Body Run Amok

My body has run amok. I'm not talking about a few unwanted hairs or some emotional lability - I'm talking full on anti-survival of the fittest. When pressed, I must admit it has been going on for a while, but recent events have made me acutely conscious of how far from "normal" I currently reside.

To start near the beginning, it is no secret to my closet, that I have struggled with my weight. Despite losing a large amount of weight during residency, and keeping it off for over 7 years, the last two years I have fought the scale. I'm talking a full on knock-down drag-out fight. I ran like a maniac, worked out with a personal trainer, swam, walked, spun, pilated, yogaed and tried every "lose weight quick diet" on the planet. All of the "tricks" that worked in the past quit working, and despite how hard I exercised, the scale did not budge. So I did the only sensible thing and quit working out. It worked - not in a good way, but the scale did move.

At my last physical, not only was my weight up, so was my cholesterol, triglycerides and blood pressure.

I blamed my job, my stress level and my crazy "life".

I changed my job, my stress level and my crazy "life" - but the scale still didn't move.

A few months ago, a friend of mine had approached me about the Biggest Loser Ranch. She asked me if I would be willing to "keep her company". The first couple of days on the ranch, I truly felt ill. I was tired, grumpy, sleepy, and had a headache. I blamed the lack of caffeine - those Mormons and their clean living. I blamed the altitude. I was so focused on blaming, that I almost missed the fact that by the end of the week, despite a VERY active schedule, I felt fantastic, and I was sleeping like a baby.

I wasn't so focused on blame that I didn't pick up on the fact that within a week of coming home, I felt tired again. Could it really be the caffeine? With not a little misgiving, I gave it up. Still had no energy. Whew - that wasn't it. Started looking around, and began reading a lot about the evils of sugar. Hmmm - could that be it? I did a sugar detox for 10 days, and had to admit I did feel better. However, avoiding sugar is hard! Especially when convenience is important to you. I decided that if I tried for "sugar lite" it would be better than nothing - right?

And then my "skinny" aunt had a heart attack, and I ended up back in a doctor's examining room.

She's fine. Thankfully. However, she ended up with a stent in her main coronary artery. The lesion which is known in my world as the "widow maker", because people who possess it often die from it before they get to the hospital.

While home visiting her and my mom for Mother's day, I was stung on my foot by a honey bee. (I know exactly what stung me because I killed it shortly after the event.) Having grown up in the country with a distaste for shoes (for the record, this time I was wearing) and a love of the outdoors, this was not my first enocunter with a stinging insect. I can't say that prior stings are fond memories, but they never slowed me down for long. By Sunday, my entire foot was swollen, and by Monday morning, my leg was swollen to mid-calf, and now my foot was a redish-purple color. Clearly something was awry.

One of the advantages of being in healthcare is knowing how to work the system. I was in a PCP's office at 9 am to have things checked out. A dose pack of steroids later, my foot although still purple at the site, has returned to a normal size.

It is the steroid dose pack that has me concerned. Our bodies are amazingly complex, but for almost every reaction there is a counter reaction designed to start shortly after the first reaction to stop the first reaction from going too far. Our body spends most of it's time and energy balancing the yin and yang. It is insulin vs glucagon. It is bleeding vs clotting. It is an ingenious system really.

Clearly my bodies pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways are no longer in balance. My body needed the ultimate anti-inflammatory medication to halt its reaction. It was not capable of keeping it's response under control. I am by no means anti-Western medicine or pharmaceuticals. I think medications are good, necessary and have saved or prolonged millions of lives. However, I don't want them to do things that my body should be able to accomplish on its own. Why is my body so revved up from an inflammatory standpoint that it can't stop itself? Is sugar the cause as so many books, reports and documentaries are currently suggesting?

I'm not sure, but it is time to find out. It's no longer about fitting into my "skinny" clothes. It's about avoiding the doctor's office.