Dancing With Ourselves

So, there we are, me and the two short people, waiting in the exam room of the eye doctor’s office. First we saw the technician, who performed all the basic tests, then we saw the senior technician, who performed more tests, now we were just waiting for the doctor to come in and tell us what we already know.  Nothing has changed.

For some reason, it was taking an extraordinarily long time for the doctor to come in and release us. Usually things move along at a pretty good pace, but today, the natives were getting restless.  The older one wanted to get back to school (she’s young yet) and the younger one wanted to explore every possible nook and cranny of the very small space.  As I say, things normally roll along pretty quickly so I didn’t bring the toy bag, as some times it can be more distracting than helpful.

Then inspiration hit, I have an iPhone.  That means I have music AND a speaker.  Voliá! That cramped exam room became a dance hall.  The three of us shook and shimmied our way through LeAnn Rimes “Nothin’ better to do”, Tim McGraw’s “Last Dollar” and Craig Morgan’s “International Harvester” just to name a few.  The doctor eventually made it in somewhere in the middle of Rodney Atkins “These are My People”.

As we walked out of the office into the waiting room, my three year old loudly announced “That was fun at the eye doctor’s office, can we do it again soon?”  Sure buddy, let’s say about 6 months ok?

Shoes!

I have more pairs of shoes than my husband, but that ain’t sayin’ much trust me. I have average sized feet (8.5), but HORRIBLY high arches. Add to that the fact that I am not the most graceful person In fact, there is the story that floats around my husband’s family of the first time I met most of them when I sprained my ankle badly while dancing in a pair of Keds ballet flats.

My career choice means that I am on my feet for 12-14 hour days on a semi-regular basis. Add all this up and my choice of footwear can be come a matter of health and safety.

A few years back, I discovered Dansko shoes. I love my Danskos I have 2 pairs of clogs and a pair of loafers. The are comfortable beyond description for 90% of the tasks (work or play) that make up my life.

Lately, I’ve been contemplating “my style”. I’ve been sorting through my wardrobe and really thinking about the items that I purchase prior to forking over the cash. I am big on comfort, but I like to look nice too.

The one drawback to the Danskos is they are kind of clunky but they are SOOOOO comfortable. So, the dilemma becomes, do orient my wardrobe around comfortable shoes? Or, buy what I like and continue the quest for the perfectly comfortable heel?

Sigh, stay tuned dear reader.

An Experiment Failed

My periods were never particularly regular. When I was a teen, I had a steady boyfriend and a desire to go to college, so I got on the birth control pill.

The relationship ended when I went to college, so I got off the pill. Big mistake. My periods were all over the map. Eventually despite being at a Jesuit institution, I went back on the pill to try and regulate things.

It wasn’t until I was actually TRYING to conceive that I discovered I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS for short.

I’m not as severely affected as some women, but getting pregnant was no picnic. I was fortunate to live in a state that mandated health insurers pay for fertility drugs.

Now that we’ve had as many kids as we can mange (and some days I’m not sure we can manage the 2 we have), I’m dealing with the other issues. The weight gain, the facial hair and the mild case of depression.

I’ve consulted my regular physician and an endocrinologist, but all the so-called “cures” seem to be worse than the symptoms. It has long been suggested that I go back on the pill. I’ve staunchly refused. I don’t need any more weight gain and frankly the pill kills my sex drive. We’re finally getting back into a good groove in that department and I don’t want to ruin it.

Then one night on TV, I don’t get to the TIVO remote fast enough and a commercial comes on for YAZ, a new birth control that is supposed to help with menstrual mood swings. Hmmmmm, they caught my attention. At my next physical, I discuss it with my doctor and she agrees it is worth a shot. She says this iteration of the pill has a diuretic, so the weight gain isn’t an issue and, that there have been no reports of the libido crushing of other pills.

Ok, let’s give this a shot. Maybe I could wean off the low does of anti-depressant and kill a whole bunch of birds with one pill.

Maybe, but then again, maybe not. I filled the prescription (OUCH! a tier 3 drug, can you say $25 co-pay?). First thing I noticed was my normally short fuse had suddenly gotten even shorter. Next, the headache starts. It isn’t a show stopper, but a dull throb right behind my eye. I have enough vision problems, I don’t need any more help thanks. Then the sore throat returns. Now, I know a sore throat is not a standard side effect for most women on the birth control pill, but it is for me, always has been. It isn’t a sore throat like on the surface of my throat. It is more like something in my neck is pushing on my throat and making it harder to swallow.

The kicker was the morning I woke up without the headache and much LESS of a sore throat. I realized that I’d forgotten to take my pill the night before. WIthin an hour of taking the pill, the headache and the sore throat were back. Hmmmmmmmmm.

I read the miniprint that came with the pills. Ok, I skimmed it. But I just wasn’t feeling right and was pretty sure that Yaz was the reason why. So, I consulted my good friend Google.

Now, I approached this knowing I was going to find all kinds of horror stories about using Yaz. No one ever gets onto the Internet to say “oooooo, this new medicine is wonderful” (although I should about Zoloft). I found exactly what I expected. A discussion forum where Yaz was summarily lambasted and blamed for EVERY possible symptom known to woman. I did find one post that reminded people that everyone reacts differently to synthetic hormones. More importantly to me, I found the mini print on drugs.com and I could blow it up to a size that I could actually read. As with all medications, there was a side effects list broken down into two groups. One was if you experience any of these stop taking Yaz and call your doctor. The other was if you experience any of these, keep taking YAZ and call your doctor. Guess which group the dull headache behind the eyes falls into? Yep, STOP taking Yaz and call your doctor. I did both.

Within 24 hours I felt more like myself than I had in 20 days. Ok, experiment over. Label this one a failure.

Don’t misunderstand me. Yaz may be the magic pill you are looking for, but it wasn’t a match for this body.