Day 7: not at FAR Clinic AND doctoring kid at home

The FAR Clinic is in Utah, where many Mormons reside.  In Mormon territory, many things close down on Sunday, including the clinic (not that we expect daily service).  John and I were on our own to complete part of his daily regimen at the hotel.  With smoothie resistance, John set a new record of not taking it but complaining about it for 2.5 hours.  So frustrating for him and me.  There is no outlet for frustration in a hotel room.  We aren't rockstars.  We don't break glass.  Instead we sigh a lot, cry a little, ask God questions that remain unanswered, and finally, stop resisting.  Smoothie down, we went to the other activities of gym workout and hyperthermia in hot tub.  Everything went as it should, even without our big personalities of Elanda and Matt.

While we were finishing up at the hot tub, I got a text from my oldest son from home.  Patrick has some health issues of his own with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (autoimmune hypothyroidism), adrenal issues (adrenal glands are your stress glands that sit on top of your kidneys), anemia (low ferritin or stored iron), low Vitamin D (more sunshine please) and aldosterone issues (aldosterone is a hormone that works to keep your sodium and potassium regulated).  Patrick has had a headache for 24 hours, and so he wanted to talk to me for more ideas.  He tried ibuprofen.  He tried sleeping.  He has been taking vitamin D and has been outside.  Guys, I'm not medically trained.  All I have is 7 years of experience based on my family's maladies.  My gut tells me to have him take his blood pressure.  Sure enough, 90/60.  A boy his age should be 123/65 according to a quick Google search.  

Low blood pressure... sounds great if you're an adult with hypertension.  In reality, there is a sweet spot in blood pressure, which basically looks like a bell curve.  Patrick is skewed left, low. Why?  Well, my educated guess is that he doesn't have enough sodium and potassium in his system.  How is this an educated guess?  Because his dog won't stop licking his leg when he was talking to me on the phone.  When aldosterone is low, and your salts are low, you are salt wasting.  It's on your skin.  Your trusty canine is not trying to annoy you, rather, he's cuing you to eat salt.  Patrick has had aldosterone issues before, about 2 months ago.  I will email his doctor and let him know what is going on.  Honestly, I think he could use a prescription of Florinef (aldosterone), but for some reason this particular doctor is a little hesitant. We will see what he says this time.

Comments

  1. BrianAugust 7, 2017 at 5:59 PM

    Were you able to contact his doctor?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LymeIntoLemonadeAugust 8, 2017 at 7:38 AM

      I did email his thyroid doctor, but I haven't heard back yet. The doc is a little eccentric and he usually responds with 2 business days. Today should be the day I hear from him.

      Delete

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