Re: It's been a while - Update on Progress

[Guest guest]

I only peed twice during the 6 hour infusion.

> > > >

> > > > Hello!

> > > >

> > > > It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would update everyone

on where I am currently at.

> > > >

> > > > It's been a long road but I feel optimistic for 2012! I have updated

both my story within the Conn's Folder and also added an Excel Spreadsheet of my

Cleveland Clinic Results. I am going to copy and paste my updates below from my

story.

> > > >

> > > > ____

> > > >

> > > > For the entire Summer and Fall of 2011 I battled with stomach issues.

First from potassium supplements, then metformin, then antiobiotics for a

recurring sinus infection and then again with potassium supplements. With all

that going on it made it challenging to DASH. With one of the bad stomach spells

I actually went to the Hospital only to find out I had some kind of infection

which prompted a two day stay where they performed an EDG and Colonoscopy.

Everything came back normal so they said I had IBS.

> > > >

> > > > Since I never felt like my body adjusted to Spiro I asked my Endo to

switch me to Inspira. She was very uncomfortable with this because she had never

prescribed it before. I feel she did not care for the fact that I kept pushing

for answers and perhaps knew more than she did about PA due to this group. She

basically released me from her care to an ENDO I met during my 2 day stay

hospital visit. This ENDO was horrible and that was when I decided it was time

for the Cleveland Clinic.

> > > >

> > > > Starting in Mid September I switched from Spiro back to Potassium to

gear up for any blood tests that would be done at CC.

> > > >

> > > > My CC appointment was 12.6.11 and I loved the Doctor. She actually read

my huge file on my medical history, family history and all my labs so we were

able to jump right in. Like Dr. Grim she was pretty certain I had PA. We

started out with a ton of blood work that afternoon and then I came back the

next morning for the Saline Salt Suppression Test.

> > > >

> > > > I received the results the week before Christmas. I test negative for

Conn's but am still producing excessive aldosterone. She feels due to family

history it is possible we carry the rarer familial disorder of Conn's . I also

found out I am insulin resistant which connects a lot of dots as far as

inability to lose weight. So she prescribed me Inspira and I thought I was on to

a happy life. Unfortunately, it took less than a week for my potassium to drop.

Due to heaviness in the chest, heart palpitations, dizzy and being nauseated I

went to the hospital the day after Christmas. My K was 3.6 which for me is

really low although still considered normal. Since I was on the maximum dosage

of 100 mg Inspira I chose to go back to Spiro. I can't say I feel well on Spiro

but my K was always consistent and I stayed out of the hospital. I have since

bought books on Insulin Resistance/PCOS (found out I had cysts on my ovaries)

during hospital as well. I am eating more protein and lots of veggies. I also

found out from a screening at work that my trig's are sky high. When I came off

Spiro in September they dropped back down and within two weeks back on Spiro sky

rocketed. The CC Doctor is prescribing me Fish Oil since my short stint on

Statin's caused lots of side effects. If that doesn't bring them down she said I

should come off Spiro. I fix one problem only to take on another. I am starting

the Fish Oil today.

> > > >

> > > > Stay tuned.

> > > >

> > > > _____________

> > > >

> > > > See Cleveland Clinic Results named Kellie's Cleveland Clinic Results

> > > >

> > > >

> > > > Female †" Age 41 †" Height: 5'5 " †" Weight since first low potassium

incident is at an all time high of 185.Treated for HTN from age 18-32 when it

suddenly dropped in 2002. Started HCTZ for swelling in 04'.

> > > > Tested negative for PA but I am still producing too much aldosterone. No

tumor on adrenal gland. Insulin resistant-Hypoglycemic-No testing of AVS.

> > > > MRI revealed benign tumor in left eye socket

> > > > Light DASHing due to stomach issues in conjunction with Weight Watchers

and Insulin Resistant Diet

> > > > Meds: 100 mg of spiro in the morning and 50 mg in the evening. 5mg

Bystolic and 2mg Fish Oil twice Daily

> > > > Consulting services with Dr. Grimm

> > > >

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Do beta blockers affect saline suppression test?

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Hello!

> > > > > >

> > > > > > It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would update

everyone on where I am currently at.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > It's been a long road but I feel optimistic for 2012! I have updated

both my story within the Conn's Folder and also added an Excel Spreadsheet of my

Cleveland Clinic Results. I am going to copy and paste my updates below from my

story.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > ____

> > > > > >

> > > > > > For the entire Summer and Fall of 2011 I battled with stomach

issues. First from potassium supplements, then metformin, then antiobiotics for

a recurring sinus infection and then again with potassium supplements. With all

that going on it made it challenging to DASH. With one of the bad stomach spells

I actually went to the Hospital only to find out I had some kind of infection

which prompted a two day stay where they performed an EDG and Colonoscopy.

Everything came back normal so they said I had IBS.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Since I never felt like my body adjusted to Spiro I asked my Endo to

switch me to Inspira. She was very uncomfortable with this because she had never

prescribed it before. I feel she did not care for the fact that I kept pushing

for answers and perhaps knew more than she did about PA due to this group. She

basically released me from her care to an ENDO I met during my 2 day stay

hospital visit. This ENDO was horrible and that was when I decided it was time

for the Cleveland Clinic.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Starting in Mid September I switched from Spiro back to Potassium to

gear up for any blood tests that would be done at CC.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > My CC appointment was 12.6.11 and I loved the Doctor. She actually

read my huge file on my medical history, family history and all my labs so we

were able to jump right in. Like Dr. Grim she was pretty certain I had PA. We

started out with a ton of blood work that afternoon and then I came back the

next morning for the Saline Salt Suppression Test.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > I received the results the week before Christmas. I test negative

for Conn's but am still producing excessive aldosterone. She feels due to family

history it is possible we carry the rarer familial disorder of Conn's . I also

found out I am insulin resistant which connects a lot of dots as far as

inability to lose weight. So she prescribed me Inspira and I thought I was on to

a happy life. Unfortunately, it took less than a week for my potassium to drop.

Due to heaviness in the chest, heart palpitations, dizzy and being nauseated I

went to the hospital the day after Christmas. My K was 3.6 which for me is

really low although still considered normal. Since I was on the maximum dosage

of 100 mg Inspira I chose to go back to Spiro. I can't say I feel well on Spiro

but my K was always consistent and I stayed out of the hospital. I have since

bought books on Insulin Resistance/PCOS (found out I had cysts on my ovaries)

during hospital as well. I am eating more protein and lots of veggies. I also

found out from a screening at work that my trig's are sky high. When I came off

Spiro in September they dropped back down and within two weeks back on Spiro sky

rocketed. The CC Doctor is prescribing me Fish Oil since my short stint on

Statin's caused lots of side effects. If that doesn't bring them down she said I

should come off Spiro. I fix one problem only to take on another. I am starting

the Fish Oil today.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Stay tuned.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > _____________

> > > > > >

> > > > > > See Cleveland Clinic Results named Kellie's Cleveland Clinic Results

> > > > > >

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Female †" Age 41 †" Height: 5'5 " †" Weight since first

low potassium incident is at an all time high of 185.Treated for HTN from age

18-32 when it suddenly dropped in 2002. Started HCTZ for swelling in 04'.

> > > > > > Tested negative for PA but I am still producing too much

aldosterone. No tumor on adrenal gland. Insulin resistant-Hypoglycemic-No

testing of AVS.

> > > > > > MRI revealed benign tumor in left eye socket

> > > > > > Light DASHing due to stomach issues in conjunction with Weight

Watchers and Insulin Resistant Diet

> > > > > > Meds: 100 mg of spiro in the morning and 50 mg in the evening. 5mg

Bystolic and 2mg Fish Oil twice Daily

> > > > > > Consulting services with Dr. Grimm

> > > > > >

> > > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

24 HR URINE COLLECTION

PERIOD 24

URINE VOLUME 1754

START DATE AND TIME 12.6.11@3:00PM

END DATE AND TIME 12.7.77@3:00PM

ALDOSTERONE URINE 9 (3-25)

SODIUM 24 HR 198 (40-220)

POTASSIUM 24 HR 62 (30-99)

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Hello!

> > > > > >

> > > > > > It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would update

everyone on where I am currently at.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > It's been a long road but I feel optimistic for 2012! I have updated

both my story within the Conn's Folder and also added an Excel Spreadsheet of my

Cleveland Clinic Results. I am going to copy and paste my updates below from my

story.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > ____

> > > > > >

> > > > > > For the entire Summer and Fall of 2011 I battled with stomach

issues. First from potassium supplements, then metformin, then antiobiotics for

a recurring sinus infection and then again with potassium supplements. With all

that going on it made it challenging to DASH. With one of the bad stomach spells

I actually went to the Hospital only to find out I had some kind of infection

which prompted a two day stay where they performed an EDG and Colonoscopy.

Everything came back normal so they said I had IBS.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Since I never felt like my body adjusted to Spiro I asked my Endo to

switch me to Inspira. She was very uncomfortable with this because she had never

prescribed it before. I feel she did not care for the fact that I kept pushing

for answers and perhaps knew more than she did about PA due to this group. She

basically released me from her care to an ENDO I met during my 2 day stay

hospital visit. This ENDO was horrible and that was when I decided it was time

for the Cleveland Clinic.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Starting in Mid September I switched from Spiro back to Potassium to

gear up for any blood tests that would be done at CC.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > My CC appointment was 12.6.11 and I loved the Doctor. She actually

read my huge file on my medical history, family history and all my labs so we

were able to jump right in. Like Dr. Grim she was pretty certain I had PA. We

started out with a ton of blood work that afternoon and then I came back the

next morning for the Saline Salt Suppression Test.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > I received the results the week before Christmas. I test negative

for Conn's but am still producing excessive aldosterone. She feels due to family

history it is possible we carry the rarer familial disorder of Conn's . I also

found out I am insulin resistant which connects a lot of dots as far as

inability to lose weight. So she prescribed me Inspira and I thought I was on to

a happy life. Unfortunately, it took less than a week for my potassium to drop.

Due to heaviness in the chest, heart palpitations, dizzy and being nauseated I

went to the hospital the day after Christmas. My K was 3.6 which for me is

really low although still considered normal. Since I was on the maximum dosage

of 100 mg Inspira I chose to go back to Spiro. I can't say I feel well on Spiro

but my K was always consistent and I stayed out of the hospital. I have since

bought books on Insulin Resistance/PCOS (found out I had cysts on my ovaries)

during hospital as well. I am eating more protein and lots of veggies. I also

found out from a screening at work that my trig's are sky high. When I came off

Spiro in September they dropped back down and within two weeks back on Spiro sky

rocketed. The CC Doctor is prescribing me Fish Oil since my short stint on

Statin's caused lots of side effects. If that doesn't bring them down she said I

should come off Spiro. I fix one problem only to take on another. I am starting

the Fish Oil today.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Stay tuned.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > _____________

> > > > > >

> > > > > > See Cleveland Clinic Results named Kellie's Cleveland Clinic Results

> > > > > >

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Female †" Age 41 †" Height: 5'5 " †" Weight since first

low potassium incident is at an all time high of 185.Treated for HTN from age

18-32 when it suddenly dropped in 2002. Started HCTZ for swelling in 04'.

> > > > > > Tested negative for PA but I am still producing too much

aldosterone. No tumor on adrenal gland. Insulin resistant-Hypoglycemic-No

testing of AVS.

> > > > > > MRI revealed benign tumor in left eye socket

> > > > > > Light DASHing due to stomach issues in conjunction with Weight

Watchers and Insulin Resistant Diet

> > > > > > Meds: 100 mg of spiro in the morning and 50 mg in the evening. 5mg

Bystolic and 2mg Fish Oil twice Daily

> > > > > > Consulting services with Dr. Grimm

> > > > > >

> > > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

24 HR URINE COLLECTION

PERIOD 24

URINE VOLUME 1754

START DATE AND TIME 12.6.11@3:00PM

END DATE AND TIME 12.7.77@3:00PM

ALDOSTERONE URINE 9 (3-25)

SODIUM 24 HR 198 (40-220)

POTASSIUM 24 HR 62 (30-99)

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Hello!

> > > > > >

> > > > > > It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would update

everyone on where I am currently at.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > It's been a long road but I feel optimistic for 2012! I have updated

both my story within the Conn's Folder and also added an Excel Spreadsheet of my

Cleveland Clinic Results. I am going to copy and paste my updates below from my

story.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > ____

> > > > > >

> > > > > > For the entire Summer and Fall of 2011 I battled with stomach

issues. First from potassium supplements, then metformin, then antiobiotics for

a recurring sinus infection and then again with potassium supplements. With all

that going on it made it challenging to DASH. With one of the bad stomach spells

I actually went to the Hospital only to find out I had some kind of infection

which prompted a two day stay where they performed an EDG and Colonoscopy.

Everything came back normal so they said I had IBS.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Since I never felt like my body adjusted to Spiro I asked my Endo to

switch me to Inspira. She was very uncomfortable with this because she had never

prescribed it before. I feel she did not care for the fact that I kept pushing

for answers and perhaps knew more than she did about PA due to this group. She

basically released me from her care to an ENDO I met during my 2 day stay

hospital visit. This ENDO was horrible and that was when I decided it was time

for the Cleveland Clinic.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Starting in Mid September I switched from Spiro back to Potassium to

gear up for any blood tests that would be done at CC.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > My CC appointment was 12.6.11 and I loved the Doctor. She actually

read my huge file on my medical history, family history and all my labs so we

were able to jump right in. Like Dr. Grim she was pretty certain I had PA. We

started out with a ton of blood work that afternoon and then I came back the

next morning for the Saline Salt Suppression Test.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > I received the results the week before Christmas. I test negative

for Conn's but am still producing excessive aldosterone. She feels due to family

history it is possible we carry the rarer familial disorder of Conn's . I also

found out I am insulin resistant which connects a lot of dots as far as

inability to lose weight. So she prescribed me Inspira and I thought I was on to

a happy life. Unfortunately, it took less than a week for my potassium to drop.

Due to heaviness in the chest, heart palpitations, dizzy and being nauseated I

went to the hospital the day after Christmas. My K was 3.6 which for me is

really low although still considered normal. Since I was on the maximum dosage

of 100 mg Inspira I chose to go back to Spiro. I can't say I feel well on Spiro

but my K was always consistent and I stayed out of the hospital. I have since

bought books on Insulin Resistance/PCOS (found out I had cysts on my ovaries)

during hospital as well. I am eating more protein and lots of veggies. I also

found out from a screening at work that my trig's are sky high. When I came off

Spiro in September they dropped back down and within two weeks back on Spiro sky

rocketed. The CC Doctor is prescribing me Fish Oil since my short stint on

Statin's caused lots of side effects. If that doesn't bring them down she said I

should come off Spiro. I fix one problem only to take on another. I am starting

the Fish Oil today.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Stay tuned.

> > > > > >

> > > > > > _____________

> > > > > >

> > > > > > See Cleveland Clinic Results named Kellie's Cleveland Clinic Results

> > > > > >

> > > > > >

> > > > > > Female †" Age 41 †" Height: 5'5 " †" Weight since first

low potassium incident is at an all time high of 185.Treated for HTN from age

18-32 when it suddenly dropped in 2002. Started HCTZ for swelling in 04'.

> > > > > > Tested negative for PA but I am still producing too much

aldosterone. No tumor on adrenal gland. Insulin resistant-Hypoglycemic-No

testing of AVS.

> > > > > > MRI revealed benign tumor in left eye socket

> > > > > > Light DASHing due to stomach issues in conjunction with Weight

Watchers and Insulin Resistant Diet

> > > > > > Meds: 100 mg of spiro in the morning and 50 mg in the evening. 5mg

Bystolic and 2mg Fish Oil twice Daily

> > > > > > Consulting services with Dr. Grimm

> > > > > >

> > > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

But was this collected DURING the saline infusion?See item 6 below. CE Grim MD Welcome to the exciting world of Hyperaldosteronism You are in the right place! I am Dr. CE Grim a retired Professor of Medicine and Endocrinology. I have had a long standing interest is Primary Aldosteronism since medical school days when I saw my first patient with Primary Aldosteronism in 1963 as a 4th year medical student. I did a Nephrology Fellowship at Duke and an Endocrinology and Metabolism Fellowship with Dr. Conn (1969-70). I have been on the faculty of the University of MO, Indiana Univ, UCLA/ R. Drew, and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Divisions of Nephrology, Endocrinology, Hypertension, Cardiology and Epidemiology. I have published over 240 papers and book chapters in most areas of the broad discipline of High Blood Pressure. My CV is in our files for details. The GOAL of our group is to teach you and your health care team about the ins and outs of the causes, diagnosis and control of the many forms of hyperaldosteronism. The steps below will introduce you into the fascinating world of high blood pressure, salt and potassium and the role of the adrenal hormone aldosterone in health and disease. Doing these in sequence will save you time and effort in getting up to speed in taking control of you health and educating your own health care team. While we can’t make you a doctor we will make you into a pretty good BP doctor-a skill that you will have for life. 1. Overview: Read my article in our files on the evolution of PA (Evolution_of_PA-Grim.pdf ) and take to all members of health care team. Tell us what stage you believe you are in. This is a brief review of most causes of hyperaldosteronism, high blood pressure, low potassium (K). Be certain that you and your health care team understand the key role of excess diet salt in HTN and especially in PA. Go to: http://www.worldactiononsalt.com/evidence/treatment_trials.htm For a state of the art and science discussion of salt and health. 2. Other patients with hyperaldosteronism (Conn’s syndrome). Read our Conn's stories in our files and then give us your own in as much detail as you can. Dr. Conn was the first to describe this disease process and the syndrome is named after him. To see others' stories, on the Hyperaldosteronism home page, go to Files/Conn’s Stories. You'll find instructions in "A - How to put your story here.doc "Then send us your story in an email and then we will likely ask more questions and make suggestions before you upload it to our files. 3. Hyperaldosteronism and Salt: The deadly Duo. Eating Plan to control high blood pressure due to hyperaldosteronism and most others with high blood pressure. This will reduce your need for medications and in many will get your BP and K to goal without meds.. Get the DASH diet book by T. et al, read it and use it: $8 in paperback at your local bookstore. If they don’t have it ask them to order it for you. Learning to eat the DASH way will play a major role in your road to good BP and K control and, in many of our folks here, will revolutionize your life. Go to chapter 9 and do the 14 day challenge. Tell your Dr you are doing this as your BP may plummet if you are on other meds in only 2-3 days. or go to http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf download this 64 page booklet free and do the Week on the DASH Diet for 2 weeks. If you are on BP meds be prepared for a large fall in BP and let your Dr. know you are doing this. Or go to (but costs money) DASH Diet for Health ProgramThe DASH Diet for Health Program is designed to help you improve your eating and exercise habits. Twice each week we will provide you with information on our website about food, food preparation, eating out, losing weight, getting fit and much more. In addition to providing new information each week on our website, we create a web page specially for you where you can track progress in areas such as your weight, blood pressure, and exercise.http://www.dashforhealth.com/ I strongly recommend you get the book and read it now! 4. Measure your BP: Measure your BP daily so you can see if it is getting better. If you are taking meds be sure to tell your health care team you are doing this as your BP may plummet to normal quickly. We recommend you use a device you listen to and will help you learn how to do this. If this is not something you want to do we can teach a significant other how to do it. See sharedcareinc.com or email to sharedcare@... to order a video on how to do this. If you already have one we will teach you how to teach your health care team how to validate your device. Your life and health depends on accurate BP measurements. Go to the amricanheart.org and download the Guidelines for Human Blood Pressure Measurement. Insist the your health care team do BP the AHA way. Your life is in the hands of those who measure your BP. Never trust your life to an automatic BP machine unless you know it is accurate on YOU. 5. Genetics and your BP: Go to familyhistory.hhs.gov and do your detailed family medical history so we can review with you to help Dx familial causes of high blood pressure and heart disease. If BP runs in your family you may save lives in your family by checking their BP yourself. There is a brief discussion of this in my Evolution Article. 6. How to DX and treat PA: Go to our file/Conn's Articles of Note/Medications/Bravo spir 1973.pdf and read this article and take to your health care team. It is old but still one of the best in the medical management of PA. Also see our file from the Endocrine Society Guidelines on PA. Dr. Grim's Perfect Primary Aldosteronism Blood and Urine Testing to diagnose PA in one day. 1. Eat a high salt diet for 2 weeks-at least 4000 mg of Na a day.2. No BP meds in last 4-12 weeks depending on meds and Drs advice.3. Collect 24 hr urine for Na, K and creatinine and aldosterone. Do not lose a drop of this liquid gold. It is impossible to interpret the renin and aldo without this.4. The morning you finish the 24 hr urine have fasting blood drawn for renin, aldo and K using our guidelines to get an accurate K. Try to get this done about 1-4 hours after you have been out of bed.5. Send us the results with the normal values for your lab.6. If you ever have a salt (saline) infusion test for PA be certain to ask them to measure how much you pee during the 4 hours of the infusion. If it is 1-1.5 liter of urine it strongly suggests that you may have PA. If more tha 1.5 L you almost certainly have PA. I call this Dr. Grim’s “Quick Pee Test” for PA. Our PA Registry: If you have been Dxed with PA already and are on Rx or have had surgery please go to http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HIJIO_f2685379 and complete our survey with as much information as you know. If there is some information you don't know ask us and we will help. If you need to update this as you journey thru the diagnostic/treatment process you can add another entry but label it as Nameyymmdd. For example today 4/20/11 for me would be Grim110420. This way of writing the date is an ever increasing number and will allow us and you to sort your multiple entries into a dated order. We are working on a more extensive database. 8. Learn the language: If you are new to medical lingo then download the acroyms from bloodpressureline/message/291869. Salt and high blood pressure: To learn the state of the science of salt and blood pressure please spend some time looking at http://www.worldactiononsalt.com/evidence/treatment_trials.htm10. Become a HBP expert consumer: Expect that it will take at least several weeks to get all this digested and to learn the new language of high blood pressure health care. As most doctors and nurses in practice have had very little training in high blood pressure you must become an expert yourself. For example most have never had anyone listen with them with a double stethoscope to verify that they can hear BP sounds. We cannot make you a doctor but we will make you a pretty good BP doctor.11. How High Blood Pressure should be managed: Go to nih.gov and download and read the Joint National Commission (JNC) Report 7 to get an overview on current guidelines. I ask all my secretaries to read this so they can communicate the importance of high blood pressure to my patients. JNC 8 will be out soon.Then: get (and study) the Hypertension Primer from americanheart.org. This is the most up-to-date compendium of what is known about high blood pressure and what every Dr. should know when they graduate from Medical School. Every chapter is only 2-3 pages. Read one chapter every week-night and you will finish it in about a year. I am working on a reading guide for lay people for the Primer. Stay tuned.12. Ask us questions: Ask any questions about high blood pressure you want answered. That is what we are here for.13. One-on-one Consulting: I can provide individual consulting if you do not want to go public. If you want individual one-on-one consulting for you and your Doctor contract me directly at lowerbp2@....May your pressure be low!Clarence E. Grim BS, MS, MD, FACP, FACCBoard Certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and High Blood Pressure Specializing in Primary Aldosteronism and Difficult to Control High Blood Pressure. On Jan 11, 2012, at 4:20 PM, Kellie -Geiger wrote: 24 HR URINE COLLECTION PERIOD 24 URINE VOLUME 1754 START DATE AND TIME 12.6.11@3:00PM END DATE AND TIME 12.7.77@3:00PM ALDOSTERONE URINE 9 (3-25) SODIUM 24 HR 198 (40-220) POTASSIUM 24 HR 62 (30-99) > > > > > > > > > > > > Hello! > > > > > > > > > > > > It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would update everyone on where I am currently at. > > > > > > > > > > > > It's been a long road but I feel optimistic for 2012! I have updated both my story within the Conn's Folder and also added an Excel Spreadsheet of my Cleveland Clinic Results. I am going to copy and paste my updates below from my story. > > > > > > > > > > > > ____ > > > > > > > > > > > > For the entire Summer and Fall of 2011 I battled with stomach issues. First from potassium supplements, then metformin, then antiobiotics for a recurring sinus infection and then again with potassium supplements. With all that going on it made it challenging to DASH. With one of the bad stomach spells I actually went to the Hospital only to find out I had some kind of infection which prompted a two day stay where they performed an EDG and Colonoscopy. Everything came back normal so they said I had IBS. > > > > > > > > > > > > Since I never felt like my body adjusted to Spiro I asked my Endo to switch me to Inspira. She was very uncomfortable with this because she had never prescribed it before. I feel she did not care for the fact that I kept pushing for answers and perhaps knew more than she did about PA due to this group. She basically released me from her care to an ENDO I met during my 2 day stay hospital visit. This ENDO was horrible and that was when I decided it was time for the Cleveland Clinic. > > > > > > > > > > > > Starting in Mid September I switched from Spiro back to Potassium to gear up for any blood tests that would be done at CC. > > > > > > > > > > > > My CC appointment was 12.6.11 and I loved the Doctor. She actually read my huge file on my medical history, family history and all my labs so we were able to jump right in. Like Dr. Grim she was pretty certain I had PA. We started out with a ton of blood work that afternoon and then I came back the next morning for the Saline Salt Suppression Test. > > > > > > > > > > > > I received the results the week before Christmas. I test negative for Conn's but am still producing excessive aldosterone. She feels due to family history it is possible we carry the rarer familial disorder of Conn's . I also found out I am insulin resistant which connects a lot of dots as far as inability to lose weight. So she prescribed me Inspira and I thought I was on to a happy life. Unfortunately, it took less than a week for my potassium to drop. Due to heaviness in the chest, heart palpitations, dizzy and being nauseated I went to the hospital the day after Christmas. My K was 3.6 which for me is really low although still considered normal. Since I was on the maximum dosage of 100 mg Inspira I chose to go back to Spiro. I can't say I feel well on Spiro but my K was always consistent and I stayed out of the hospital. I have since bought books on Insulin Resistance/PCOS (found out I had cysts on my ovaries) during hospital as well. I am eating more protein and lots of veggies. I also found out from a screening at work that my trig's are sky high. When I came off Spiro in September they dropped back down and within two weeks back on Spiro sky rocketed. The CC Doctor is prescribing me Fish Oil since my short stint on Statin's caused lots of side effects. If that doesn't bring them down she said I should come off Spiro. I fix one problem only to take on another. I am starting the Fish Oil today. > > > > > > > > > > > > Stay tuned. > > > > > > > > > > > > _____________ > > > > > > > > > > > > See Cleveland Clinic Results named Kellie's Cleveland Clinic Results > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Female â€" Age 41 â€" Height: 5'5" â€" Weight since first low potassium incident is at an all time high of 185.Treated for HTN from age 18-32 when it suddenly dropped in 2002. Started HCTZ for swelling in 04'. > > > > > > Tested negative for PA but I am still producing too much aldosterone. No tumor on adrenal gland. Insulin resistant-Hypoglycemic-No testing of AVS. > > > > > > MRI revealed benign tumor in left eye socket > > > > > > Light DASHing due to stomach issues in conjunction with Weight Watchers and Insulin Resistant Diet > > > > > > Meds: 100 mg of spiro in the morning and 50 mg in the evening. 5mg Bystolic and 2mg Fish Oil twice Daily > > > > > > Consulting services with Dr. Grimm > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >