard was very quick to say that he wished the name would be changed because the cysts on the ovaries are merely a piece of the puzzle in what happens...it is not the cause.  PCOS is a hormonal imbalance linked to the way the body processes insulin after insulin has been produced by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar (glucose).  As a matter of fact, the moment I was born my body was already on track for PCO.

Our cells require two things - Oxygen (which we breath in) and Glucose (which our body makes by processing the food we eat).  There is a "gate" in our cells that must be opened so that the glucose can enter the cell.  This is done by insulin triggering a transmitter to open the gate, and then the glucose slides right in.

In patients that have diabetes, this transmitter is broken and the gate can't be opened.  In patients with PCO, the message is sent to open the gate, but a false message is sent as well which uses more energy than the body knows should be required.  Because of this, the body begins to store up extra insulin so that the message doesn't continue to process so slowly.  (This can be seen in the picture below on the bottom left corner)

All that means is that as an infant, after my very first time to eat, my body realized that something was different than it should have been.  The message in my cells was being sent to open the gate and let the glucose in, but it was doing so with too much energy required.  So my body began to store up extra insulin to make up for the difference.  This is known as insulin resistance.

Note: Insulin normally helps convert sugars and starches from foods into energy, but in cases where there is insulin resistance, the glucose will begin to build up in the bloodstream.  These high insulin levels lead to excess levels of male hormones which translates to weight gain.

When I hit puberty, this introduced the issue with my ovaries.  In a normal ovary, testosterone (male hormones) are turned into estrogen (female hormones).  In the ovary of a patient with PCO, there is excess testosterone.  This excess leads to damaging the egg because there isn't enough estrogen for the egg to fully mature and leaves only a sac of fluid behind.  These sacs of fluid are the cysts that remain on the ovary, so you can see how the "string of pearls" (as they are sometimes called) or the multiple cysts lining the ovary are formed.

When testosterone is present in excessive levels, as found in PCO patients, it is converted to a much stronger dihydrotestosterone (DHT).  This is responsible for thinning hair in women along with excessive hair growth in unwanted areas (especially on the face).  The excess testosterone can also be responsible for excess fat and excess oils (oily hair and skin) which can lead to acne.

All of that combined - the way that my body is function and the fact that it leads to obesity - the likelihood of high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes are greatly increased in women like me with PCOS.

So what do you do?

It might seem like all of that is a little overwhelming...I know it was to me!  But there are medicines to take and things to do in order to fight against what is going on.

1 - Prescription drugs. Metformin (as used in diabetic patients) and Flutomide (or Spironolactone)  Metformin alone largely reduces the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.  These drugs are used to combat the oily skin/acne, excess hair, and excess fat that occurs in PCO patients.

I will be taking Spironolactone twice a day (breakfast and dinner) and I will be working my way up to taking Metformin twice a day.

Metformin has a 4 week introduction where you take half of a pill at dinner for the first week, half of a pill at breakfast and half at dinner for the second week, half at breakfast and a full pill at dinner for the third week, and a full pill at breakfast and dinner for the fourth week.

2 - Exercise.  An obvious way to combat the excess fat and encourage health is by working out.  My doctor encouraged me to work out 5 times a week, 30 minutes a day.  During those 30 minutes, he suggests that his patients walk 2 miles.  It doesn't seem like much, and it definitely doesn't seem difficult, but he has seen it to be very successful in his patients.

3 - Diet.  The South Beach Diet is often recommended for PCOS patients because of the limits it has on Carbs as well as other guidelines that are followed to encourage and promote healthy eating.  Weight loss is proven to improve insulin sensitivity.

I am excited to get started on all 3 steps and work towards a healthier me!

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the ugly truth

There were three (main) reasons I started blogging about my journey with Endometriosis (and now PCOS):

1 - So that I would be able to write everything down in one place and refer my friends and family to the blog...hopefully limiting the number of times I would have to explain the things that, at times, can be overwhelming and complicated (not to mention forgetting different pieces of the puzzle at different times).

2 - So that I could hopefully help others on the same journey.  I learned a lot about myself and my body when I couldn't find a good doctor, and now that I have a knowledgeable doctor, I have learned even more.

3 - The biggest reason I wanted to share my journey is so that our journey to a miracle can be shared with our children some day.  Our babies will be able to see how much they were prayed for and how hard we worked to have them.

With that being said, some of the struggles I've had with this battle are extremely personal and possibly a little uncomfortable for some people to talk about - like guys and there avoidance of the topic - periods...but that's part of this journey, and if I'm going to help others, I'm going to be honest.  I’m probably a little more open about it than some might be because I have dealt with it for so long and I’m so used to it.

This week has been one of my more frustrating weeks on this journey.  I haven't been very happy with the "professionalism" of my doctor and his office since after my surgery.  I had some pretty serious back pain and other complications after the surgery that he simply brushed off as "part of endometriosis."  

I had my follow up appointment on Friday, Sept. 14, an entire month.  I have yet to get my shot in the mail, or even get the call from the place that will send it to me.  I called the doctors office last Monday, October 1, and talked with the receptionist.  She couldn’t find my folder to see if the shot had been ordered, but felt like the insurance/billing person had it and was taking care of things.  Seeing that it had been almost a month, she put a note on that person’s desk. 

On Wednesday morning, I still hadn’t heard anything, so I called the billing person and left a message for her to call me.  When she called me back that afternoon, two things were obvious.  She never got the “note” that “was left” for her on Monday, and she had forgotten to order my shot over the past month.

I’ve talked to her this week as well and she said that she had talked to the place that will send the shot.  They have my information and were supposed to call me by Wednesday…it’s Saturday, and still no call.

At this point, I’m not sure when I’ll get the shot, but I’m guessing I’ll have to endure another period, and that is the LAST thing that is supposed to happen.

Needless to say, I’m considering (now more than ever) looking into some other doctors in the area to see what other options I have.

The past week has also been extremely frustrating because I am enduring my monthly bladder infection-ish.  I say “ish” because I don’t actually have a bladder infection.  I would test negative, and the antibiotics to treat it would do nothing.  My entire body just FEELS like I have one because I have endometriosis on my bladder.

This is something I have also been living with for almost two years now.  I had one so bad last summer that I nearly passed out at the Rangers game.  I ended up with a pretty bad heat rash and spent the only 3 innings we stayed in the bathroom.

When this happen, it’s honestly the most miserable I feel throughout all of the things this journey has had me endure.  There isn’t much that brings me relief, and  on at least 3 occasions in the last year, I’ve ended up throwing up before the pain goes away.

I end up drinking a WHOLE lot of cranberry juice, a little pill that makes my urine orange, and lots of advil…and I spend a lot of time praying that God will just let me feel better.

Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t have a lot of confidence in my doctor at this time, and seeing that he is only in his office on Monday and Wednesday all day and Friday for half a day, I don’t really have a doctor that is accessible to call when things like this come up.  I’d like to find a doctor that gets to know me and listens to my story, then helps me while we go through this journey together.  I would expect my doctor to be available to call when things come up related to the very issue he is helping me with…but I don’t feel like I have that right now.

What's Next??

I had my follow up appointment with my doctor a few days ago.  Not much was what I wanted to hear, and it took me some time to just be at peace with everything.  But I’ve had a lot of friends and family asking me “What’s next?” “What’s the plan?” “How do you take care of it?”  So I wanted to share what the next few months will be like.

Dr. Howard has me on 3 medications at this time – Hyoscyamine (HyoMax), Letrozole (Femara), and Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq).  The Femara and Pristiq are to get me ready for 4 months of Leuprolide (Lupron) injections.

The HyoMax is to help control IBS.  For patients with endometriosis, there are often 4 things present – the endometriosis, PMS, IBS, and PCOS.  I’ve had IBS since I was 16 years old.  The past 6 or 7 years it has been pretty severe and something I’ve had to deal with on a daily basis. 

Dr. Howard had me taking the HyoMax 2 at a time twice a day after my initial consultation with him.  This drugs purpose is to “dry things up” – needless to say, my sinuses, mouth, and everything else was about as dried up as it could be.  I started to have nosebleeds and couldn’t talk because my mouth was so dry.  A few days after those side effects started, my vision started going blurry…and by blurry, I mean I couldn’t focus on an elephant if it was right in front of my face. 

Needless to say, this scared me enough to get completely off of the medication.  I’m now taking one pill, once a day, and I’m taking them at night before I go to sleep so that I can sleep through the side effects.

The Lupron injections will essentially put me through menopause.  The goal is for me to have my period in October and then start taking the injection once it comes in the mail.  Every time I have a period, the endometriosis continues to grow.  It “feeds” what is already there and can continue to damage the fembria – which considering I have 25% functionality between both of mine, I can’t really afford much more damage.

The injections are to stop my period and essentially, remove all of the estrogen from my body.  Estrogen is what feeds the endometriosis. 

The Femara is a drug that is normally given to patients that have a likelihood of developing breast cancer.  For endometriosis patients, it is used to keep our bodies from turning testosterone into estrogen, something that natuarally happens in my body.  I am taking twice the normal dose (once pill in the morning and one at night), and the only side effect is some pretty serious yawns.  I feel tired.  I don’t feel like I could pass out asleep sitting at my desk or driving to work, but it causes me to feel incredibly tired 2 to 3 hours after I take the pill for about 3 or 4 hours.  I’m pretty sure I yawn 50 times a day!  Luckily I sleep through the second pill.

The Pristiq is my least favorite.  I spent 2 or 3 years 2 different times in my life on antidepressants.  In June of 2011 when Brad and I decided to get off birth control, I also decided to get off my antidepressants so that I wouldn’t have them in my system when I got pregnant.  My goal was to learn ways to naturally overcome depression and hoped to never take them again.

In this case, the Pristiq is used to help “mellow” things out while I’m going through “menopause.”  Once I’m done with the injections, I’ll be able to wean myself off of them.

The plan for the injections and the other medications is to “starve” the endometriosis that is in my body and keep my body from making any new endometriosis.  I have a uterus full of a nasty mess of stuff that makes my life miserable and will make carrying a baby extremely difficult.  The goal is to have a cleaner uterus in four months, and then Brad and I will be able to start trying to get pregnant again.

Once we are able to get pregnant, I’ll have about a year and a half of a period-free life, which will continue to heal my body.  After the baby is born, I’ll start taking birth control, skipping the placebo pills for the purpose of not having a period.  Dr. Howard hopes that I have my period in October and then never have another one…we’ll see how that goes! ;) Not that I would argue with it.

This will be my second time going through the injections, although I’ll be on a stronger dose in a shorter amount of time.  I took them 5 years ago after I had my surgery for the first time.  The plan was the same at that time, to not have a period for 6 months so that my body could heal…I ended up having a period for 45+ straight days.  This is my BIGGEST prayer request over the next several months…that my body reacts as it should to this treatment so that I don’t have to do this ever again and so that I can safely carry my babies in my own tummy.