Back from vacation with surprising results...

As you probably know, this year I went to Poland on my vacation mainly to have some tests done and see
some dr specialists as our Canadian medical system became so terrible it's just below good taste, so to speak.
Just to give you an idea how "great" it is, I had to seek medical help for an emergency just the next day after my arrival
and since my fam dr was on holiday I had to go to walk-in clinic where no appointment is necessary.

It is located in a mall, which is by law opened 'till 6 pm so the clinic also by law is reqired to be opened as well 'till 6Pm
but I was turned away from the door at 2 pm as they were "full for the day", meaning they reached their patients quota for the day
which the governments allows to accept them daily. puke.
So I had to go to our hospital ER room where I was forced to wait 4 and half hrs where I was quickly looked at,
no single test done apart from routine blood test (I required at least and ultrasound for my abdomen) and no referral for specialist
which I needed urgently. That's our wonderful Canadian medical care!


In PL I felt very exhausted due to my rather poor general state as always,
and after being absent from my home city for so many years (I left almost 30 years ago) I was quite lost in there
and the fact that the city was re-build a few times over to boot, and the tram and bus routes changed a number of times as well
only added to my frustration and exhaustion, oy.

Because of that, for almost the whole 6 weeks I had no time nor energy nor even the will to sight-see anything
but from morning to evening I trudged from dr to dr, lab to lab, a lot of time dedicating to finding these offices in the first place.
European cities as opposed to American one are quite small, everything is close together,
so you do a lot of walking from place to place,
still, some are located in the further suburbs so you have to take a tram or a bus and then walk some,
and all this become really tiring.
My back was killing me all the time, my legs were like two wooden poles, my kneecaps tend to dislocate almost daily, sheesh!

I didn't get a chance to do all the CT scans, MRIs, the lab tests and see all the specialists I hoped to, but from what I managed to
what I gathered is interesting enough.

I had MRI of my brain done and discovered I have an arachnoid cyst 5 cm x 1.4 cm = 2 in x 0.6 in
the Xray of my hips and back showed I have left rotational scoliosis of the lower spine, lordosis of the lower spine,
discopathy of the L5-S1 - hence the pain in my back, I guess?
coxarthrosis deformans (degenerative disease of the hip joint) of the left hip.
Left - which is veerry strange as I have severe pain for years in my RIGHT hip, never in the left.
Maybe there was a mistake in the reading and commenting of the Xray -results?
I will have to clear that out...

My cholesterol and triglycerides level were too high, and in just two weeks climbed quickly even higher.
I was told my diet was not the culprit, not for for such an increase in such a short time, hmmm...

Last but not least, I had a very confusing thyroid results. The THS was on the very low minimum normal range.
That would indicate I am close to having hyper -thyroid, or Graves/ Basedow disease..
But My Anti-TPO was triple in number - a 100, which would indicate I could have a Hashimoto.
My dr said one excludes another, and sent me for another thyroid test which I done yesterday. Will see what happens now.

I read, however, that high results of anti TPO doesn't necessarily mean it's automatically related to thyroid, it can be an indication
of any autoimmune disorder, a renal problems, and something else.

Aside from that I had a few minerals haywire- a sodium, phosphate below normal, magnesium, VitB12 above normal.
Wonder what it all could mean. My dr as always is clueless. I am beyond frustrated.

Risa

Risa, My Goodness! That is a lot of medical exams and info. I thought you were going visiting friends and such. I am sorry it was such an ordeal. Did you have someone with you while you were there? How do you get all that done in Poland? What kind of Health Care system do they have? Sorry if too many questions, I am sure you are too tired to think. I hope you are able to gather all the results into a more helpful diagnosis. Rest for now and hopefully it will sort out. Wish I lived nearby to help you!
Hugs,
Cindy

{{{ Thank you Cindy }}}

Poland has two kinds of medical services - private and government funded. The funded one sucks just as our sucks,
with line ups reaching a year long for some services,
but the private one is pretty decent, and as long as the ratio Polish zloty to CA dollars lasts, it's a heyday for us here.

During my stay it was $1CA =2.88zl
and for example the MRI of the head has cost me about 500zl = $144CA (it's expensive for average Pole)

The specialist visits were from 90zl to 200zl - $23CA - $58CA
and the blood tests varied from as little as 2 bucks per test and up.

I was with my daughter who was fed up with being again and again denied for being sent for a gastroscopy
which she needed badly.
To add insult to injury, she was even denied a chance for a second opinion by way to be sent to another GI specialist
by our fam dr who said "she agrees with the GI's findings"!

We tried to have it done here privately as I found out BC starts its first private medical care,
by opening its first few medical clinics here, but the prices for gastroscopy are ridiculous! - a $2000CA for just the upper GI!
while in Poland she had it done under a short anesthesia for 300zl - $87CA and 170zl for gastro itself - $50CA = $120CA in all.

What the hey they are charging us so much money for?! for putting a bit of a wire down with a tiny camera at the end for all of 10 minutes?!

So I not only was running to and fro with my own health probs, we were busy taking care of my daughter's, too.
Luckily she doesn't have anything serious with her insides, although she does have some erosion in the upper intestines
and serious reflux which needs to be taken care of more aggressively than it was before.

I also realised my Vit B12 levels are too high, which is not good but I did took supplements for a while before the blood test
was taken,
so I need to wait at least a month to be sure it wasn't the cause.
Otherwise it doesn't look too good, looks like...


Risa

Thanks Risa, I find reading about others Healthcare systems very interesting. I know so many people who are eager to go to a funded system. Me, with so many complicated diagnoses, not so much! I am sure I would be dead from Lyme if I were in a system like Canadas. I know some people who are extremely ill from Lyme and have to come to US for treatment.
Cindy

Oh Risa, Hunny!!!

You know, I have been all for changing health care in the US. I feel guilty having such good care when others have none. But your stories scare me!!!

A big NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO from someone who is currently been and is experiencing joys of government funded only medical care health system. NO NO NO, and NO!

The government demands strict money savings at every turn, minute, eyeblink.
Every shi!!y test has to be well justified, so is referral to any specialist, or the government will not be happy
with the dr "wasting the resources".
The good, intelligent, compassionate dr will find ways around it easily, but the mediocre one... eh!

If you think your (US) drs are 'Gods', wait until you come to Canada.

And the line ups - arrgh!
for the good specialist the waiting list can reach one year long, and quite a number of specialists refuse to accept new patients
due to patient overload.
Forget about specialists, to get to the family dr is a miracle anyway as there is terrible shortage of family drs here, and most of a new practices quickly fills up with patients and very soon stop accepting new ones.
So want it or not, you often stick with whom you have for a long time before you get lucky and find someone you truly like.

MRI, cat scan, etc- unless you are lucky or your Dx is very severe like cancer etc- you may wait up to one year for one, yep.
same with surgeries. elective surgeries are the worst.
People in BC sometimes pay up money to have it done in Alberta (another Canadian province where they have private care)
to have it done sooner, or go to States.

The money they had to pull thru the nose they are never reimbursed by our system.

So no, IMO there is only two main way to go - the funded one for those who truly can not afford it,
and private for those who can. There should also always be the opportunity to sign up with insurance plans.
That's what I think.

Risa

Oh Risa,

What you have been through! And you still don't have good answers for everything. At least with my stuff, as drastic and dramatic as it is, the problem gets taken care of and I heal up. Well, not the migraines, but the surgeries.

Actually, the migraine I had while in the hospital was the last one I had. I haven't had a migraine for 3 weeks now. Wouldn't it be great if they were gone? I doubt it though. What would a bad gallbladder have to do with migraines? We'll see. All I know is that even with the still present surgical pain, I feel better than I have in 2 years or so. I think the gallbladder had been going bad for awhile and was poisoning me, zapping my energy.

I hope you get all your questions answered and proper treatment for your medical issues soon. I'm so sorry to hear of all of your suffering.

Chris

Chris, that's great!

That proves anything can be M trigger.
And yes, anything going wrong in the body may cause secondary HA, for us- secondary M.

When I once had a ummm... a female cyst gone infected and needed to be removed, and had a steady low grade fever,
I also had a steady medium, 5-6-7 level M all that time - since the cyst has formed, got infected and
until it was removed about three weeks later.

So yes, absolutely there is a connection in your case, Crt. How does that these things connect, I don't know but they does.
Toxins, maybe, like you say.

Fingers crossed, now it will turn out you either stopped having M at all, or there become quite rare!

Risa