Duality - Finally Finished!

I know it's been a great while since many of you have heard from me. For your enjoyment, I have tons of health updates! [both good and bad.]

So, I recently met with my doctor, just last week actually, and I have a lot of news to share. My first bit of news is that I have managed to come down on one of my medications (Felbatol) from 3,600 mg a day to only 1,800 mg a day without any severe seizure increase. However, I have been having a spike of the smaller simple-partial seizures. We can't pinpoint an apparent cause for these seizures, but we do have an idea.

Before all this Epilepsy was diagnosed, my doctors had discovered a small pituitary gland tumor. It was decided to be "benign" since it wasn't growing. Unfortunately, both my family practitioner and my Epileptologist have a hunch that it may be growing a little bit. It is pretty serious, in a sense, but not deadly (at least in most cases). The surgery is quite simple thanks to modern technology, and it can be removed in less than 3 hours through my nostrils!

The hunch started when my menstrual cycle became extremely irregular about two months ago. I have been bleeding pretty much every other day with no rhyme or reason to it. I was bleeding what can be equal to about 1/2 a cup (think "baking a cake")of blood per hour. This is pretty serious. I had to get back on birth control pills, which didn't help whatsoever. It usually helps a lot, so that's when I knew something serious was going on.

Then, my armpits started to hurt very bad. They skin under my arms is even turning a brown/purple/red color, which is quite out of the ordinary for myself. I have very pale and almost porcelain skin underneath the makeup and the tan, so this isn't something you would expect. Apparently, the pituitary tumor (if it is growing or not) can be affecting my hormones in a way that would cause all of these issues.

Also, remember the acne problem? Well, it's still there! Even after changing medications. This is also a common symptom of a hormone imbalance and is very prominent among women with growing pituitary tumors.

So my Epileptologist has me scheduled for an MRI on the 22nd, and tons of blood tests before hand due to my kidneys and liver that seem to be having some acute issues.

My VNS implant has been turned up to a 2.5 level out of a targeted 3, and it is so uncomfortable I could complain about it all day. But it is definitely helping with the Grand Mal seizures, so that's all I care about!

All in all, I want to say I'm doing a lot better, but I'm not sure what to think of all this. On the bright side, one of my paintings is done and she's called Duality. This painting is dedicated to rape victims everywhere, and I hope you like it. She'll be going to a competition this Saturday, the 19th so pray that I come out with some recognition!



God bless you all and I wish you the best of health!

- Mandy Krzywonski