Thank you, all of you, who did the research that I just lost the energy to do. I feel like I've just had a biopsy and am waiting for the results. I've gone through all the links. And Scarlett, here's the test that was abnormal.

Here's what was abnormal:
test........ range......... me
PTT-LA <40...... 84
DRVVT <42....... 53

Do you know if this is within the range of positives that sometimes come up on people? The Quest Lab site says that these get elevated frequently, and should be repeated in 6 - 12 weeks, if abnormal. I told the rheumie that on Friday, and he looked at me with a worried look, and said, oh, that doesn't refer to numbers this high.

But my great docs have been wrong before, and in their own field. My endo was worried I had a pituitary tumor; he told me it was impossible to get this much pituitary failure from a few days of steroids in June. But that does seem to be what happened.

I don't think I have a lot of the symptoms that this seems to cause. It doesn't cause peripheral neuropathy, although it does cause MS like syndromes. And that's my major symptoms. I do have the abnormal MRI that goes with this picture, and I have had visual problems over the years, but when I've had them, I've gone to opthalmologists, and they've never suspected clots.

So, I'm just hoping this is not true. I don't know how I'd take the news.
I've been content living with something nameless, just thinking I have some "vague" autoimmune problems and idiopathic neuropathy. I really dont' want anything with a name. Anyone who has read my posts over the last few weeks may have read that my neurologist argued against finding out if the name Sjogren's fit me. He said getting a "name" like that would only make me sad. And now, here I am, waiting to see if I have another "named" illness, and I see his point.

I've been feeling generally stronger as my pooped-out pituitary seems to be getting back online. But I'd stopped my estrogen replacement this past summer when I got the abnormal MRI, thinking that if it hadn't helped my spine heal, what was the point? I'd never had hot flashes. My OB had put me on it years ago, before the research, and after the spine surgery, the docs thought I should stay on it, to help my bone heal. But when that didn't seem to work, and my mri showed spots, I figured it was time to go off.

NO. I've been having hot flashes nightly since then, and can't fall asleep for them, and wake up with them. So I asked my endo about re-starting, and ahe said yes, but then, not knowing I was cooking a diagnosis that might pre-dispose to stroke. So, I've been on them for 3 days, and they haven't worked yet, but I figure I'll keep with it until I hear about the diagnosis, and if I have to go off, will do it then.

Though I do not know how women survive with these. How can you get up and go to work when you've been up all night hot flashing?

Oh, and I'm bothered a LOT by the itching/supersensitivity/ weirdness feeling in my fingertips on my left hand. The pin pricky stuff I've been getting is new. I've got lidocaine patches wrapped around my fingertips, but it's not helping. Anyone have suggestions for this really annoying symptom?

Last, my bone metabolism doctor is running a factory, and it's impossible to get a hold of anyone there. I've called and faxed about whether they are concerned about my calcium and heard nothing back. Anybody have any idea whether a calcium of 10.7-11.0 could be causing my worsened neuro symptoms?

Last thing that's off: My cholesterol has JUMPED to 350 from it's usual 225 - 250. I'm putting this in this note, just to help me log this all. Nobody wants to treat it; nobody knows why the big change.

The only new medicine is two months of Forteo. (Oh, Mrs D, I'm sure you know that Calcium goes up with Forteo---the 10.7 is a "trough" number, 15 hours after a dose. The 11.0 is a guess, that that's what it might be, say, 2 hours after a dose.

There's too much happening for any one person to keep track of.

Also, my sinuses are "on the edge". At any moment they could cross the bar from near infected to infected. Well, I know they're infected; just a question of how much and can my body lick it on its own.

It feels like too much to keep track of.

I left the house today having put the house cordless phone in my purse, leaving my cell phone at home, and dropping my housekeys in the rosebush that I tended briefly on my way out the door. I got into the car, couldn't find my keys, and figured this was a sign that I needed to spend the day indoors. My neighbor let me in, and helped search for the keys with me; he figured out they had to be in the rosebush, thank goodness.

So yes, I spent the day at home.