Wednesday 5/14/08

We went to the doctor today that supposedly deals with fatigue and was referred to us by a friend. The doctor was nice, took time with us, and listened and had an open mind, unlike the other doctors. She said doctors (including herself evidently) don't like to diagnose Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) because there aren't any treatment options for it. I told her about the anti-viral and the Florinef that is supposed to treat CFS. She (as others) asked why an anti-viral when the virus is gone now? (I'm not sure I know that answer.) And she said the Florinef is a steroid (I don't know that I knew that) and she didn't like giving children steroids or anyone for a long period of time because of the side effects. She did say that she would research it though. She wondered if there were any clinical studies done on it.

But first she wanted to do allergy testing on Jessica saying that there are allergies that just cause fatigue. I haven't agreed to this. Jessica's never had allergies. (Matthew, my son, does, but not Jessica.) And why would it be allergies if it started from mono?

And the other thing she wants to do before diagnosing is the saliva test. The nurse said it doesn't test for thyroid anymore, but it tests for andrenal, hormones, and also allergies to things like milk, gluten, and wheat. But she really wants to do this test to test for Adrenal Fatigue. She said your adrenal glands can get stressed, and could get stressed from an illness like mono. We will do the saliva test, but were told not to start that until Sunday, so it doesn't sit in someone's warehouse over the weekend and mess up the test results. But the results may not get back to the doctor for 2-4 weeks.

She also mentioned that even though the EBV test is negative, the symptoms from it can last for months. And said her daughter had mono for a year! And so she said an option is to wait.... longer.

I think Jessica is ready to head to Texas to see that doctor at the Fatigue Center!

Jessica has been better the last few days. She was better during spring break in March too though.

I emailed the school counselor and Jessica's dance team (p.e. credit) teacher and asked what we're to do about that class since there's no "homework" and would she get credit? The counselor had suggested to the teacher that she come up with some book work to get credit, and the teacher has suggested that Jessica could just take 9 weeks of PE next year to make it up. Not the answer we wanted to hear!

Added at 10:00p.m.: Today was a pretty good day. Jessica went to the doctor, went out to lunch, went to Matthew's graduation at church, and we stopped by Mia's to pick up her saddle blanket. And Jessica held up pretty well.