Jane, that sounds so traumatic with cancer involved as well. I’m lucky I’ve been told my cirrhosis is nothing to with alcohol or cancer, but there is still a problem with it. Been put on Propranolol, which is not good with Thyroxin, but my doc and Endo seen last month, don’t agree with that and said so. However my blood tests 2 monthly, look for more or different things, 16 I counted, and my dosage of propranolol was suddenly quartered! my doc still prescribes thyroxin at same dosage but also gives me now, Uvedose, a slow release liquid VitB 12 dosage which last 2 months and the liver needs that for it and blood cells.
My huge blood test in February, ordinance given to me by a different doctor, for the hypothyroid and other tests, so I asked for not only the usual TSH, but also T3, T4 and Free t3/4. The test results came back saying I have autoimmune thyroiditis, not seen a thyroid specialist and no one medical mentioning it!
Could be the answer to my ‘blood disorder’ diagnosed after a bone marrow test as MDS, SYNDROME MYELEODYSPLASIA, its called here, in 2012 but not treated since. Then I will live another 30 or 40 years and it may end up as Leukaemia I was told - my thoughts were I’ll probably be dead before tHAT! Had I not left the Herault in 2013 to start with different docs, hospital and tests, who knows where I’d be now with that Haematologist, possibly less problems than now. Last year I was, was after many tests around Feb/Mar, incl., MRI, now every 3 months & Doppler scans,bloods, told it’s not MDS, it might be hepatitis, all types of that ruled out after following big blood test, Then the liver scan showed I had two something’s?, they look like black holes in space to me, but are lumps found initially on an external tummy probe by the Haemo, Next came the Fibroscopy (endoscopy to the uninitiated)examining the oesophagus, down to the duodenum. I had infected varicies in the oesophagus! One reason I take the propranolol, it supposedly strengthens the walls of varicose veins. Hence blood disorder with low white cell production from spleen and large thickened red cells, I wonder did that all start off the aneurysm and brain haemorrhage in 2013’ combined with personal situation stress. One thing leads to another. So many of these Conditions also have same neural side effects, confusion, memory, equilibrium being the main ones, so perhaps BI was just a consequence of the blood disorder. 1st doc here in spring 2012 put me on 1x 500mg Metformine daily, because he said I was borderline Type 2 diabetic. (I was overweight certainly, although not now). OH was taking 800mg 3 x a day and fine on them. I was starting to feel unwell within 4 months, tired, no energy and muscle weakness - thats when 1st peculiar blood test showed up and I was sent to see the Haemo. Metformin can affect the spleen, where blood cells are manufactured and end up passing through the liver, which collects toxins, via blood circulation. I now have a Respimat,for breathing, after I had an ear infection followed by bronchitis over winter.
Do you know it’s the 1st time I’ve ever written all this down in one go, just taken one thing at a time as it happened, incl car accident, which I also blamed for the neural effects getting worse.
You can see why I turned detective, with all these things happening one after another, perhaps have become paranoid because and several still ongoing. But I know I retain my ability to be lucid and hopefully intelligent, because the mind still works, just the brain that sends messages to the wrong places or not at all sometimes.
I am fortunate I don’t ‘feel’ I’ll, just terribly tired and lazy at times. Lost the motivation factor, except in solving this health conundrum. I was healthy and upbeat arriving in France, and yes to be honest I know the doctors are trying but I just wish they’d make the connections like I can. I was told by my dad and grandmother when I was very young, that as a baby I’d had a tubercular gland removed in my neck/RHS of throat, dad demobbed from airforce with TB after ww2. I know I’ve got the scar on my neck, but never till recently had I given it a thought. Think I will tell Haemo at my nxt RDV, next month. It’s not in any medical records here and wasn’t in UK as far as I know, but I moved so often in my life from birth-60 and of course nhs only started after war. I was born '47. Only the mouth left and if that goes, well then God help me!
Also wish I had Peters specialist living opposite me, although I shouldn’t grumble about the system here, they are looking just not making the connections, so I’ll plod on.
Hmmmmmm...dark chocolate and red wine - perfection, a bit like cuddling up to Carol Kirkwood in front of a roaring fire on a cold winters evening .....
Your liver wouldn’t Nick if drunk ‘consistently’ to quote my endocrinologist. Dark chocolate good, doesn’t someone make a dark chocolate and orange confection, but probably too much sugar in that also. Honey is best with breakfast cereals/porage, if locally to you, produced and better for you than brown sugar.
My neighbour’ in the Herault used to sell their own honey from bees that fed off lavender in the mountains from about 1km above us and down towards our village. They owned lots of land and were self sufficient for all their veggies, bred rabbits, also hunted and had the boar Carcasses skinned and jointed or whatever you do with them. We also used to cut our own logs from their land - till he tried to get us to take the pines that were felled in a huge windy storm one year, he decided he wanted the oak and chestnut for himself, and why not! Occasional Pine cones smelt lovely on log fire though when we opened the door, not good for chimneys I know!
I like the sound of a red wine and dark chocolate regime; although I'd have to have a little honey or brown sugar added to my milky porridge.
I have to admit my results were a shock to me. I actually called the doctor to ask if there may have been some error with the testing procedure ! Don't forget the exercise Wendy and the green tea if you like it works well for me. I stick with Ginger & Lemon or just Ginger, Ginseng and Yunnan though i'm sure most green teas are ok. The brand i've been using is called 'Mont Asie' and can be found in the 'U' chain of supermarkets or online I assume. Ironically I haven't managed to find any pomegranates for a few days so I hope they're not seasonal !
Keith or anyone, My OH has type 2 and on statins after his bypass op 2008. We don’t communicate now but do you think it worth passing the news to him?
I’ve Got 2 of those now Brian after the cataract ops both eyes done same month not same time of course!
Thanks for sharing this Peter. I too am trying to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure and currently on a variety of pills but would much rather achieve the desired results without the use of medication.
I shall be looking out for grenadines forthwith!
You know what they say about standing spoons up in it. Well, what my mother made the spoons bounced off. I reckon Scots had low casualties in war, everything bounced off those who drank tea.
As for coffee Shirley, we drink Italian espresso. I used to get through an expensive two litres or thereabouts a day. The cardio almost had a heart attack and told me two espresso cups a day maximum, so I have a mug of it (compromise, about a sixth of what I used to drink). It makes French coffee look and taste like dishwater.
Right about the tea - usually ended up 'stewed' after ten hours on the Aga ! Could have resurfaced the M6 with that stuff !
My teeth cleaned in Scotland as a kid with soot on the brush!
Re sugar, given how much the French put in Their coffee I am amazed they don’t have black teeth!
Good news Keith - anything which avoids chemicals has to be a good thing tho' sometimes they ae necessary I suppose.
Nah mate. The truth behind it is my mother was the world's worst cook. You were married to a Scot so must know all about tea that stains your teeth, furs up your gullet and is so full of sugar diabetes is likely after four cups. Plus so much salt and vinegar on chips cooked in lard. Stork margarine rather than butter. Overcooked everything, carbonised beef with congealed fat (any meat) and more. Well, I hated it all and rebelled by eating in neighbours' houses. They came from the Indian subcontinent, Poland, Ireland, the Caribbean and a few other places. I got a taste for the other and mostly healthy stuff compared to what we had at home. It all took off from that. So I learned to cook from neighbours, by the time I left home a month short of 18 I could provide for myself. I seldom used hall in college but cooked for myself and found my first ever 'health food shop'. So I have never really been much different to now. The biggest step was learning to make bread. As a wee one I mainly only had rye bread from my day carer and never been a lover of white bread, the exceptions being focaccia, ciabatta and scofa versions, so use rye or buckwheat. I rarely eat baguette, which I cannot stand, and sliced bread never. I also tend to use brown and red rices rather than white, particularly polished rice. With those things as a basis, all of which are kind of filling with small quantities, it means highly quality useful food with them. Mind you, rationing the cheese and sausage... Hard one.
I become bionic when I eventually get the shoulder done. A Terminator eye might help a bit ;-)
Blimey !
BM = Brian Milne should now read....
BM = Bionic Man !
They are not now saying that these nodules are secondaries, it was the initial radiologist, who my onchologist said was wrong 50 percent of the time!
They are monitoring me because i had breast cancer, but I believe that they are now going overboard with scans every year, the scans being reviewed by the radiologist, the lung specialist and the onchologist.
It is all too much.
Sorry to hear of your frustrations Jane. Wouldn't cancer secondaries show up in the routine blood tests ie. increase in marker levels etc ? My wife had secondaries on her lungs for the seven years of her cancer episodes following the 'main' colon cancer and although the secondaries in her liver were always out of control other areas like her lungs remained 'stable'.
Your lack of confidence in doctors is sad but understandable. My local hospital, literally across the road, actually employs a bilingual psychologist 'simply' (wrong word !) to act as a link between patient and doctor, almost a 'mediator' at times. This guy is easily accessible and very approachable where some docs clearly are not.
It I understand totally. It took me nearly three years to get the right follow up for my breast cancer here in France. Because my shoulder was damaged in the MRI in UK I had another older type of radioactive photograph.
They don’t do it here in France and then I was wongly refused access to this procedure in UK and I took them to the EU Commission. No one told me that ultrasound has now improved so much that it can now detect lobular breast cancer.
My old medecin traitant sent me for a thoracic scan rather than the breast scan I had aksed for and they found nodules in my lungs which they wrongly said were cancer secondaries. I had a non conclusive lung biopsy and all the time they kept on about these nodules and no one was looking at my breast, which was the whole reason for starting the process in the first place.
Now they want me to have scans every year and I am going to refuse. I have gone from being totally ignored and refused treatment to being looked at by three people each time.
Fortunately I have a very good radiologist who is on my side. He says that once a month is too much and that the nodules are more than likely a sign of lung infections.
My cancer was totally encapsulated when it was removed and I did not need any other firm of treatment than the Tamoxifen, so I am sure that they are being over cautious and with doctors failing to diagnose either my food intolerance and sending me to a psychiatrist when I had endometriosis, I do not have a lot of confidence in doctors.
I got very upset and stressed when no one was listening to me, so I totally understand.
We now our own bodies very well by now, so I hope you do find out what is the cause of uour problem.
Oh dear you put me shame Brian 
never been good at exercise via my feet since 1st of 3 ops over the years. Funnily enough, re cholesterol, despite being o/weight for many years, we at 3.9 when 6 used to be norm in UK. To keep fit I used to go to a gym, found it easier to walk on treadmill and then the bicycles and upper body exercise machines - they were good for when we were sailing, gave me strength to haul the big gib in or hang on to cruising chute when we were sailing. I was allowed to steer after the hard work was done :-
However your list of fruits makes me think I could make my own juice, like you I’m not really a fish eater, I like prawns and crab meat though. Hate salmon in all forms exc John west tinned. Not a fan of tuna exc tinned again but mixed with mayo and sweet orn in a sand which I would eat and enjoy. Not a lover of baguette unless with pate. Can’t eat dry bread in any form so use an olive oil based spread. I buy, pain de Mie complete, it’s freeze let but keeps well a few days in my pottery/stoneware bread container. I like my early morning the au lait and drink lots of water on some days less on others. Have to take thyroxin 1st on empty stomach and wait minimum 30 mins before I eat, So after that cuppa, then cereal for breakfast, usually weetabix, semi skimmed and a sprinkling of Splenda, I do need some sweetness to it! Sadly I do like meat, beef & poultry. When cooking for both of us in UK used to do regular weekly roast dinners, beef or pork or lamb. Porc here I don’t like at all probably because it’s what there is most of. I loved all the roast root veggies, parboiled, dried and tossed in a little oil and virtually dry roasted in the fan oven mmm…delicious!
Thanks Jane, Doc kept treating me for ‘depression’ not stress. I’m the one who uses the word and gets stressed with frustration at it all,. I speak slowly, another side effect, monotone often as I’m trying to find right words inFrench for many French people I talk to, I did have depression once in UK and didn’t feel anything like this. Prozac worked wonders only was on it 8 months and weaned myself off. No the serotonin is still up there now being released!
The whole health thing, not Bi so much, has been going on 18 months since up here with blood disorder 1st diagnosed August 2012, so I’m sure you understand my frustration when docs just treat different symptoms, conditions in isolation from one another. I’m convinced there is a link there somewhere and I’ll find it and convince a doctor someday also.
Thanks Jane, i'll investigate