Beta-blockers and Vitamin D

It's motion, I guess. I didn't get to see the article, but Dr. Specialist found mention of a combo treatment with depakote (which I'm already on) and beta-blockers, so I'm adding propranolol to my bouquet of medications. Another blood test scheduled to be taken--something about possibility that my levels are too low, and that that could be tied in.

As for things that don't go into my blood P.O., he's still angling for ketamine or propofol, but he needs to convince the companies to pony up, and then UCLA needs to come round. Sounds like fun, huh? A backup plan involves borrowing Cedars Sinai resources, in case they're more accomodating than "home."

He's also presenting my noggin to the internal headache group. Dunno what's taken him so long.

I whined to him about the ER--the last two visits were nearly pointless...medication doled out in dribs and drabs, even though the last ER doctor managed to get in touch with the specialist while I was there. 8 hours, maybe 2 points reduction in pain.

I think it made him angry. They've gotten to the point where he's taking affront--when they say no one gets 6mg of dilaudid ever, and I say that's what I got last time, and they tell him they can't find my records...well, there's this nifty web interface he showed me. I can just about find my records. And that's before you get to the bit where one of his patients is in pain. Hmmph.

COBRA better not break my budget during the job gap. Things are going to be hard enough.

Diet Plan

Had another appointment with the specialist today. He's been stonewalled in his attempt to get me anaesthetised either as an in- or an out-patient, so he's going try and get me a referral to Cedars Sinai.

He's out of medicine, he says.

I brought up dietary mods, and he agrees that tyramine and wheat are a good place to start, although wheat is difficult. I don't doubt that for a second. The idea is to quit as much as possible for three or four weeks, and if it has made a difference, start introducing foods slowly back in and see what makes the needle wiggle.

I figure wheat will be the first thing back in, if I don't snap horribly beforehand. His tyramine recommendations are from the National Headache Foundation, and look...oh, I don't know what's doable and what's not. His summary of the whole thing is that I'll be eating European-style--fresh food, freshly cooked. It would be great if it were just that simple.

Here's what I can have:

* fresh meat, poultry, eggs.
* a fairly generous range of foods dairy-wise, but I don't think I'll take advantage of that. Since I can get protein from meat, I won't lean on cheese for it instead.
* most vegetables and fruit

It also seems to be limiting my chocolate and molasses and licorice consumption. Honestly, putting chocolate in that sentence makes it seem so much less appealing I could even give that up for a heartbeat or two.

I figure that in the first day or so of the juice cleanse I'll do a long slow Wholefoods/Trader Joe's shopping excursion and lay out a plan for a few weeks of healthy eats, and work out how often I'll need to be shopping to sustain this lifestyle.