Thread:Vicki04/@comment-35319541-20180419000507/@comment-35315474-20180419085541

Oh, we would never stop talking! LOL! I feel for you with vertigo. I only had it once, and omg, it was awful. Had gallbladder surgery at a hospital, and when I went home, I discovered that I had traded in my gallbladder for an inner ear infection. Had horrible vertigo. I remember being unable to walk... constantly sideways... using the walls to stay up.. and the crawling when even that didn't work. The throwing up when there's nothing left to throw up, but still heaving nonetheless. I soooo feel for you. I was in school, working on my master's degree, and had to miss a full week because of it. Couldn't drive. Couldn't sit in class. I was instantaneous housebound.

I have been suicidal before, but I personally know I could not do it because I believe all it accomplishes is passing my pain onto anyone who cared about me. Now they hurt. I've experienced enough hurt in my lifetime to know I don't want to ever be the cause of anyone else's pain. The only exception is if there's a time to "pull the plug" as they say. Then, yeah, pull it because being a vegetable with no hope of recovery is painful to those who care. Once that is over, they can begin the process of moving forward.

I hear you about the doctor. I'm glad you changed! I'm now on (counting...) 9 prescription meds and between 2-4 over the counter drugs every day. I complained and complained and complained to my doctor that I wasn't feeling good. I started checking my blood sugar myself and told him I was pre-diabetic (diabetes runs on my maternal and paternal sides of my family). He just handed me meds -- which kept changing -- without explaining why I was taking them. Once I found something that seemed to work, the prescription would run out and he would change it to something else.

The final straw was when I had blood in my urine and came to see him. While in his office, I started having extreme flank pain. It got so bad that he wanted me to get a CAT scan. Now get this... his office was in a hospital building. So when he asked if I needed a wheelchair, I said I would try to walk, but please keep one handy. I thought I was going to get a CAT scan in the hospital. But nooo. He sent me in all that pain to go DRIVE on the busiest highway in the US to a 6-lane tollroad to get to the place to do the CAT scan. I almost died on the way there. I was in so much pain, I couldn't fill out the paperwork. They called an ambulance for me and sent me straight into the emergency room. Guess what was happening -- I was passing a 4mm kidney stone!! And the doctor send me to drive myself on the highway and tollroad?!! That was absolutely dangerous for me and the others on the road. As soon as I could, I called his office and FIRED him.

It when through a few other doctors, but no one could figure anything out. I was feeling so extremely tired... like I was drugged. I couldn't hold my head up even. I had to lay down on the couch all day long. Then I finally tried another doctor. She was pretty new and from Russia, but she listened well and worked with me. After 1.5 years of searching with all kinds of tests, she decided to get a chest x-ray (I'm an ex-smoker, but my husband still smokes). And in that scan (x-ray, scan, whatever, I can't remember) they discovered that my thyroid was enlarged with several masses. They did a biopsy which concluded no cancer, but they put me on thyroid meds to try to shrink the tumors and my thyroid. THAT seems to be helping. The whole time I had hypothyroidism! And that can cause all the problems I was having with blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. And it can definitely cause exhaustion. It took over 5 years to finally figure out what was going wrong.

Now I've lost 30-35 years (the thyroid also controls appetite so I'm not hungry all the time like before), and I can be up and moving during the day. The only problem now is that I'm very weak from having been on the couch or bed (when not in class) all day long for years. But I hope that will improve as time goes on.

I'm now 57 and am just beginning on a new career. My husband is 68 and about to retire. I'm going to be the breadwinner to keep us afloat after spending so much on our daughter's therapy.

if anyone ever told us what life was really going to be like, I think we'd all run back into the womb and never come out. But fortunately there are good people like you to enjoy. That makes it all worthwhile. I'm sorry for your pain, and I'm glad to hear the game is helping your memory (it makes sense given how neurons are strengthened with use -- searching in the game requires we remember where things are which is basically memory exercise). Hypothyroidism was also affecting my short-term memory. I still lose my words, and yes, suddenly can't spell things I know I know how to spell, but it just slips from my memory, just out of reach. Frustrating to be sure. So make all the spelling errors you want. Just relax and be yourself. No perfectionists here.

Oh, geez, I have rambled and rambled for hours. Tomorrow, I need to keep my messages shorter to give us both a rest! LOL! I hope you're sound asleep by now (it's almost 4am here). See you in the morning!