Afternoon Post From Tassie

[Guest guest]

Yes I'm wondering what our Warrior Princess is up to as well.....hopefully she's just 'busy'!

I'm in the mood to give y'all an update on some Health Developments for me. Since I'll be continuing to visit Tassie regularly, until the airplanes won't let me on anymore, I thought it wise to find a local GP who could 'cover' me with help if I need it while I'm down here. Off I went to my daughter's Female GP 'cos she was pretty decent when I accompanied my girl to an appointment some years back when she needed surgery.

What a nice experience it was to finally find someone I felt I could have a proper consultation with. I was automatically booked in for a 'Long Consult' as a new patient. I took my Records along on my little Memory Stick & she loaded them up. We had a good, balanced review of my Steroid/ Cytotoxic Therapy concerns & she said she wasn't about to 'twist my arm' on that score! How refreshing 'cos my arm is still in recovery mode from 'severe twisting' by other medicos!

Instead, she referred me to a Hobart GP who is also a Specialist in Nutritional & Environmental Medicine. He's had extensive Medical & Hospital experience & now runs his own Practice, does research into Cytokines & Human Growth Hormones & lectures both in Australia & Internationally on the subject. Since I've seen lots about IPF & Cytokine malfunctioning I was most interested to meet him.

He's had 2 IPF patients in the past & has worked in with one of the IPF Specialists in Hobart. ( 2 is a whole lot better than NONE!) He listened to my concerns re Steroid therapy & said that in no uncertain terms they could be lifesavers in acute situations . His attitude to Steroids being used as long-term therapy was more cautious & influenced by the complex range of toxic reactions in the body. (excepting of course in Transplant scenarios!)

He suggested that I put that on the 'back-burner' while he ran tests on my capacity to handle such drug therapies. He was mainly interested in how my Liver was able to detoxify harmful substances right NOW!

SO I did a "Functional Liver Detoxification Profile" Test....this involved abstaining from caffeine, aspirin ,NSAIDS, Paracetomol, Dried Fruit & Alcohol for 48 hours & then completing a 'Challenge" test using standard doses of Caffeine (3 X 100mg) Paracetamol (1.5 X 500mg) & Aspirin (2.5 X 300mg) . The Caffeine Challenge was collected in 2 Saliva Specimens. The other drugs were taken together later that night & then cpmpleteing a 10hr Urine Collection Sample.

AS well as that I had a Hair Elements Test looking for exposure to environmental toxic elements & my levels of Essential Elements. Allergy Testing for Dust, Grass & Pollens & Mould (never had one done previously), Blood work for Serum levels of Organochlorine Pesticides (I've often helped out on the Market Garden Farm of my 1st hubby..packing Lettuce over Christmas which used to be sprayed with all sorts of nasty stuff!) He also tested for my current Vitamin A levels.

My results were very interesting: I was delighted to learn I wasn't allergic to Dust (house dust, dust mite or cockroach dust) nor to Moulds or Grasses....HOORAY I don't have to wonder about whether my dusty old Aussie Colonial House was implicated in my disease process....now I won't worry about vacuming either!

My exposure to the Organochlorides was negligible which was also a relief!

What was most unexpected was the Hair Analysis Report....even allowing for Hair Shampoo & Colourant I returned a moderately serious level of Lead/Cadmium exposure among other nasties (L/C were of the most concern). Putting it all together the Report had me up in a High Return Percentile for Total Toxic Representation. There I was thinking I'd lead a Clean Green sorta life!

When or how I can only guess (maybe from teaching for years in an Old Army Drill Hall that had been part of the Technical & Further Education Campus) I painted for some years using posdered oil based pigments & would certainly have come into some contact with Cadmium & Lead when mixing my palette . Lead is also in Fertilizers which I use with gay abandon around the Garden (Always without a mask 'cos it's too HOT!)

I've also had to do a few Flood Cleanups in my time & I know that there was an awful lot of Petrolium in the water from one big flood. The Petrol Station up the road from the College didn't have time to empty it underground reserves & they just spilled out into the flood water. Because of the currents they ended up guess where! The College itself had contributed all sorts of horrid things from it's automotive, electrical trades, welding & ceramics Detpartments...lord only knows what I've been wading around in through all of those Flood Clean-ups! You have to start the cleanup in waist high flood water 'cos it's so hot that the mud dries & you can't deal with how much is caked everywhere to get it OFF!

While the levels were not considered to be at the POISONING stage they were indicating 'body burden' & were to then be 'read' in conjunction with the Liver Detox Test to see if my liver was showing any signs of stress.

The return on dietary mineral/trace element uptake was also interesting as it showed a clear defiency in Selenium (I noticed that on the Database page some of you are taking Selenium supplements).

The Liver test showed that while the Phase I Test was at the Lower end of 'Normal ' (Caffeine Challenge) the Phase 2 Test (aspirin/Paracetamol) showed trouble on 3 fronts. The MOST fascinating bit about this was that one of these problem areas is the very one that NAC is used to treat! (To do with Glutathionates).

AS the new female Dr said when I returned for a follow-up "your Liver is just limping along' right now....let's try & get IT functioning properly so that IF you decide to go down the Steroid path your Liver will be better able to handle the onslaught!

THis also made me remember that the bloodwork after my VATS showed my Liver Function was severely impaired & the Medicos at the time noted it & just said" Oh your Liver didn't like that procedure one little bit! Could be the anaesthetic or the Morphine but it's VERY unhappy!"No blinkin wonder I felt so SICK in my tummy at the time!

So, the Plan is to visit my Respiratory Sepcialist when I get back to Lismore, take these reports, postpone decisions re Steroid Treatment (the never say-never approach even if NEVER is the intention!), take the review tests (HRCT, PFTS's) etc & then start on my Liver Treatment Program!

Then take a restock at the time of the next IPF Review...in the meantime the Drs down here in Hobart will keep me on as a Phone Consult Patient & I'll visit them whenever I'm down here.

They're quite happy to work in with the Specialist in Lismore but I'll be amazed if he's up for that!

Apart from wanting me to start NAC , Dr has also put me on other things that work with it...the main one being R-Dihydro-Lipoic Acid...is anyone else out there taking this as well?

AS for the Toxic stuff...he's waiting to see how I cope with the NAC..he's a bit concerned that I'm Sulphur Intolerant & doing further Challenge Tests to confirm Toxic levels requires Sulphur based drugs. Unfortunately NAC is also a Sulphur based preparation & I may not be able to tolerate it either.

I seem to remember some of you have had trouble tolerating NAC...do you also have trouble eating lots of garlic/eggs/ vitamin C tablets ????? I LOVE garlic but lots of it always has me burning up during the night as punishment. I can eat 1 or 2 eggs but if I have a multiple egg omelette or scrambled eggs the same thoing happens. Vitamin C Tablets are a No No cause they burn holes in my stomach! I'd never put it all together before!

By the way, I'm virtually a Tee-Totaller, never had much leaning towards alcohol...Tea n' Coffe are more my thing...Winter time makes me reach for the Green Ginger Wine, occasional Bottle of Red with a Roast... I can go weeks without an Alcoholic Beverage but not a day passes without the cuppa!

The good thing is that these Docs Test before prescribing & insist on repeating tests to judge if they're working.

I can adapt to that!

in Oz