brief update

I went to see my primary care physician yesterday. We discussed my symptoms and I tried to make clear just how much I am affected by all this. He also agreed to prescribe Trazadone (Desyreyl), a drug classified as an anti-depressant but actually used to treat sleep dysfunction in CFS/ME. It affects serotonin levels, which apparently are quite important for reaching deep sleep (many thanks to Sue Jackson for her terrific blog on CFS where I learned this).

Anyway, my doctor saw the test results that I had done when I saw a Naturopathic Doctor last year and was particularly interested in my low cortisol levels in the morning (cortisol is a hormone that your body produces most when you first wake up and slowly decreases throughout the day; it helps you to "get going"; my own levels are virtually flat). He said one thing I haven't been tested for, but should be, is Addison's disease. Apparently it is quite rare and he has only seen one case in his 22 years of practice. One of the most famous Addisonians (wikipedia's term) was President Kennedy. I'll have the blood drawn on Monday and should hopefully find out soon.

I will also mention that I am not looking forward to the test. I feel terrible any time I have blood drawn. In fact there is some data showing that people with CFS/ME have lower than normal blood volume, sometimes substantially so. (I have never had my own level tested, not sure how involved/costly it is to have done). But just the fact that I feel so poorly afterwards strongly suggests I have a low amount in my body. Anyway, this time at least I will try to counteract it by salt and fluid loading (tomato juice) beforehand and then again immediately after.