My head, my Pepsi, a life-changing day, and I love my new doctor

…I need to give up the caffeine.  Yes, I have to quit drinking Pepsi.  My sweet, icy cold thirst-quenching Pepsi.

Also known as the dehydrating, fat-inducing, migraine-causing, kidney stone building Pepsi.

Yup, that stuff.

I’ve lived with migraines for so long, they  have simply become a part of my life.   I’ve learned to live with them, and so I’ve basically quit complaining about them.   The fact that I’ve lived with them for 20+ years now has not triggered any red flags for my doctors so I’ve just always assumed I was just one of the people blessed with getting them.  I also always thought I just was one of those people unfortunate enough to get kidney stones.  I’m 37, and I’ve gotten them three times in my life.   THREE.

Anyways…

Our small local family practice clinic closed a few months ago, forcing us to move our records to the only other doctor’s office in town.  I was hesitant, but with my husband and I both taking regular monthly prescriptions, we needed a family doctor.   When my refills finally ran out, I made the appointment to see this mysterious doctor, and figured it would be the usual in-and-out visit.   I’d tell them I get migraines, I’ve been taking the same medicines for years, and they’d go ahead and keep refilling them.

At least thats how it’s always been. Thank God Monday was different.

I walked back into the run-down clinic and stepped on the scale, practically cried when I saw what I weighed, and went into the exam room to wait on the doctor.

She walked in, and I immediately loved her.  The way she talked to me, she way she dressed, she way she acted.  She was friendly, she shot from the hip.  She spoke her mind, and she was the type of person I could see myself hanging out and being friends with.   People, she spent AN HOUR with me.  I was expecting a rushed appointment, but it was made clear to me that she spends an hour with new patients to get to know their medical history, and she truly did spend the hour with me.  

It may sound corny to say, but she inspired me.  She made me realize that in my busy life with juggling my kids’ schedule, work, my husband, and everything else, I have very severly neglected to take care of myself.  What would you think if I told you the last physical I had was when I was pregnant with my daughter?  WHO IS NOW ALMOST TEN?    I’ve been ignoring the fact that I’ve been having 8-10 full-blown migraines a month for YEARS and never doing anything about it, besides popping a pill.

I walked out of that appointment Monday afternoon with two new prescriptions for my migraines, an appointment for a CAT scan and a feeling of accomplishment.    I’m now taking a daily preventative for the migraines, and so far its working.  It’s only been a few days, but I can tell its making a difference.  The Dr.  mentioned the side effects were hands tingling (check), loss of appetite (check!!!), weight loss (hopefully check!!), and sweets tasting funny (definitely a check!!).   She told me to gradually wean myself off of the Pepsi since I drink so much of it, but I honestly have been cutting back a lot more than I had planned, because this medicine makes the Pepsi taste really weird.  Like when I open a can of Pepsi and take a sip, it tastes like its been sitting for hours.  It tastes really flat, and I can’t even finish it.  YAY!

This visit with the Dr. might have been just the thing I needed.   I needed something to motivate me to work hard at getting healthy.  

Yesterday, I had my first CAT scan. 

Tomorrow, I have my first mammogram.  Youch!

Saturday, I begin training for my first 5k.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? More on that later.