Vague, unspecific symptoms that are really bothering me.

[Drain_Bead]

What exactly were your TSH numbers?

[CatherineZeta]

@Broomstick

You don’t need meat to get worms or amoebas. Some amoebas live in water and are caught by drinking the water. Cows, goats, sheep, etc. are all herbivores and get worms all the time. If the worm eggs are on produce all you have to do to catch them is eat the produce.

Anyhow - you did say you’re working 70 hours a week. Have you considered that at least part of your fatigue is the long hours at your job?

Gross re: the worms. I really hope that’s not the case.

I was working long hours, but I took a week off work and have reduced my hours to around 40. It was only one week that I worked around 70 anyway.

Ferret Herder and Drain Bead****, assuming that HGB is hemoglobin and HCT is hemocrit my numbers were 13.0 and 40.3 respectively. TSH was 1.470.

[rhubarbarin]

Sorry you’re not feeling any better. Please keep us posted! And try not to be discouraged that your test results aren’t providing clear answers for why you are feeling poorly. They never did in my case, and doctors were little help unfortunately. Sometimes I felt like it might be all in my head. But it wasn’t.

Have you considered going gluten-free? While I don’t have celiac, wheat products affect my digestion negatively, and they seem to jerk my blood sugar (which is never the most stable, I have a familial problem with it getting too low and getting weird symptoms whenever it falls and rises) around like no other carb, which in turn affects my migraines and energy, pretty dramatically. I know so many people who feel better with less wheat in their diet, I know its a big trend right now but I really feel there is something to it.

[Rachellelogram]

@rhubarbarin

Sorry you’re not feeling any better. Please keep us posted! And try not to be discouraged that your test results aren’t providing clear answers for why you are feeling poorly. They never did in my case, and doctors were little help unfortunately. Sometimes I felt like it might be all in my head. But it wasn’t.

Have you considered going gluten-free? While I don’t have celiac, wheat products affect my digestion negatively, and they seem to jerk my blood sugar (which is never the most stable, I have a familial problem with it getting too low and getting weird symptoms whenever it falls and rises) around like no other carb, which in turn affects my migraines and energy, pretty dramatically. I know so many people who feel better with less wheat in their diet, I know its a big trend right now but I really feel there is something to it.

A gluten-free veggie wouldn’t have much to choose from in the grocery aisle.

Read your employee handbook (or if it’s a large company, look at the policies online). There should be a guideline in there with the amount of time it takes for new employees to enroll in the company’s health insurance. Raise hell with your boss if it’s taking longer than purported. Because if they take too long to enroll you, you could be stuck without the ability to enroll until 2014.

[CatherineZeta]

@rhubarbarin

Sorry you’re not feeling any better. Please keep us posted! And try not to be discouraged that your test results aren’t providing clear answers for why you are feeling poorly. They never did in my case, and doctors were little help unfortunately. Sometimes I felt like it might be all in my head. But it wasn’t.

Have you considered going gluten-free? While I don’t have celiac, wheat products affect my digestion negatively, and they seem to jerk my blood sugar (which is never the most stable, I have a familial problem with it getting too low and getting weird symptoms whenever it falls and rises) around like no other carb, which in turn affects my migraines and energy, pretty dramatically. I know so many people who feel better with less wheat in their diet, I know its a big trend right now but I really feel there is something to it.

Thanks! I appreciate all the suggestions I’ve gotten.

It could be gluten. Is that something that comes on suddenly though or develops over time? I’ve never had a problem with wheat products in the past. On the other hand I did develop an allergy to guinea pigs (strange, I know) due to exposure to them over a long period of time (my family had many generations of pigs as pets while I was growing up), so I know that allergies can take time to show up. I’ll take a look at the grocery store to see what they have, but may wait until I’m able to see a doctor because…

@Rachellelogram

A gluten-free veggie wouldn’t have much to choose from in the grocery aisle.

Read your employee handbook (or if it’s a large company, look at the policies online). There should be a guideline in there with the amount of time it takes for new employees to enroll in the company’s health insurance. Raise hell with your boss if it’s taking longer than purported. Because if they take too long to enroll you, you could be stuck without the ability to enroll until 2014.

Not many options for me to choose from foodwise. On the other hand a lot of sweets and breads that are vegan are also gluten free, so it may not be as bad as it sounds. I know I can also get rice pasta, Amy’s makes vegan pizza with rice crust, etc.

HR told me that they thought employees could be added to the health insurance plan at anytime, but that is wrong apparently. HR (actually it’s just one dude, not an entire department) told me he’s been calling the insurance company to see what can be done. It’s possible their enrollment period isn’t until later this year.

I did get a month’s prescription of Effexor free of charge from a mental health clinic. I’ll see if that makes a difference if this is indeed all in my head.