lupus and depo provera--Zev??

[Guest guest]

Shanna,

I'll be glad to try to help with this case. First question is, why

did she want the depo provera shot?

 

 

On Jun 27, 2004, at 9:34 PM, shannahickle wrote:

 

> In February, she asked her doctor if depo provera would

> be ok for her and he was glad to shoot her up. Almost immediately

> she began to experience severe dementia, shortness of breath,

> palpatations, and was unable to get out of bed for the fatigue and

> sleepiness in the day time but remained unable to sleep at night.

[Guest guest]

Can you explain the pulse more clearly? In particular, how can the R

pulse be both floating and deep?

 

On Jun 27, 2004, at 9:34 PM, shannahickle wrote:

 

> The chi region seems a

> little deep, wiry and thin on the left and maybe a little deep and

> weak on the right. I also think the right side pulse felt a little

> floating as well.

>

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Zev

 

Sure--I guess that sounds a little strange. I meant the chi region

was deep and the cun and guan were floating. I'll be seeing her

again tomorrow and I'll try to get a better take on it for you.

Also, her pulse seems to change quite a bit while I'm taking it as

she fidgets and talks pretty incessanty--steroids? I'll see if I can

coax her to calm down and remain still enough for the process.

 

thanks, shanna

 

, " "

<zrosenbe@s...> wrote:

> Can you explain the pulse more clearly? In particular, how can

the R

> pulse be both floating and deep?

>

> On Jun 27, 2004, at 9:34 PM, shannahickle wrote:

>

> > The chi region seems a

> > little deep, wiry and thin on the left and maybe a little deep

and

> > weak on the right. I also think the right side pulse felt a

little

> > floating as well.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Zev,

Well, believe it or not, simply for contraception. She was in a new

relationship and just thought it would be simple and easy (and

safe!!) I could hardly believe my ears when she told me since she is

so badly off from the steroids--how could anyone even think of doing

another hormone? But the doctors seemed completely unconcerned so

she went along with it. Unbelieveable!!

Shanna

 

, " "

<zrosenbe@s...> wrote:

> Shanna,

> I'll be glad to try to help with this case. First question is,

why

> did she want the depo provera shot?

>

>

> On Jun 27, 2004, at 9:34 PM, shannahickle wrote:

>

> > In February, she asked her doctor if depo provera would

> > be ok for her and he was glad to shoot her up. Almost immediately

> > she began to experience severe dementia, shortness of breath,

> > palpatations, and was unable to get out of bed for the fatigue

and

> > sleepiness in the day time but remained unable to sleep at night.

[Guest guest]

Hi Zev and everybody

 

I saw my lupus patient today and got a better pulse take, I hope. I

felt: cun wide and slippery on left, thinner but still forceful on

right; guan both sides wiry at the middle level and slippery at the

deep level on left, weaker at deep level on right; chi region on

left was a little deep, and slight wiry, the right was deeper and

weaker but neither chi region felt particularly weak to me. Her

pulse seemed to jump around a bit even though she remain silent and

still for the exam; if it had been weak and thin I would call it

choppy. It was 72 bpm. Her tongue was pale purplish, thin to normal

size, had teethmarks, dry thin grey coat, red tip with red spots on

the sides. It was also contracted at the sides when she thrust it

out. The sublingual veins are visible but not extremely engorged. We

talked some more and it occured to me that her response to the depo

was less about her lupus and more about the long term prednisone use

(I likened it to the case you presented about the Meth-amphetamine

user who tried depo--could meth be correlated to prednisone?) This

was somewhat encouraging since the last thing the patient wants to

think is that the lupus is flaring out of control or is being

stimulated in some way. She says that although she is very animated

with strong voice in conversation, she dislikes to speak since

taking the depo as it fatigues her to the point of slurring words at

times. She says she's been told by dr. that her adrenals are " shot "

and when she tried to get off/reduce her prednisone last summer, he

gave her Testosterone to restore her. She's had some minor " hot

flashes " the last few days after I did tui na for a damp headache

which went away after the massage. Weather here has been damp but

not too hot(thank goodness). The flashes come after a nap or at

night when " sleeping " which she says she doesn't do much of despite

extreme fatigue. She reports that she is not depressed despite it

all. (She does a lot of volunteer work with hospice and other needy

folks and I suggested to her that she might be channeling the

compassion to others as a vicarious way to experience what she needs

to direct to herself. She was quite open to the concept and admitted

using distraction techniques to escape her situation and keep

cheerful. I directed her to Tonglin meditation sources.) She wakes a

lot at 3am and never sleeps deeply. She put off her Methotrexate

shot a couple of days because she wanted me to get a good reading on

her pulse. Without the drug, she gets boney growths on her tendons

and bones. Her bowel movements are bitty balls mixed with loose

stool and she has no appetite. Her urine is scanty. She has

discontinued the progesterone that she took to stop the metrorrhagia

from the depo and should start her menses tomorrow. Today I dx Lv

overacting on Sp with some depressive heat affecting the heart. I

punctured Ren 17, 12, Ht 5 (for speech and weakness in wrists), Lv

2left 3right, St 36, Sp6, LI4. I massaged An mian I and II during

the treatment which she said felt really like it needed it. She felt

good when she left the office and promised to call if she

experienced any results from this. Just keeping you up to date and

hoping we'll get closer to an herbal formula for her soon.

 

Thanks, Shanna