A naturopathic doctor, a student, and an MS patient

I ate an apple with peanut butter and iced coffee with creamer on my way to the appointment at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medical.  I arrived on time, with my paperwork filled out.  I went to the restroom--yay, it's all working today.  The student, H, took me to a room to get my vitals.  She explains that the next room is being set up with cameras.  We go to the room and I've already forgotten about the technology.

Dr. H arrives and starts asking a lot of questions about my history while H takes notes in her laptop.  She has me (overemotional, more than usual right now) crying in no time.  We discuss the MS diagnosis, symptoms, progression, treatment, my physical therapy, the car accident, my previous weight gain/loss/gain, family, childhood, medical history.  I let her know that I've been chasing an answer to this pain for about 5 years, with no real results, but lots of comments from doctors who think I should lose weight and it will go away, always ignoring the fact that I gained this weight because of the pain.  The pain started when I was thin.

I gained weight over several years after I was in a serious car accident during my college years.  I finally did a "nutrition" program through a gym and lost the weight around the time we got Cassi, then a puppy but now 9 years old--I remember because she gained weight at about the rate I lost it.  The program was a low-fat, high-chemical diet.  I say high-chemical because I was eating a lot of "sugar-free" products.  I lost more than 50 pounds, but MS came along soon after.  Dr. H seems to believe (and I may agree) that the program I used to lose weight has contributed to my body's poor functioning.

She has me lay on the table and does an exam, but not a "normal" exam.  She feels certain pulse points and tells H her observations as we are talking.  She feels my shoulders, neck, head, pelvis, sacrum; many of the comments sound like I'm back at Dr. T's office for physical therapy.  She talks about tightness and tension and finds the tender areas and misalignments.  She also feels that I'm holding on to a lot of trauma.  (I can't imagine what trauma!)

She has me sit up and take 4 tablets from a lid, put them under my tongue and let her know when they soften to mush.  I do this with 4 different types of tablets.  H later explains that I should not touch the tabs, only take them from the lid as the active agent is on the outside.  Based on the rate of dissolving, Dr. H determines which ones my body needs.  The first is the one she precribes; it is for liver function.  We all know that the MS drugs are wrecking my liver.  She essentially said that my liver is being taxed.  After my birthday celebration this weekend, she is going to want to make some changes to improve my liver function.

We talk about the fatigue, when I remember it starting. I first noticed when I would fall asleep watching something interesting on TV.  Dr. H observes that my body is exhausted and I must be going on pure willpower. This makes me cry--I have felt this way for so long.  Now that I think of it, I think it was there earlier, that I felt like (and I feel like) I can't do the things that people normally do, or it is such a struggle. But I just keep going.

H asks me questions about my diet, discussing breakfast, lunch, and dinner separately, while she takes notes.  She asks about my breakfast today while examining me, listening to my rib area with the stethescope.  Apparently my body is grumbling about the light breakfast.

Dr. H indicates that they will be able to help me; the treatment will be a dialogue.  She can't say that MS progression will stop or even reverse, but there are steps we can take.  They will do another allergy test if they need to fine tune the strategy in the future.  We will work on improving my body's function, and they are going to recommend a lot of changes.

We also talked about my non-herpes diagnosis.  There is some mention of Candida, which is a yeast related gut problem and I have read about since my MS diagnosis.  The discussion of why I thought I had herpes since very young childhood brings up that we had always thought that my mom's husband gave it to me.  If I had these sores since childhood, and it ends up being a Candida problem, does that mean that I have had MS symptoms my entire life?  Just asking, not that I asked the doctor.

She asked me about swelling or puffiness and I said I didn't have anything noticable.  Later, I realize that I have noticed something.  In fact, I want to get a tattoo for my birthday but I'm unsure since my ankles are often swollen.  But no one notices so I thought it might be my imagination.  She examined my ankles, which don't appear very swollen to me at the moment; she agrees there is some swelling.  She thinks I should wait a few months for the tattoo--my husband will be so happy.

Besides the "kali phos" for liver function, she prescribes a probiotic (I ended up with Culturelle), and instead of fish oil, she recommends a flax/borage oil pill for better absorption.  I got my supplies from the medicinary there and made a followup appointment.  I was at the office for two and a half hours, so I'm sure I have missed a lot of the details here.  I'm hopeful that I will see changes, but anxious that I won't.