Health update

[lnr]

Doctor confirms I have primary hyperparathyroidism, which is what's causing the raised blood calcium, and will refer me back to the hospital to deal with it, and it's nice that it's been found. Edit: aha, I have the results of these blood tests in the post: serum parathyroid hormone 188 ng/L (14-72 is normal), parathyroid hormone 19.93 mmol/L (1.48-7.63 is normal). I'm not quite sure what the difference between these two is :)

Doctor also notes that my blood sugar *is* slightly raised (6.5, below 6 is normal, over 7 is diabetic), that I have slightly too high cholesterol (7), and that they did some liver function tests which show I may have "fatty liver". Overall together they add up to "metabolic syndrome". I asked about Metformin, which he agreed was a good idea. He also suggested statins. And I also asked if it could be related to PCOS (as I've only had 3 periods since coming off the pill about a year ago and am a bit hairier than I used to be) and he suggested they probably do all tie together, so I'm going back on the pill too (which can reduce the risk of womb cancer as well as because I'm bored of condoms: I only really came off it out of curiosity anyway, since I've been on one form or another of contraceptive pill nearly all my adult life. So I have a paper bag full of drugs.

I'm also encouraged to lose weight, which will help with all of the above (apart from the hyperparathyroidism, which isn't connected to the rest). Interestingly he reckons since my weight is currently pretty stable I'm probably not overeating, but also that I probably don't need to cut back from what I'm eating now once I've lost weight, I just need to make some serious changes to lose it, and then keep my eye on the ball to catch it if I start gaining again. I'm not 100% convinced I won't just regain any weight lost with more on top, which is what I've done before. We'll see.

To round off he took height, weight and blood pressure, which I'll list here to remind myself. 1.70m, 110kg, 135/87.

So I went to the co-op and bought lots of fruit and veg and some fat free yoghurt. I'm now contemplating whether joining Slimming World again is a good plan, even if it's only online until I'm more mobile. And at the same time not sure if this is even sensible or possible, but I really do feel like I ought to try it and see if it does fix the metabolic and cholesterol problems. *sigh*