Distractions from IF

What a month and a half it has been.  It all started with an ER visit due to the worst pain I’ve felt in my life.  Several doctor visits, tests, procedures, and some prescription medication followed.  I have some lovely new pictures of my insides to add to my collection from my laparoscopy.  Everything turned out to be normal except a small hernia, which the doctor shrugged off and said we don’t have to do anything about.  The hernia doesn’t explain the pain I had, so some of the procedures may be repeated at a future date if the pain ever returns.  So far, that pain was just a one-day occurrence.

What compounded things a bit was that my body did not react kindly to the cocktail of medications I was taking.  Shortly after starting the above-mentioned prescription for a problem the ER doctor assumed I had, I started the antibiotic Flagyl to possibly combat my TEBB.  Meanwhile, I had been slowly increasing my naltrexone dose under Dr. K’s direction to reach the usual dose they prescribe for PMS.  Managing to take all the pills at the right times was the easy part (surprisingly).  One medication was to be taken twice a day with a meal, another was not to be taken within an hour of eating (twice a day), and the third taken four times a day.  (This excluded my T3, which is taken every 12 hours on an empty stomach, and the probiotic, which was not to be taken within 2 hours of the antibiotic, but prior to eating.)  The hard part was dealing with the nausea and vomiting that resulted.  It became pretty predictable at night.  Naltrexone anytime after 6 PM plus either of the two new meds within hours of each other resulted in my GI system declaring war.  When it got bad enough that I couldn’t think straight, I would be reduced to tears.  I admit I’m pretty weak when it comes to that... No amount of eating after dinner would prevent or lessen the nausea (but it would give me heartburn so I slept on the couch in a sitting position several nights).  Sometimes it would return after I had fallen asleep, and I’d go sit on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night until my stomach decided it was empty enough.  If my experience is similar to what happens during pregnancy, I have a new profound respect of what women go through.  I even tried to imagine that I was pregnant (I wasn’t, of course) to try to make dealing it better, but that didn’t help. 

I spoke with Dr. K’s nurse several times.  She said my side effects were really unusual for naltrexone; most women have no side effects and actually feel great.  She thought that my hernia was further exacerbating the medication interactions.  (She also informed me that it would cause extra nausea and heartburn during any future pregnancy on top of what is normal for pregnancy.)  She gave me suggestions on how to try to reduce the side effects, including lowering the naltrexone, which helped sometimes.  I ended up just sticking it out since the antibiotic was almost gone, and I was tapering off of the other prescribed medication from the ER visit (which was deemed unnecessary after all the tests).  Just a few days ago, when I was down to only naltrexone and T3, all my side effects disappeared.   In fact, I felt great.  Fabulous even.  It kind of feels like the small high you get after exercising.  Or like the time right around ovulation where you feel extra motivated to get things done.  So this is how naltrexone is supposed to work.  I love my naltrexone now.  :)  I’m really looking forward to post-peak this cycle to see if my PMS is gone.  And I’m almost to the point where I can take non-compounded naltrexone just once a day (easier than four times a day and cheaper hopefully).  I’m at 32 mg (compounded) per day now.  The end goal is 50 mg (non-compounded) per day.  Things are looking up!  :)

So after DH and I took the Flagyl simultaneously, there has been no change in my TEBB.  Bummer. I wonder if they’ll try a different antibiotic next.  Maybe Biaxin?  I know that worked for one of my clients to get rid of her TEBB.

This whole series of events took my mind completely off of IF (and blogging and even reading blogs) for quite a while.  I missed everyone and have some catching up to do!

We’re thinking seriously about doing the ultrasound series to monitor ovulation in January.  PPVI said it would be best if DH could come along so we could TTC, but right now we’re just planning to have me go alone.  It may be possible for DH to come for a couple days, but we won’t know that until the last minute because of his work schedule.  I am looking forward to learning if my ovaries are doing their job!