Betsy's Best

This story really begins last November. I went to the dentist for a regular cleaning and Dr. Stahley discovered a cavity that needed to be filled and a blood pressure reading that was a bit too high. I scheduled an appointment for the Thursday before Christmas in order to have the work done while I was on break from school and again my blood pressure was not where it should be. All went well, but Dr. Stahley was concerned about the need for a crown in the next 10 years and that I should be monitoring my blood pressure. Less than a week later I had cold sensitivity at the cavity site and it didn't go away. I went back to the dentist on January 23; a root canal with an endodontist was ordered. That didn't go well. My tooth never got numb enough so we tried again a couple of days later with more sedation. The temporary filling broke off; back to the dentist. The temporary cap went on; and promptly fell off. The permanent cap finally finished up the job in late March.

End of the tale right? What I haven't shared are the headaches I experienced most of the time. I blamed them on stress, I blamed them on my seventh graders, I blamed them on the toothache, I blamed them on the root canal but I knew they were something different. I have suffered migraines off and on since I was a teenager. These headaches were different. I would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning with a headache which would last until about noon. I hoped they would let up after the dental work was done. I had started taking my blood pressure at home and it was consistently higher than it should be. Was this the cause?

I made an appointment with Dr. Gahl. He didn't like my blood pressure either, nor did he like the results of my fasting blood test. He ordered  blood pressure medication that is often prescribed for migraine too -- metaprolol. I had a headache the next morning. (I haven't had one since! Well, except for sinus pressure and pain which is normal for me in the spring.) I had a glucose tolerance blood test the following Saturday. I knew what he was looking for -- diabetes.

The results were in on Monday, but my appointment wasn't until Tuesday. Dr. Gahl and his nursing staff decided to wait to tell me the bad news. I was pre-diabetic. I didn't tolerate the glucose at all. Dr. Gahl, according to his nurse practitioner and dietician, treats pre-diabetes very agressively. I was put on metformin and told to meet with the dietician in a few days. Well, in the meantime I have done a lot of research on my own.

I will continue to blog about my journey from April 9 on; the date of my first doctor's appointment when I weighed in at 226 pounds.