Hi,

You won the Nurse Practitioner lottery!
I am sooooo happy!

She has two tests for B12. She cannot give you the shot until she knows how much you need. The good news is that it washes out of our bodies quickly like Vit C does so it is ok to take a lot. The bad news is that you usually have to keep it up.
Lack of B12 can have neurological ramifications so this is good that she is checking.

Mari

Wow, I'm impressed with the list of test she is doing.

You really did hit the jackpot of Nurse Practioners.

Donna

You are right Donna!

I told all this same info of my symptoms to my endocrinologist and all he did was order a thyroid panel. :shaking my head:

It was a very comprehensive list of questions she asked me and when she asked me if anyone else in my family had bipolar disorder I said my dad, his mother, and 2 of my 1st cousins on my dad's side. She asked what year was your Dad diagnosed. I said ummm let's see he shot himself when he was in his late 30's and it was after that. She said OMG I'm so sorry I asked I said oh no, it's okay he lived, I can talk about it. She asked at what age my grandmother was diagnosed but I have no idea.

She said that my thyroid could fluctuate that much in 3 days (recapping here my TSH was 4.96 then 1.86 3 days later) if enough cortisol was in my system. That is when she started talking about adrenal fatigue. She started explaining how cortisol is a flight or fight response and that it can get turned on and stay on sometimes. She asked if I had been under any unusual stress lately. I explained about my friend's suicide in February and it was after that that she told me that she had a good friend who has bipolar disorder. She said that her friend "has to stick to a schedule and that she can't take on too much but otherwise lives a normal life". And also that her friend would know if something new & physical started with her.

So I am glad that I confided in her what I did about my dad and my friend because I believe that's why she confided in me about her friend. And I trust her more now. Because she knows that we with bipolar are not some dumb, un-selfaware alien species like my endocrinologist made me fee. We're just regular people like her friend.

Also, I want to tell this to you guys. She asked me if I ever read medical literature. I said no, I can barely read an entire magazine. ha! Anyway, she said that there is a school of thought in some medical journal she's read that people with bipolar disorder are rapid metabolizers. I can't remember if it was all vitamins or just the B vitamins. Ya'll ever heard of this?