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Medical Anomalies
Mar. 26th, 2006 04:53 pm
I've got a pre-algebra exam next Monday, so I've been planning to call in sick next Sunday & Monday. Pam, one of the assistant managers, is planning on sitting in w/me one or both of those nights... I don't know if I should tell her, "Uh, I have to call in sick because of my pre-algebra exam' or not. It's that respect thing on one hand, but on the other hand, who tells their manager ahead of time that they're calling in sick? I told my relief people, but that's so they could decide if they wanted to answer the phone or not.
I've decided that I'm sick & tired of being tired & sore all the time. My current doctor, who is a very old Irish guy, isn't putting anything together. Terry has lupus & Jody has Eppstein-Barr, and a lot of their chronic symptoms sound nastily like my chronic symptoms. My current GP just gives me prescription-strength Ibuprofen. So I decided it's time for a new primary care physician, and I determined that maybe I should try an internal medicine doctor... and a woman. I went to see her last week, and I really like her. She spent a lot of time with me - granted, it was the first visit. So I got poked & prodded & had an EKG run. I apparently had a fever that day, and I've got some type of lung infection going on, so she asked me if I wanted some antibiotics (uh, no, if I didn't know I was actually sick, I obviously don't need antibiotics) & sent me for a chest x-ray & bloodwork.
She also mentioned something called 'Turner's Syndrome' when I told her about my menstrual difficulties. I'm like, 'nope, never heard of it' & left it at that. But of course, when I got home I looked it up on the 'Net. It's a chromosomal mutation where the 46th chromosome is either missing or damaged. Primarily, it causes either one or both ovaries to shut down in women, sometimes preventing the onset of puberty (believe me, if I've got this, it didn't prevent me from pubertizing) & infertility... Because of the estrogen-deficiency, it can cause bone & connective tissue problems (like scoliosis & knee deterioration), short stature, short fingers & toes, a narrow palate & receding jaw, high blood pressure (due to either congenital heart defects, kidney defects, or just because it can & feels like it), moles, low hairline, a 'webbed' neck (in other words, it looks like a Kardassian's neck from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), drooping eyes, problems w/motor coordination, visual-spatial coordination & learning difficulties involving abstract math. Among other things.
There are quite a few things on that list that make me go 'Hmmmm'. Even though my high blood pressure was diagnosed when I got hit by that car, I may have very well had it as a little kid. Who checks a little kid's blood pressure? (Or rather, who did in the mid-70's?) My medical care as a child was spotty at best. I was (and still am but I hide it better now) always very clumsy and I've been math stupid my entire life (and having to take 3 classes of basic math, pre-Algebra & beginning Algebra before I can even make it to college-level Algebra stands in testimony to this fact).
But aside from my own curiosity, whether I have Turner's Syndrome or not, it doesn't matter because there is no cure, only treatments for the associated symptoms. They can give me HR therapy, which I don't want because I don't care about having small screaming things, and I like my birth control pills. All it would really do is explain my wide Kardassian-like neck, overbite & high blood pressure. The test is just a basic blood test, but I don't know if my insurance covers genetic testing or not. It may just count it as a blood test, in which case it's $5. Speaking of blood tests, they always go for this vein on the top of my right arm, and it always bleeds under the skin, so I walk around for a week looking like a heroin-junkie. And it frelling hurts!!!
I've decided that I'm sick & tired of being tired & sore all the time. My current doctor, who is a very old Irish guy, isn't putting anything together. Terry has lupus & Jody has Eppstein-Barr, and a lot of their chronic symptoms sound nastily like my chronic symptoms. My current GP just gives me prescription-strength Ibuprofen. So I decided it's time for a new primary care physician, and I determined that maybe I should try an internal medicine doctor... and a woman. I went to see her last week, and I really like her. She spent a lot of time with me - granted, it was the first visit. So I got poked & prodded & had an EKG run. I apparently had a fever that day, and I've got some type of lung infection going on, so she asked me if I wanted some antibiotics (uh, no, if I didn't know I was actually sick, I obviously don't need antibiotics) & sent me for a chest x-ray & bloodwork.
She also mentioned something called 'Turner's Syndrome' when I told her about my menstrual difficulties. I'm like, 'nope, never heard of it' & left it at that. But of course, when I got home I looked it up on the 'Net. It's a chromosomal mutation where the 46th chromosome is either missing or damaged. Primarily, it causes either one or both ovaries to shut down in women, sometimes preventing the onset of puberty (believe me, if I've got this, it didn't prevent me from pubertizing) & infertility... Because of the estrogen-deficiency, it can cause bone & connective tissue problems (like scoliosis & knee deterioration), short stature, short fingers & toes, a narrow palate & receding jaw, high blood pressure (due to either congenital heart defects, kidney defects, or just because it can & feels like it), moles, low hairline, a 'webbed' neck (in other words, it looks like a Kardassian's neck from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), drooping eyes, problems w/motor coordination, visual-spatial coordination & learning difficulties involving abstract math. Among other things.
There are quite a few things on that list that make me go 'Hmmmm'. Even though my high blood pressure was diagnosed when I got hit by that car, I may have very well had it as a little kid. Who checks a little kid's blood pressure? (Or rather, who did in the mid-70's?) My medical care as a child was spotty at best. I was (and still am but I hide it better now) always very clumsy and I've been math stupid my entire life (and having to take 3 classes of basic math, pre-Algebra & beginning Algebra before I can even make it to college-level Algebra stands in testimony to this fact).
But aside from my own curiosity, whether I have Turner's Syndrome or not, it doesn't matter because there is no cure, only treatments for the associated symptoms. They can give me HR therapy, which I don't want because I don't care about having small screaming things, and I like my birth control pills. All it would really do is explain my wide Kardassian-like neck, overbite & high blood pressure. The test is just a basic blood test, but I don't know if my insurance covers genetic testing or not. It may just count it as a blood test, in which case it's $5. Speaking of blood tests, they always go for this vein on the top of my right arm, and it always bleeds under the skin, so I walk around for a week looking like a heroin-junkie. And it frelling hurts!!!
