Adrenalectomy

[Guest guest]

Thank you for the reply. I also hope to hear from people who have undergone the surgery.

No one has mentioned AVS to me. I read a bit about it on the site and it doesn't sound like something very pleasant to go through and I do not understand how yet another invasive procedure is going to benefit me in the long run - after four surgeries (2x breast cancer, lymph node removal, and the hysterectomy) I am not eager to add anything else to my mix. I'm certainly willing to read more on it and to contact my surgeon (if I can remember to do that) to discuss it. And yes, as you said, that's a lot of surgeries. I had no idea the last year of my life was going to be spent this way and I'm not happy about it. Quite frankly, I'm sick of being sick, tired of being tired, and am really disgusted by knowing my way around the Cleveland Clinic better than some people who work there! I'm hoping this adrenalectomy is my last stop there for quite some time.

I've had high blood pressure for... hmm.. about 11 years now. I controlled it on my own for about five years with diet and exercise but then went on diuretics for about 6 years. I don't know if you'd call it the DASH diet or not, I watched my sodium intake, lots of fresh foods, as much exercise as I could tolerate, and that kept the bp at very nice levels for a long time. I can't exercise like I used to (arthritis and back problems) and I'm sure that's a factor.

The current issue was found in the recovery room of the last surgery (July 06) when my heart started doing weird things and I became pretty much incoherent. My K level at that time was 2.3 and after they put 3 bags of K through my IV it went up to 3.0, at which time they discharged me from the hospital. I've been on spiro about 3 months now, not years. My insurance doesn't cover the other med. After being on it a couple of months I tried to cut back some on the spiro, but a blood test last week showed the K level to be back down to 3.0 again, so back on the higher dose of spiro I went.

Neither I nor my medical team believes that the bp issue is radically related to the Conns, although the Conns may have aggravated it more (although I'd be perfectly happy to have it mostly or totally 'cured'). Personally, I think that a combination of the Conns and the stresses I'm under are both negative factors in the whole thing. I haven't been on my diuretic since the last surgery in July. The 80 MeQ of K and the spiro are helping but I really don't like the spiro and hope that the surgery will take care of the need to take it.

Unfortunately, I don't like V-8. I certainly know the foods that are higher in amounts of K now. Problematically, I don't care for many of them but still eat them because I have to. If it came down to the " horse pill " or the time it would take for me to choke down V-8, well, I guess I'll stick with the horse pill - after all, surgery is in two weeks and hopefully I won't need these supplements afterward

I didn't find you sooner because I have some incredible brain fog and short term memory issues going on and I simply didn't think of trying - even tho I'm a member of several other ! The memory loss has taken me from a very intelligent and articulate person to someone who has to try to fit " thinking " into those short windows of time when I actually feel that congnitive thinking is possible. It's not a fun place to be. I forget everything, even how to do my job, and feel like an idiot having to ask people " how do I do this " when I've been doing it for 2 years. I even forgot my own name a couple of weeks ago - I was signing something (if I remember correctly) for my son't school and all of a sudden I didn't know how to spell my name, and it's only four letters (plus which I've been spelling it for almost 50 years!!), which was really scary to me. My spelling and grammar have really deteriorated and I have trouble, most times, making something I write make sense.

I hope this makes sense... ?

LJ

> > I am scheduled for a right adrenalectomy on December 11th. All the> blood work, the 24-hour urine tests (2), and the CT scan all show> Conns.> You did not mention adrenal vein sampling (AVS) to improve your risks of being cured or not even operated on.> I've> had four surgeries in the last 15 months >

Thats a lot of surgeries. > > > So are there good links to current information? > You are here.> Will anyone share> with me problems/concerns/ with me problems/concerns/<wbr>triumph

> have to keep taking the spiro and K? I assume not... and if not, is> it an immediate stop? I hope so, I don't like the side effects of> the spiro (swollen painful breasts, which to someone who's had

> estrogen receptive tumors in each breast is a scary thing) and I'm> looking forward to not having to take those huge horse pills (20MeQ> tablets). How often do they check your K levels after surgery?

> If you have only one sided disease your BP will be much better to cured. You did not give us details of other problems, how long you have had HTN, what drugs you were on. Trust your Dr has told you that low sodium V-8 gives you the same K as the horse pills and tastes better.Also assume you were advised to try the DASH diet to see if you can control your BP with less or not meds to minimze side effects. How many years have you been on spiro? Was Inspra tried?

> > I'm glad to have finally found this Group and I thank everyone in> advance who is willing to share information with me. I am assuming> that the brain fog I currently am experiencing is the reason I

> didn't file you all sooner! So many questions, so little time...> Curious how you found us finally and why not sooner.