Couch 240: The Vanadis Couch

I sent my pdoc my labs that I had done at my GP's request. I always send him my labs. The past two months that I have been on Olanzapine/Zyprexa, my A1c has skyrocketed. The hospital put me on this medicine but he needs to take me off. I hope he replies to either the message on the fax or the message I put in the portal because even though I am kind of stable on this med, I cannot be on this med if it is just going to make me another kind of sick. My friend who is a retired nurse told me to stay on it until I hear from him and don't discontinue the medicine until I hear from him, so hopefully I hear from him.

If you have a high A1C, it's important to control it with meds. There are a lot of meds out there, so if one doesn't work, another might.

My H cannot take Metformin. It causes him cramps and stomach upsets. He's now on two better meds which his stomach is fine with.

The only way to get off diabetic meds completely is to fix your diet and exercise, or get off the meds that are causing the increase.

Literally spent ten hours today on estate business. And am still on Step 1 of this part.

The hour I didn’t spend on estate business was spent at acupuncture for the first time since May. It helped.

Thanks. My pdoc doesn't want to pull me off of Olanzapine so he is adding Metformin. Great another pill to take.

I've always wanted to try acupuncture. I'm glad it helped @@

Metformin supposedly helps regulate periods, and contributes to weight loss. I'm sorry it's another thing to take, I hope it's beneficial.

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Good to know. Thanks StressedMess. I hope it will be good. My Pdoc was talking about some studies how Metformin is really good for you if you can tolerate it.

Meeting with my coworker went well. We talked through some processes that she wants changed. She's a supervisor so I have to do it. Even though it makes a lot more work for me!

This is what irritates me though. I have a workplace accommodation where my supervisors are supposed to give me my tasks in writing. Like yes we can do a Zoom call or a Teams meet or whatever, but then afterward, the meeting leader is supposed to follow up with an email for me with my tasks assigned. But this isn't getting followed. It's because of the hallucinations and stuff. Like sometimes I am "in and out" of meetings mentally because other stuff might be going on that is challenging to keep my focus on what all is being said. Plus my ADHD doesn't help.

But this supervisor never follows up with the written tasks even though she was the one that accepted the workplace accommodation in the first place! UGH. Annoying.

Aren't workplace accommodations covered by the ADA?
(I don't know whether ADHD is considered a disability, but if they're not holding their end of the deal...you are allowed to ask for help.)

Yes, for the record, according to federal laws ADHD is considered a disability but I went off of the Schizoaffective Disorder anyway but also mentioned ADHD. There is a CA law that mine fell under so I went with that when I suggested a proposal for how I could receive my tasks in a way that stuff doesn't get missed. And at the moment the hallucinations are better (yay) but I'm just peeved it isn't getting followed because maybe next week the hallucinations will be worse and I am not always aware when I am sliding downhill until it is too late so I would appreciate consistency in my workplace accommodation.

At the same time, this same supervisor tells me I talk about my Schizoaffective too much. So I am trying to not talk about it (hard when sometimes I am experiencing things that is making work difficult and I thought that was okay to bring up) os since she said that I haven't been talking about it at all. It's been about 2 months since I was inpatient and she made that comment in August. I haven't said anything about it in over a month, maybe 6 weeks. But if I talk about how my accommodation isn't being followed, I will have to mention my disability, I think.

Kit, could you maybe at first not frame it in terms of the disability/accommodation and just say/email (to the person you met with), "It would be helpful if you could type up a list of the steps we discussed in the meeting" or something like that? Then if she won't do it, maybe bring up the ADA part. I think (from my time actually working in offices) that it's a pretty common thing after meetings to send sort of a recap/minutes/future steps to take. When I was volunteering for the local Public Health Association, after monthly meetings, we'd send emails including minutes and actions for certain members to take, for example.

Good suggestion, LT

For this time, I did it in reverse. I wrote a list of things that I remembered/took notes about from the meeting. I came up with 8 tasks I think. Then I emailed the person and asked them if I missed anything after listing the 8 tasks.

Yikes, my T is trying to return a car that she bought the day after she had her concussion. If it is a used car you can have the right to purchase a cooling off period but I think that is only two days and she got her concussion I think Monday. I don't know if that is going to work in her favor. We'll see. She's random. It will probably work out for her.

I'm going to ask my Pdoc to write me a letter just in case I need it.

I started it about 2 months ago and I did not tolerate it until very recently. TMI I was already losing weight so I can't speak to that aspect of it. I was only sticking it out because I was told you have to prove to insurance it doesn't work for you before you can try something else. Or I would hope if you couldn't tolerate the side effects they'd let you have something else, but who knows with insurance companies. I think my body finally adjusted to taking it now. I haven't had an A1C since I've started it so I don't know if it's working on that front either.

I've been on Metformin for years and I still have the symptom you mentioned. For me, it works, but not enough. I'm also on Trulicity shot right now and I love it despite it being a shot. I was told that if you're having that symptom, then it's working. I've also been told that Metformin is one of the best drugs because it doesn't fix your sugars for you, but it has your body do it.

That's a good way, too! Hope it helps.

Hm, that's kind of weird. Especially that she told you she's doing that? Is she trying to say she wasn't of sound mind when she bought it maybe? I guess it depends on the dealer's policy. If she was out of it from a concussion, maybe it could also help explain her sending that picture to you?

I actually tried it before about a decade ago and it didn't cause any side effects and had no effect on my weight so I kind of figured it would be the same this time around. I don't think I could have tolerated the GI effects for much longer. Don't know how you do it. I also read if you take it at night with your evening meal it helps with that, but you probably know that already.

my h has been on metformin for years for his diabetes. it hasn't had any effect on his weight but is keeping his sugars semi-controlled anyway.

My oldest is on metformin and Trulicity, reduced A1C from 9.7 to 5.8 in 3 months. The doctor said both will cause your stomach to empty slowly which makes you feel full longer.

My youngest just started metformin for PCOS. Fingers crossed it won't cause horrible GI side effects, because her cycles could really use some kind of control.

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The cramping and bloating are really tiring me out. I talked to the on call doctor this morning. He thinks it's just the IUD triggering my period early. But he said he'll have a staff member call me Monday to check-in.

I'm missing L so so much. I really need her right now. I don't get to see her until Thursday. I wish I had a mother to be there with me through this. It does make me feel a little better that L said if she wasn't moving and if ethics allowed it, she would have been there holding my hand.

Hugs, Scarlet. I hope you feel better soon and that the bleeding is nothing to worry about.

Scarlet i hope your okay