[CyberTOPS] Barbara T - Roll Call+

[Barbara T (aka TopsyKatinKS)]

Not good, but not surprised. Had a gain of 2.6 pounds this week but still
having problems with medication.


My thanks to all who sent their prayers heavenward and encouragement on
here
last week. My rheumatologist is very conservative in treatment
plans and I
still can't seem to convince him and his PA that I know
what will work to
alleviate my symptoms. The good news is that my lupus
has not flared up again
but my Sjogren's is worse (yet they didn't
adjust my meds). Additionally it
seems that my fibromyalgia has
"morphed" into MPS (Myofacial Pain Syndrome).
So the fun continues and
I will just have to learn to live with the pain as it
is primarily in
the nerves and muscles so there is little that can be done to
alleviate
it. That does not mean I am going to give up. I will exercise as
much
as I can and continue to watch what I eat, as well as doing some
research
on my own into ways to help myself.


Contrary to what they think, doctors don't know everything. I read of a
case
the other day where an 18-year-old girl had been having problems
for years and
the doctors just kept saying it was IBS, it was stress,
it was this and it was
that. She was taking a class in biomedical
science at school and took her own
intestinal tissue sample to school
and looked at it under the microscope and
saw the granulomas that
indicated Crohn's disease. She took the slide to her
doctor and
insisted it be examined and her diagnosis was confirmed.


Sadly, all too often, whether the doctor is male or female, a woman's
symptoms are too often ignored. Had a man presented with the same
symptoms
they would most likely have been all over it. I saw the
results of an
experiment where a panel of doctors was shone two videos,
one of a female and
one of a male, describing identical symptoms. EVERY
doctor said had they seen
the female patient she would have been told
it was heartburn and given a
script then sent home. But the male
patient they stated they would have sent
immediately for cardiac
tests.  Go figure!!



         TOPS #KS 948, Wichita