Re: Digest Number 2324

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I just want to take a MOMENT to congratulate all of you for getting on the the exercise band wagon! I've been trying to tell you for the last two and a half years how beneficial exercise is to beating this disease. It has helped me overcome .... my mother, a praciticing RN for almost 48 years now, told me I was absolutely NUTS for excersizing the day after a methotrexate treatment and when she found out I was working out at least 4 more days prior to the next one, had I been standing in front of her, she probably would have knocked me to my knees with one slap! She accused me of being a loon and asked me why I did it (but I had been an child athelete and never stopped having exercise as part of my day-to day regime, even without RP) and I simply told her this, "Mom, I will be damned if I am going to let this disease, or any other disease, hinder my lifestyle or prohibit what I enjoy most in life and that is keeping fit. And if it takes every ouce of energy that I have left in me, I will exercise or do anything within me to combat, fight and concer this." She was speachless, which doesn't happen much for my mother, and when I heard her crying .. she just simply said, "Ok ... do it your way, it's obviously working!"

So, all of you, whether you can do 5 minutes in the beginning or 3 or 2, at least it's a start. We might have been given the challenge of the disease overnight, but we can fight back. Even if it takes baby steps .... we can all meet our own personal goal, you just have to set them!

had sent me a personal e-mail asking me how I was feeling after spending Tuesday night in the ER room and it was absolutely NOT RP related (thank God) lives in So Cal where I am relocating and she asked about my parents and where they lived and now I'm going to copy in the rest of my reply about my family, my hospital visit and what has transpired since ...

First of all, let me respond to family questions ... my mom and dad live in Norco, in Riverside County, I have one son and his wife and baby that live in San Diego and another son who attends college at USC. Additionally, I have a brother and his family who live in Simi Valley and my younger sister and her family lives in Redding. My other brother and his wife are in Colorado, so with me moving back home, I can't tell you how excited they all are.

I want you to know I kept your personal address in my relocation file to call or contact you for a good Rhuemy when I move to the Mission Viejo area, and traveling is not an issue, if its for an excellent physician. I travelled 3-1/2 hours to see Dr. Trentham every 8 weeks, so what's an hour to SD?

The hospital outcome was only a guaranteed diagnosis that I have stressed related high blood pressure. They ruled everything else out as all my test were negative for everything, including blood gasses, etc. I have had light-headed spells for the last few weeks, expecially during exersion or exercise, but just thought it was because I didn't have much for lunch or a late afternoon snack before working out. Guess I was wrong ... so Monday, after almost passing out at the gym and then all day at work on Tuesday feeling like I was truly going to black out, decided to visit the ER. When I saw my own PCP yesterday, he disagreed with both the diagnosis (partially) and the drug they prescribed for the high PB.. So, first he wrote a script for a different BP medication, then we talked about the last three weeks, my current work load, the whole relocation thing and the fact that I've had a recovering alcoholic and drug addict here staying with us since November and helping her right her life. So, there's not too much stress or I believe there's still a little wiggle room on my plate right now! Anyway, I'll finish quickly ..... he said that he agrees with the BP status, however because I am still experiencing some racing of the heart and increased pulses for no reason, he believes there's not enough oxygen getting to the brain. He's ordered an echocardiogram and wants me to wear a Halter monitor device in order to rule out any heart valve involvement. God, I love that man! My father has an enlarged heart, that they discovered in his early forties along with the hpertension (he's been on BP drugs since the age of 38) and my mother has been on BP meds for the last few years, but she's almost 70 .... so the BP thing, I know is hereditary ... I'm not worried at all about that, it's just the lightheaded stuff. On top of that, at 44, my period is over a week late and that hasn't happend since I gave birth to the last one 15 years ago ... .so make some more wiggle room on that damn plate!!!!!!

That's in in a nutshell ... just me, Kathleen (NY)