Bad news, good news day and a question

Well, I got bad news at my high risk OB visit. My blood pressure has become a serious problem. I had to pay out of pocket for a BP machine with large cuff because the insurance company REFUSED! I burst into tears when they told me and the women worked hard to find a way I could afford it. They had a unit that the wall adapter was missing from so they sold me that one (it runs solely on 4 AA batteries thanks to a thief) for 35 instead of 115. They would have lost all the money anyway so selling it at such a high loss was recovering some of their funds. It was really sweet of them. Now hubby has to run the machine 3 times a day (once in the morning, once in the evening and once before bed) because I cannot manage the cuff on my own with my hands as bad as they are. But this way I can show the doctor blood pressure readings next week when I got back to the High Risk docs and get on medication. It is the prednisone of course, I gained 5lbs of water in the last week. My ankles are so swollen I could cry and a water pill is out of the question because I dehydrate so easy when pregnant and also because it could hurt the baby (the one mild enough to be okay for me when pregnant). I have to stop celebrex tonight and up my pred to 10mg (would have done it next week but with the need to know how bad my blood pressure will be he said do it early that it would actually be better for the baby to end it early).

The medicaid I need to afford my prescriptions was canceled because the proofs I sent in never got to my caseworker meaning I am in deep doggie doo-doo on copays. She says she will figure out what happened to it and fix the problem but it could take a few weeks. All my meds need refilled next week.

The good news, I have to take a Microsoft certification exam for one of my classes at 90, one of the guys at the place that sells the vouchers to take the test found a free one for me which means I do not have to pay for it but can still take it. How cool is that?

Now, I have homework and my husband to pick up so I need to get off here. I hope that everyone else had a less eventful day than me.

Before I sign off does anyone know a good way to clear water from the body without medication or herbs beyond drinking tons of fluids (I have been doing that for a week). THANKS!!!

redrose,
I hope that you can get your insurance situation straightened out.  That alone can cause so much stress which would increase your BP. 

Have you ever gone to www.drweil.com?  I really like that web site a lot.  Anyhow Dr. Weil has some suggestions for natural diuretics but he doesn't mention if this is okay if you're pregnant.  I'm pasting what he said on his web site:

Beverages containing caffeine and alcohol have a diuretic effect, and several other foods including celery, onion, eggplant, asparagus and watermelon are said to have a diuretic effect. In addition, the herbs hawthorn, corn silk, and parsley are used as diuretics in natural medicine. Of these, hawthorn, (crataegus oxycanthus) is the most powerful. If you have a medical condition for which diuretics are prescribed, you would be much better off following your physician's recommendation than trying to treat yourself with alternative remedies.

Andrew Weil, M.D.

When you go to your dr's visit next week make sure you take your BP machine with you.  After the nurse has taken your BP with their machine, have her take your BP with your machine.  Hopefully the numbers will be close.  This way you will know how accurate your machine is to your doctor's BP machine.  Make sure every time you go to the dr and your BP is still an issue you continue to take your BP machine with you.

Watermelon works for me as well as orange juice.  Maybe some others can come up with some good ideas.  Too bad chocolate isn't a natural directic

When you go for your ultrasound do you have a way of posting the photo for us to see?  I just love to look at the ultrasounds (especially when they're the 3D ones).

Make sure you take care of YOU ... the housework, the cooking, the laundry ... it can all be put off.  You and this baby are the most important things right now.  Not only do you have lupus to bring you down, you have the other issues.  It's too bad we aren't all close to each other so we could all take a time slot and help you out.    You're in my thoughts and prayers.   Hugs!

Wow Rosie, cool about the beets, I'll have to remember that! I'm sorry you are going through all this blood pressure and bureaucratic stuff right now. That patient advocate site will pay for some stuff and copays sometimes if you get in a bind. I put it in another post. Did you see Sicko by Michael Moore? In France, they actually have someone free from the government come out and help with your laundry, kids and supper if you are having a baby and the doctors do house calls for free and all medical care is free. No wonder they have money to vacation here. They don't have our medical costs. England is cool too but France, that's where I want to live! You need to be in France. They have a 35 hour work week too, and you get time off with pay to have your baby, I think hubby too! It would almost make you think we DON'T have the greatest healthcare system in the world! Well, I hope you are feeling good and the baby is ok and you get a chance to rest and put your feet up. I don't have any water loss tricks, the one from Rosie is the first that I've heard of. My doc told me not to drink too much, to be conscious of how much you are drinking and write it down and find out how much they want you to have and make sure you drink that and try not to go over. Maybe that is something to ask your doc about. I know that I've had electrolyte problems and was drinking and peeing a ton and retaining a lot of water too and it was hard to be thirsty, but once I did it the cravings went away. But in your case with dehydration, I wouldn't do it unless the doc says to and gives you an amount that you can drink and be safe. Take care and pat the baby for me.

Hi Rose, I noticed that you are taking flexeril. Is that somthing you have been taking for a long time? Flexeril makes me so dehydrated! I feel like a sponge when I take it. Just a thought.

love ya

I actually have never retained fluid around my heart and lungs but when it gets really bad a thumb lightly set against the skin on my back or stomach will leave an in print of the whole fingerprint pattern. I end up with whorls in my skin for 20 minutes or more. Right now the sjogrens is bad because the only med to help the dry mouth causes miscarriage and no data is available for after 10 weeks. I have special mouth wash but it doesn't work as well as it does for some of the others. My ankles have big water bags right now. The thing is if I don't drink the fluids I run into serious trouble and end up with IVs. My blood issues have nothing to do with platelets or sed rates (my sed is always normal even when my joints are swollen three times the normal size, bright red, and very hot). To make matters worse I have caught some kind of virus. I just finished antibiotics for a sinus infection and the stuff coming out of my nose is clear again but there is swelling at the sinuses and breathing is horrid.

I have had a 24 hour protein and cretin clearance done and it was normal. All blood work was normal too, except some minor abnormalities in one of my antibody tests. I see the rheumy next week. I see the high risk doc again next week too. I could cry from all of this. I retain water all the time but pred makes it so much worse and raises my blood pressure too. I hate having to be on pred. I will be okay and so will the baby we just have to deal with the blood pressure after we see how bad the required pred increase makes things. Ironically tonight I got my lowest BP reading in 10 years. I double checked and it was almost the same. Since the machine has been giving the same readings as the doctor got (about a 4 point variance range) it is likely the machine is correct.

This is so weird because I do not allow any extra salt to be added to anything in the house and always buy low sodium label whenever I can.