65 year-old female with multiple autoimmune and neurological complaints

Medical history

• Seizures 18 months (badly controlled until in 20's);
• Borderline Type 2 diabetes mellitus age 11;
• Moderately Severe hypertension age 14;
• Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis age 16;
• Lupus erythematosus (diagnosed age 20-29);
• Raynaud's Phenomenon (diagnosed age 20-29);
• Severe peripheral neuropathy (diagnosed age 20-29);
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (diagnosed age 20-29);
• Osteopenia (diagnosed age 20-29);
• Cataracts (diagnosed age 20-29);
• Osteoporosis (diagnosed age 30-39);
• Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (diagnosed age 30-39);
• "Collagen Disorder" (diagnosed age 30-39);
• Chronic Pain (diagnosed age 30-39).

Treatment Side Effects

• Peptic Ulcer Disease secondary to NSAID use with 3 GI bleeds;
• Type 4 diabetes mellitus [iatrogenic];
• Osteoporosis and cataracts from glucocorticosteroids;
• I have been hospitalized more often for treatment side effects than the diseases;

Before I met Dr. Weyrich:

• I had to quit the job that I loved at age 43 and go on disability.
• I was spending 8 out of 10 days in bed with severe fatigue and pain. On my good days I used a walker, on a moderate day I used a wheel chair and on a bad day I needed help to get from my bed to the bathroom;
• I needed a live-in caretaker and I had to constantly impose on my family and friends for additional help;
• I was taking 125mcg fentanyl/hour (2 Duragesic patches - the highest dosage made is the 100mcg patch), and Oxycodone for breakthrough pain! A doctor at my primary care office told me she had never seen anyone ambulatory on that much pain medication. Hospice metastatic cancer patients was the only time she encountered that high of a dosage. And the thing is, I was still suffering even on the narcotics;
• About 4 times a year I would writhe uncontrollably in pain, my visual-analog scale was 7 out of 10. I never got below a 5 out of 10 outside of a hospital setting;
• I was on an additional 17 allopathic medications;
• In a 12-month period I was admitted to the hospital 6 times plus I spent 11 hours in an emergency department without admission.

Now I am getting better every day in every way!

• I am taking a Nutrition college class with nursing students at Gila County Community College that I absolutely love! (Free for age 55 and over);
• I am going to Water Aerobics regularly;
• I am driving for the first time in years;
• I am living independently!
• I am cooking again, an activity I loved and missed;
• I manage what occasional pain I do have with Acetaminophen;
• I am alive, well and extremely happy!
• I am looking forward to having a spring herb and vegetable garden.