Lions and tigers and doctors! Oh my!

A couple of months ago, because of how poorly I was feeling, I decided to give going to doctors another shot. I chose one whom I had gone to when I was younger, about my chronic stomach pains. He didn't really help at all, except when he had me get IVs of B12 (for energy) once a week. However, apparently he's very knowlegeable, and now that I know about my CMT it seemed like it was time to give him another shot.

So when I first saw him again, we went over my medical history and current problems. I told him I have CMT and he said he "knew what that was," but insisted there had to be something else going on in me (like a virus), because CMT couldn't cause such severe problems (fatigue in particular). I completely disagree with this statement. After all my research I've found that the range of severity in CMT is enormous. I see no reason that it couldn't easily be giving me the problems I have. However, I didn't verbally chastise the doctor, and instead decided to do the blood tests. I did want to look into an auto immune problem, since it's strange how my CMT suddenly acted up when I got sick at eight (see my post "My Story"). I find going to doctors about CMT very difficult, for these reasons: Doctors who are not specialists in this area know little to nothing about CMT, and doctors who are specialists (at least the ones I've been to) only offer me a prescription for a pill or a number to get braces fitted. I want answers! I want to feel like I used to!

Back to my story...
Yesterday I went to this doctor again to discuss my test results. First he told me that he checked my blood cell counts, and they're all in the normal range, but some (T helper cells were one) are on the low side. Basically, I have a weakened immune system, and I get sick easily. He offered no real solution. The other thing he found is that I'm very low in DHEA (a hormone). Why am I low in DHEA? Because of "adrenal gland stress," which can come from either physical or emotional stress. (The adrenal gland makes DHEA.) He said that I have about 1/3 of the amount I should, and that I'm very low for my age. So what does this cause? 1) Fatigue. 2) It makes it so that I don't deal with stress well. I can't handle stress, and I'm very easily stressed out. He said that if we fixed this, "things just won't bug you as much." Sounds nice!

So he's going to give me a prescription for DHEA. This still doesn't help my CMT problems, but I'm thinking that having more energy would definitely make life easier, and as I've said before, stress is very bad for CMT, so.... wish me luck!