Blog on the Lillypad
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
 | Back to the Doctor's Office!
I had a good visit with the doctor. He respects my desire to stay away from anti-anxiety meds. There are a lot of contributing factors to the throat spasms. Stress is the biggest, but so is previous lack of exercise, phases of my monthly cycle now that I am in periomenopause, diet, and my allergies. We agreed that in one sense I need to make my life more quiet and tranquil, so I will use my web logs to document the abuses and the lack of accountability in the IFB-KJVO movement, rather than continue to argue with men too badly educated and influenced by legalism and tradition to change their ways. (After all, I never had any intention of warning *them* of the corruption they have created and/or shielded. I want to warn innocent people.). And there are other opportunities I am taking advantage of, but I will not enumerate them here. |
He told me that there still needs to be more of a lifestyle change for me to get away from stress. I’m not social enough, and the lack of support from my church has always been a problem, especially in view of how stressful it’s been to take on these IFB-KJVO people. So even though he did not (and probably would not) recommend that I change my church, when I said I plan to, he agreed that this might be an improvement. Yet finding a new church is a longterm thing. Hence, the need to engage in social activities with people who share my interests. Right now I am looking into book clubs and other social clubs that have a stated purpose (rather than---{{{shudder}}}---singles groups.)
He also wants me to try St. John’s Wort. And he recommended keeping Prilosec on hand in case of severe spasms. Just one Prilosec will probably stop the throat spasms from being as severe as the worst ones have been. (The spasms are a result of sinus drainage from allergies and acid reflux.)
So creating and implementing strategies to lower stress remain the goals. And that’s where I am. I’m taking a lot of mullein, and that seems to limit the throat dryness and reflux. Not entirely, but pretty well.
In terms of how bad I have felt, he agreed to let me try progesterone cream, though he warned me it has never been proved effective. (“Doctor, wait until your wife goes through menopause. I guarantee you will line up to try everything on the market,” I told him. He broke out into a sudden smile and stopped just short of laughing.)
My blood pressure is down again to just about normal, and the exercise has begun some improvements. But he warned me that this situation is not going away. I have to change some things or it will get worse. But he was very optimistic about Barrett’s Syndrome, which is a precancerous state of the esophagus caused by acid reflux. He doesn’t think my GERD is anywhere near severe enough to put me in danger of that. Yet.
