maddietod
Senior Member
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- 2,859
On Monday I went to a local doctor who specializes in complex diseases, especially CFS. I put it off because he's expensive and doesn't take insurance, but........it's time.
The appointment was for an hour. I walked into the treatment room and my "chair" was a big comfy couch. OK, he gets it. I brought all of my test results from Dr. Rey and others, from the past year, but really my primary question was could he help with sleep??? I was pretty out of it, so it was lucky that he used the test results to keep the conversation moving.
He sees 3 areas of dysfunction - candida, sleep, and blood pressure/volume. I asked about immune problems, and he said no since I have no history of swollen glands, fevers, etc.
So I'm on
.1mg Fludrocortisone (Florinef) 1st am. If this doesn't help, I switch to Cortef after a week.
200mg Fluconazole (Diflucan), low carb diet. [I already take a probiotic.]
Thorne Red Yeast Rice after dinner, with fish oil, for high cholesterol.
100mg Gabapentin (Neurontin) at bedtime, 2 hours separate from magnesium, increasing slowly to 300mg if needed. For sleep, specifically restless legs.
100mg Progesterone at bedtime, increase if I increase the Gabapentin, but only to 200mg. I didn't write down why he prescribed this, sigh. I'll ask.
He's referred me for a CT calcium scoring/screening test, which is apparently to see if there's been any heart damage. So he gets that piece of the CFS puzzle.
Sleep improved immediately, from 3-4 wakings in an 8 hour night to one. I'm having trouble getting to sleep, and getting back to sleep now, but it's not awful. Cognitive function is better, and day one I was a bit of an energizer bunny! But then yesterday I was more of a couch potato.
He's ordered cortisol, dhea, and testosterone testing. If the Florinef/Cortef doesn't help, we'll do a tilt table test, and might try yohimbine.
I take magnesium, potassium, and sea salt......does anybody know if/how I need to adjust this while on the cortisone?
The appointment was for an hour. I walked into the treatment room and my "chair" was a big comfy couch. OK, he gets it. I brought all of my test results from Dr. Rey and others, from the past year, but really my primary question was could he help with sleep??? I was pretty out of it, so it was lucky that he used the test results to keep the conversation moving.
He sees 3 areas of dysfunction - candida, sleep, and blood pressure/volume. I asked about immune problems, and he said no since I have no history of swollen glands, fevers, etc.
So I'm on
.1mg Fludrocortisone (Florinef) 1st am. If this doesn't help, I switch to Cortef after a week.
200mg Fluconazole (Diflucan), low carb diet. [I already take a probiotic.]
Thorne Red Yeast Rice after dinner, with fish oil, for high cholesterol.
100mg Gabapentin (Neurontin) at bedtime, 2 hours separate from magnesium, increasing slowly to 300mg if needed. For sleep, specifically restless legs.
100mg Progesterone at bedtime, increase if I increase the Gabapentin, but only to 200mg. I didn't write down why he prescribed this, sigh. I'll ask.
He's referred me for a CT calcium scoring/screening test, which is apparently to see if there's been any heart damage. So he gets that piece of the CFS puzzle.
Sleep improved immediately, from 3-4 wakings in an 8 hour night to one. I'm having trouble getting to sleep, and getting back to sleep now, but it's not awful. Cognitive function is better, and day one I was a bit of an energizer bunny! But then yesterday I was more of a couch potato.
He's ordered cortisol, dhea, and testosterone testing. If the Florinef/Cortef doesn't help, we'll do a tilt table test, and might try yohimbine.
I take magnesium, potassium, and sea salt......does anybody know if/how I need to adjust this while on the cortisone?