Photo taken by me
** Ok the funny part- My surgery is now on 4-20.**
Ugh. My surgery is rescheduled because I am too sick. I am sick because of all the hoops they made me jump through with the stupid 30 day clearance (needs to be done within 30 days of surgery and expires in 30 days) while giving me no disability accommodations. By that I mean all I ask for is a place to lie down at the drs office so I don't faint for being upright too long. That is too much to ask. Yes it is illegal to not provide this accommodation but the ADA has no enforcement so Drs ignore it.
The in person Dr visit put me in a PEM crash, some of which was caught in the blood tests that was done a couple of days after that appointment.
I have not recovered from that and my blood work showed high WBC (not typical in a crash) and low c02 as well as other somewhat concerning abnormalities.
Normally, low c02 is handled with urgency as it's indicative of metabolic acidosis or lactic acidosis both are medical emergencies. The symptoms are the same symptoms I deal with 24/7 for decades so I can't tell if I have any.
It has already been proven that some ME/CFS patients especially in PEM have very high lactic acid numbers at rest or very little activity(like walking a few feet to the restroom). Lactic acid levels higher than marathon runners for just existing. It's a sign of mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction but since this disease is still psychologized and happens to mostly women, Drs ignore these clinical findings. This is only one manifestation of the disease.
Metabolically, people with ME/CFS are running marathons multiple times a day. It may be one reason why we do not have muscle wasting like other people at rest (but we get necrosis on exertion-literal muscle death something that has been known since at least the 1970's). Not all of us but many like myself have no muscle loss and doctors can't tell I am 95% bed bound for years and get on average less than 300 steps a day on good days.
There are no treatments for ME/CFS despite it being one of the most disabling conditions a person can get. The same applies to POTS which has a quality of life equivalent of congestive heart failure. I have both.
That said I did start taking baking soda tablets which may help with the co2 thing. I do not recommend anyone else do this without medical advice from their doctor but I am used to being my own doctor because 99% of the time doctors do not care. My immunologist the only one who understands my conditions and is on vacation.
I will probably be offline for a few days. I feel horrible. I need rest.
