Cody Updates by Mom

Hello
I hope you are all doing well. I thought I would give an update as there have been many doctor appointments and we are (finally) trying something.  My last update talked about being tired. The best way that I have been able to explain it, is that I am in that “afternoon – hit the wall” tiredness all of the time since June. My patience has been tested a lot!

After many, many blood tests my endocrinologist determined that my best next step was to see a Hematology doc.  Great, another doc, just what I needed.  Good news here, my oncologist, Dr. McCormack, is also a hematologist!  Yay, at least someone I know!!  More blood tests and last week I was able to get into see Dr. McCormack.

Iron levels – Normal
Thyroid – Normal
Protein – Normal
Magnesium, zinc, copper – Normal
Liver function – Normal
Kidney function – Normal
B Vitamins – Normal
Everything – Normal (Ugh!)

Basically, Dr. McCormack said I am in really good health.  Great.  He at least understood my situation and we continued to talk about options.  My internal med doc had suggested to see a sleep doc and see if they would recommend a sleep study.  Dr. McCormack thought this was a good idea but unfortunately the earliest I can get in is the last week of October. (insert annoyed face here).  Dr. McCormack asked how my mood has been through all of this.  After what must have been a “you’ve got to be kidding” facial expression, I did answer.  After the annoyance and irritation, I have had more moments of being down.  It has been really wearing on me that my life is about how I can rest and nap and not about living.  He mentioned that this feeling is likely not helping the fatigue and asked if I would be willing to try a med to at least help that part of the situation.  I am at a “I will try anything” spot so I agreed.

So, we are trying an anti-depressant.  I have been on it a week and they say it will take a good 2-3 weeks before I see much change.  There is one med that works well with my cancer med so that is what we are trying.  He suggested that I try this for 6 months.  We will check back in 3 months and reevaluate.

This next part is purely my researching this topic and in no way an actual medical determination.  I started looking into the whole serotonin deal.  80% of serotonin is created and stored in the GI tract.  Interesting.  This caused me to research more.  My boss drew me a little picture of how serotonin gets into the brain and what the SSRI blockers do.  I found a similar picture online to share with you.

Tryptophan (found in protein) is an amino acid that can increase serotonin in the brain. However, sometimes, there is too much of the amino acids trying to get through and it causes them to reverse back into your system and actually causes less serotonin in the brain.  The blockers (my anti-depressant) block the amino acids from going back into the system and help them to keep moving into the brain.  I found many articles that talked about protein focused diets actually reduce the amount of serotonin available for the brain due to this issue.  Huh.  Guess what I have been focused on?  Protein.  The more protein the better has been the message from my doctors.  There is research that carbs eaten with protein will help the serotonin levels in the brain.  I talked to a couple of my health worker friends and they agreed that carbs help to increase the available serotonin for the brain.

My conclusion (again, just mine not a doctors) is that I have been focused on getting enough protein and sometimes would eat just protein for a meal as I knew I had limited availability for food intake.  This could be causing my serotonin levels to change a bit.  Could this possibly be causing my fatigue?  I don’t know but I know that I am willing to give it a try.  Even if it just helps a little, I will take it.  Any type of relief right now will be welcome.  This has also been a year of change so there is the possibility of simply having gone through too much and needing a little help.

I have been on the new med for a week.  Today was actually the first day that I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out after making dinner.  I am not feeling “perky” but actually being able to make dinner, eat dinner and clean up all in one time period without a rest is a new thing.  A little hope for a change is starting to twinkle in the distance.  🙂

In order to help me make some better decisions on food based on all the nutrients that I am trying to track, I have made a food chart.  This site will not let me upload the Excel file but I have put a picture below.  It helps me to look at the foods that I will eat (I left off things I don’t like) and determine what I can get the best nutrients out of.  If anyone that is interested in the file just let me know and I can email it to you.

Anyway, thank you for listening.  I am encouraged that I am finally doing something to try to help my fatigue.  I will see the sleep docs in October to find out if that could be a factor.  I will also stay on this med to see if it will help.  In the meantime, I will continue to mainline caffeine and use the quiet room at work to get through my days.  Thank you to everyone that has been so helpful and understanding through this time.  You are the best support system I could ask for!

Caring Bridge Comments

Lorelie|Sep 27, 2016 11:24am