More About Me and the New U Program

Before my surgery, I was taking 18 prescription medications plus various supplements. I had also taken Premarin and for GERD but had gone off of them some time ago. My meds before surgery were:

labetalol 200 mg twice a day for blood pressure
Accupril 40 mg twice a day for blood pressure Maxzide 75/50 daily for blood pressure
Synthroid .175 mg daily for low thyroid
allopuriol 300 mg daily high uric acid (gout)
Actos 45 mg dialy for diabete
Creon 20 3 for times a day for pancreatic insufficiency
quinine sulfate one every night for leg cramps
Neuronton 800 mg one three times a day for neuopathy in my feet
Zocor 20 mg one every night to prevent stroke or CVA
furosemide 20 mg one every other day for foot and ankle swelling
metformin 1000 mg twice a day for diabetes
Protonix 40 mg for GERD
Relafen 750 mg for osteoarthritis

Urecholine 25 mg three times a day for slow bladder emptying
Starlix 120 mg two with meals and at bedtime
Lantus Insulin 20 units before bedtime
oxygen 2 liters at night for low oxygen saturation while sleeping
Multiple Vitamin
Ca++ 1200 mg daily
Mg++ 1500 mg daily
Complex Vitamin B
Vitamin E 400 iu daily
Vitmain C 1000 mg daily

I have now cut them down quite a bit. I was thinking that I would need to have my right knee done with a total knee because it was really starting to bother me. Since I have lost the weight, I no longer have that problem. My current medications include:

Maxzide 75/50 daily for blood pressure
Synthroid .150 mg daily for low thyroid (I was taking .2 mg for years since Kim was born but as you can see it has been cut quit a bit which I can't explain. My TSH was too high so the dose has been lowered twice.
Actos 1/2 of 45 mg tablet daily for diabetes
quinine sulfate
Zocor 20 mg
meformin 500 mg twice a day for diabetes
K+ 10 meq daily (the doctor said this because my kidneys are working better)
Mulitple Vitamin
Ca++ 1500 mg daily
Mg++ 1000 mg daily
Complex Vitamin B
Vitamin D 50,000 units because my Vitamin D was low and Ca++ can't be metabolized when you don't have enough Vitamin D.
cranberry capsules to prevent urinary tract infections
zinc to help my hair get thicker
Biotin to help my hair get thicker
chromium picholonate for diabetes
cinnimon capsules for diabetes
As you can see I am still taking alot of pills even tho' not quite as many as before but I'm now taking more supplements than prescription meds which is very nice.

I'm still on the oxygen at night but O2 Sats when I go into the doctor's office are always 95% now without even thinking about it and before my surgery I had to breathe deeply for a minute or two to get it up to 90%. I think I could be OK without it even at night. I'll check it again in March or April. I no longer have the pancreatic insufficiency nor the reflux and you can tell by the doses that my diabetes is much easier to control also. And the b/p too. My Mg++ is still low and it may always be low but I can live with that. In Septemtber the Mg++ level was 1.23. The normal range is 1.8-2.4. I have had no trouble with reflux, osteoarthritis or slow bladder emptying or neuropathy for many many months. It feels great to be healthier.

My labs reflect that I'm healthier also:

In September my renal panal reults were:
Albumin 3.2 which is a little low. The normal is 3.4-5.

The Glomerial Filtration Rate or GFR is 61. It has been as low as 35.8. Normal is above 90. So I'm not back to normal yet but much better than I was.

BUN 19 the normal is 7-18 but I had been as high as 43

Potassium 3.4. Normal is 3.5-5.1. So I am a little low there.

Creatrinine 0.9 The high normal is 1.3. Mine was up to 1.5 at one time.

The chloride, sodium, carbon dioxide, calcium, and phosophorus were all normal. The serum glucose was 116 which was a little high but not bad for a diabetic who was not fasting. The high normal of that is 110.

In November my C-reactive Protein was .49. Tje normal range is 0-5.2. Mine had been 0.7. It measures inflamation in the blood vessles of the body. They have found out that when blood vessles are inflammed, that it can lead to heart attcks or strokes.

My Lipid panel was also very encouraging. Non-HD 75 Normal is 0-130. Total cholesterol 117. mine had been 164. Dr. Liljuenquist had told me that people with Type II diabetes should keep the total choestrol down below 135. dHDL was 42. Normal is 50-100. So I am a little low there.
Triglycerides were 134. Normal is 30-160. Mine had been as high as 328. This is the first time they have been normal since they first started testing them. Even before they recognized that high triglycerides could be dangerous. My LDL is 48. Normal 0-100. Mine before was up to 74. Altho' it has always been low, it is better now. My coronary Risk is 2.7. Normal range is 0-4. My highest was 3.9. Altho' that is normal this is better.