A story with a moral...

[Guest guest]

>>This is BS on your husband's part. Celexa isn't just for " nerves "

it's an anti-depressant. If you're not taking the stuff, your

depression is basically uncontrolled. How can HE tell you what works

for you? Celexa is the anti-depressant I use, and it allows me to

function as a " normal " human being, which I was NOT able to do

without it.

--

Geoff Beneze

Tempe, AZ<<

Amen to that Geoff!! I take Effexor XR for depression, not Celexa, but it

has completely changed my life. As for the edema, I also have a script for

when I get an edema and I only take it for a day or two and the edema clears

up. If you don't have a script, or can't get one, you could try loading up

on foods that are natural diuretics, like aspargus. If taking aspirin helps

the edema, I would seriously suspect that the problem is circulatory.

The major concern I have, , is that the problem might be related to

your circulation. I recently posted my " story " on another diabetes board,

but I should share it with you and the the others on this board also.

I used to post fairly regularly, but I disappeared from your radar in April

because I was in the hospital for a month and then spent another month

recuperating at home. What happened was that my ankles swelled up and my

big toe turned purple. When the toe changed color, I scheduled an

appointment with my diabetes specialist immediately. He didn't like the

look of things and could not get a strong pulse in my ankle or on top of my

foot. The same day he sent me for a test called a doppler, which uses

ultrasound and something similar to a blood pressure monitor to test the

circulation in your lower extremeties. The results indicated a severe

blockage in my iliac arteries, which are are located in the lower abdomen,

between the aortal artery and the femural (leg) arteries. That same night I

was admitted to the hospital by a very worried doctor.

Long story short, after an arteriogram (like an angiogram, but checks the

arteries) found that my iliacs were 75% and 90% blocked and one of my

carotid (in the neck) arteries was 90% blocked. There was only one remedy -

surgery. A bilateral bypass of the iliac arteries which requires about a 14

inch vertical incision of the belly and a carotidectomy, which is basically

a roto-rooter job on your carotid artery. The carotidectomy left me with a

six or seven inch scar on my neck.

Not fun stuff. But the alternative was even worse. I was lucky that I had

not already stroked out. What should have alerted my PREVIOUS doctor to the

problem was the extreme fatigue and pain in my legs. I complained of it for

several years, but this highly regarded diabetic specialist never checked my

circulation, other than taking my wrist pulse, which a nurse did.

The doctor that diagnosed the problem was one I had only seen once before,

about 3 weeks prior to the crisis. My old doctor should be put out of

business for what he almost cost me. He not only nearly cost me my life,

but I very nearly had to have my leg amputed, or at least my foot, but more

likely the leg above the knee. It was very touch and go for a few

days...and very, very scary.

HERE IS MY WARNING>>> IF you have intermittent pain when walking that

subsides almost immediately upon resting...RUN DON'T WALK to the doctor and

have the pulse in your feet and ankles checked. This could be a circulatory

condition called CLAUDICATION, or INTERMITTENT CLAUDICATION. I nearly

passed out when I read this definition on the internet after having

described it to a " T " for over 2 years to my oh-so-well-regarded diabetes

specialist. I am still very angry with him, but haven't spoken to him since

all this happened. I think it was gross medical malpractice that is the

result of greed. Since I first started seeing that doctor, he has taken on

so many patients that he sees an average of 10 DIABETICS AN HOUR!! No one

can do justice to even one patient in less that five minutes.

, if you have pain in your legs, extreme fatigue in your legs along

with this edema, PLEASE get it checked out. If my doctor had diagnosed my

condition sooner, who knows if it might have treated without 3 surgeries

(the arteriogram, the bypass, and the carotidectomy)and without going

through the most miserable two months of my life.

If you smoke and have diabetes, it is IMPERATIVE that you quit IMMEDIATELY.

It was the combination of smoking, diabetes, and a genetic predisposition to

high cholesteral that screwed up my circulation so badly. My cholesterol

was being treated with medication, but both nicotin and diabetes reduce

blood flow and cause the inside of your arteries to become " sticky, " so that

anything floating through them that could stick to the arterial walls, does

stick. If you need to quit smoking, find a way. I have done hypnosis,

accupuncture and zyban (wellbutrin) to help me stop, and each was useful.

Just do whatever it takes. The combination of smoking and diabetes is

extremely deadly.

For everyone, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure that your doctor checks the

pulse in your ankles and feet EVERYTIME you go in.

God bless and good health to everyone,

Ellen (TYPEII, age 43)

P.S. The good news is that I have a completely new lease on life. I am

pain free for the first time in years and have energy and stamina I thought

I would never have again. Now I take my dog for a walk every day. Before

the surgery I had become almost an invalid. Don't let it happen to you. If

you have pain, check it out. If you smoke, please stop and don't put it off

even one more day. If you have any doubts at all about the smoking

connection to clogged arteries, look up Burger's Disease on net. Ignore

that it says the disease usually strikes young men. You are a diabetic,

which puts you at extremely high risk for smoking.

P.S.S. , get back on your Celexa!!! Also, remember that you cannot

just stop taking anti-depressants suddenly without serious side-effects,

which probably accounts, at least in part, for the stress and anxiety you

are feeling.