Posts by William Chase7

Hey everyone!

Can someone help me make sense of these VEP results? Like, what am I actually looking at here—is everything totally fine, or should I be worried about some issues?

We went ahead and stimulated every single eye using structured light patterns from a chessboard covering the entire field of vision.
We caught the responses just above the primary visible area.
The readings are showing organized evoked responses all along the left side, while on the right, we’re looking at decent amplitude but with some borderline latency issues.
The results are right on the edge, leaning towards the high side...

So, I got sent in for a VEP scan because my field of vision was acting totally wonky. Everything else at the eye doctor came back completely fine, though. Just waiting on this one test now!
I’ve been on both Resochin and Arav for my RA, but they pulled Resochin off the market about two months ago. Since then, things have gone south fast—my field of vision in both eyes is messed up, especially the right one. It’s showing some major retinal and nasal sensitivity drops. Total nightmare.
I had to rush to the neurologist, and they diagnosed me with ataxia. Basically, my hand coordination is totally shot—I'm struggling just to grab stuff or reach out—plus I'm stumbling way more when I try to walk with my eyes closed. It’s a mess.
Just got my MRI results back. The doctor found 6 tiny lesions on the left side, plus 3 larger ones and 3 smaller ones on the right. They called them UBO lesions—basically white matter spots. Everything else looked totally fine, except for some inflammation in my sinuses and the bone behind my ear.
The MRI on my spine didn't show any lesions like demyelination or anything. They were originally worried about a brain tumor or maybe MS, but they already ruled out the tumor part—still waiting to see if it's the MS thing.
So, the scan came back and man, it’s a lot. It showed a flattened lordosis, spondylosis, osteoarthritis, and some early-stage osteoporosis. Plus, there's a whole bunch of pressure points and hemangiomas hitting the nerve endings, and even some fractures in the first two ribs. Honestly, if you want the full breakdown, I can type out every single detail because this report is absolutely massive.

So, I'm 41, and man, things got weird with my vision for a bit. It was super sketchy—my sight would just get blurry and lose focus out of nowhere. Everything started closing in on me, like my field of vision was shrinking, and I had this constant, heavy pressure behind my eyes and in my head. To make matters worse, I completely lost my sense of depth and height, and I couldn't even look around properly. I felt totally off-balance too, like I was about to just tip over and fall face-first. It went on for a while, but then I was prescribed Medrol, and after running one more round of tests, everything has finally settled down.
My neurologist already ruled out vasculitis and a stroke, so now we're looking at optic neuritis. Honestly, it feels like just the opening act for MS.
My joints are killing me, they're swollen, and I’m constantly losing feeling in my hands. Plus, that weakness in my arms and legs? It's always there. It just won't quit.
Lately, I've been getting these crazy tingles—it feels like a sudden jolt of electricity shooting through my fingers and palms. It’s wild. Then my feet go numb, specifically the bottom part, and my legs just start tingling out of nowhere. To top it all off, sometimes my lip or the left side of my lower face starts acting up too. Seriously weird stuff.
So, my rheumatologist basically told me I need to go see a neurologist for MS. She’s convinced that all these issues I've been having are actually neurological at their core. My GP is playing it safe, though—she thinks the MRI results don't necessarily scream multiple sclerosis, but we'll know for sure once the VEP comes back.

My doctor is out of the office right now, and I am seriously losing my mind waiting until July to see the neurologist! Can someone here please help me make sense of this VEP result? Should I be freaking out about this description? Also, do I need to see the actual data tables with all those specific numbers they used to reach this conclusion?

Please get back to me ASAP! And sorry if I missed anything—I honestly thought I covered all the basics, but my bad!

Yeah, so my blood work looks okay for the most part, except for those liver enzymes that keep spiking on me. My CRP has actually settled down lately, which is a relief, but my total protein levels came back low. Everything else—every single antibody you can think of—is coming up negative.
My Albumin levels are down, and my Alpha and IgG are looking pretty low too.

I’m really hoping this covers enough ground to explain how VEP fits right into everything else I've mentioned...

Thanks in advance!

vividsailor7 said:It looks like an iron deficiency. You really need to get those Fe, UIBC, and serum ferritin levels checked out. Most likely, his doctor will just put him on some iron supplements.

Thanks so much for the input, Dr. George! I had a feeling that was the case, but hey, better safe than sorry, right? It’s always good to double-check...🙄
We're definitely heading back to his primary care physician to get a treatment plan sorted out.
Best regards!

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a good one!

I’ve got a quick question about my son’s blood work results from today. If anyone out there can help me make sense of some of these numbers, I’d really appreciate it...

I'm feeling a bit uneasy because a few of his levels came back flagged. He’s a 15-year-old athlete, and these are the specific values that are outside the normal range:
RBC 4.28, MCV 75.4, HCT 32.3, RDW 13.4, HGB 12.0 .. So, please, let me know if I actually need to be worried here. I'm pretty sure his hemoglobin is low, but the rest of it is just a total blur to me.
Thanks so much in advance for any insight you can share. 🤷

holloweagle6 said:Quick question—where do you guys pick up stuff like cranberry juice, parsley, and all that? I used to give her Cranatine, but I eventually quit because I was honestly getting paranoid about all the "chemicals." Plus, trying to force down syrup at bedtime is just a nightmare. Now she’s started asking, "Why do I have to take this when the kids at daycare don't?" It's a lot. And man, back when she was in a smaller group, she’d actually try to play doctor—pulling blood, "treating" people on the floor, even explaining how to "look at the belly button" (which was our way of describing an ultrasound). The teachers were cool with it since they knew what was going on, but now things are different. We’re pretty stressed about her next urine test, too. Last time we had to do bloodwork, she totally bolted, ended up with both hands all scraped up, and we barely managed to get a single vial filled.

Hey everyone!

We usually just grab cranberry and parsley at any local pharmacy, but honestly, I often hit up the farmer's market to find fresh stuff from the ladies there. Sometimes I buy dried cranberries and cook them into a compote, strain it through cheesecloth, and serve it unsweetened like a tea (it tastes great, kind of like forest berries to me). Sometimes I even toss in some blueberries since those are awesome for blood health, too.
As for the parsley, I use it separately as its own herbal tea. It flushes the urinary tract and helps block bacteria, which really helps prevent those urinary infections that kids with VUR are always prone to, regardless of how bad the damage is. That's what my pediatric nephrologist suggested, and I did a bit of digging online through studies, and yeah, everyone recommends it...
Man, reading your post is tough. I know how much it hurts. Watching your kid go through those annoying tests—all the tubes, the needles... I swear my heart broke every single time we had to do it. I don't even know who was crying more; my little girl or me... and as she gets older, it just gets harder on her. Fingers crossed—and I mean it—that it stays this way, but we do a mandatory urine test once a month, specifically for culture. She had one infection once, but we caught it immediately with none of that Novocef stuff...
We do abdominal and kidney ultrasounds twice a year now just to make sure the VUR is healing properly. The doctor says that since she's getting older, the tissue will heal firmer and eventually just look like thickened scar tissue, but hey, that's way better than the actual health issues caused by the congenital problem itself. Plus, we avoided surgery, which is huge in my book...
Wishing you nothing but luck in getting ahead of this. There's definitely a chance it might just heal up and clear on its own over time.

🙂

holloweagle6 said:Congrats 😍 This is such a beautiful post. Honestly, it gives me some hope that maybe things will "close up" for us too. Our little one was diagnosed with bilateral reflux (Grade I and II) almost a year ago. We’re constantly monitoring everything, and she’s currently on prophylaxis—Cephalexin and Pyeloseptyl. Reading this makes me think we might actually dodge the surgery, even though doctors say it's routine. We have an appointment for a voiding cystourethrogram in November, and I'm just praying we see some improvement or at least stay the same so we can skip the operating room. Though, I don't know if being on constant antibiotics is the "smart" move in the long run. Anyway, huge congrats again 😍

Thank you so much for that sweet message... I truly wish the exact same thing for you and your daughter. Believe me, I know exactly what you're going through. We've been dealing with this since the day she was born. Our nephrologist down in Miami told us that most of the time, these things just "resolve spontaneously"—meaning they close up and clear out on their own for kids with grade 1 or 2 reflux by the time they hit 6 or 7. If not, then they move toward a routine surgery. But hey, they're just kids, right? Hearing the word "surgery" is never easy, no matter how routine they say it is. And like you said, being on daily antibiotics for years? That's definitely gotta take a toll in other ways...
To be honest, we weren't even holding our breath thinking we could just treat it with meds alone, but somehow, it worked! It felt like a total long shot, but the main thing is that the urine isn't flowing backward anymore, which means no more damage to the tracts and kidneys.
On top of that, one of her kidneys was only working at 65%, and the other was filtering at just 48%... the doctors were pretty worried because she's so little. But now? Everything has automatically improved... it's functioning almost perfectly fine now!
We still need more time to see if it stays stable, but this is just phenomenal and totally unexpected. We're celebrating every single little win, especially one like this.
Seriously, miracles happen. This is proof you should never lose hope. She was diagnosed with grade 3 VUR, and in the end, it just closed up! The tube straightened itself out—no more bend. Man, I am just over the moon. At least something is finally heading in the right direction!!!!
Wishing you so much luck with your daughter's recovery. I'm sincerely hoping you get the same outcome we did. These days, I've got her drinking cranberry teas and parsley infusions just to stay ahead of things... purely for prevention. So far, all her tests look amazing, and I'm praying they stay that way forever.

Charles Patel said:First off, let me correct you—it’s not kidney reflux, it’s vesicoureteral reflux.
I dealt with this when I was a toddler, under two years old. I had surgery in Washington, D.C. at the Mayo Clinic (basically what they call the Reebok of hospitals nowadays).
There isn't an "alternative" here. You need surgery. It's a physical condition; no holistic remedy is going to change the fact that it's there.
Just find a solid internist and a skilled surgeon, and you'll be fine. 👍

🙂 My little girl had third-degree congenital reflux. For her first three years, besides all those nasty and painful tests, she was on Ceporex every single day just to ward off infections. On top of that, she fought off Escherichia coli three separate times, which meant more antibiotics...
The doctors told us she’d probably need surgery, though there was a tiny, slim chance the opening might just close up on its own over time... and honestly, we hit the jackpot with her. She's almost four now, and it actually started closing up! Her latest scan from last month showed it’s completely healed. The reflux is totally gone.
Now, E. coli is a different beast entirely. It's a lifelong battle. This thing can lay low for years, but the second it shows up, it's a problem. Since I'm living proof of how this "monster" can wreck your kidneys, we try to stay ahead of it with my daughter by doing monthly urine checks and cultures. We have to catch it before it goes wild and starts damaging her organs...
So, yeah, VUR *can* actually resolve on its own without surgery! Good luck!!

restlesstrucker11 said:Unfortunately, it’s a cold, hard fact: hip issues are hitting younger people harder than ever. I’m sitting here at 41 with osteoarthritis in both hips, and frankly, it’s just a matter of when I’ll finally be scheduled for total hip replacements. In my case, it’s all tied back to scoliosis—that caused one side to give out first, and then the other followed suit.
As river 53 points out, you really need to try keeping up with physical therapy, swimming, and things like that... 👍

🤷

Same story here, just a bit younger at 35. I'm fighting osteoarthritis in both hips because of scoliosis and spondylosis in my spine, plus general osteoarthritis in my joints and bones. And now, rheumatoid arthritis joined the party—it’s probably just a domino effect where one thing triggers the next...
With therapy, it's the same advice: don't overwork your hips or joints, go swimming, eat right, and drop any extra weight if you've got it... and that's really it. Some people manage to hold out until they're much older depending on how bad the damage is, while others have to get artificial hips way sooner. I'm rooting for you guys to stay on the non-surgical side as long as possible! 🙂

Laura Rodriguez86 said:Hey everyone!

Since I'm dealing with a cancer diagnosis in the family (it's a woman), I wanted to see if anyone here has experience using Nature's Bounty capsules mentioned in the title.
I found more info in these two links below, but I'm honestly confused about the difference between them besides just the branding and how they're used.

http://www.immunoahcc.com/

So, if anyone knows anything or has actually tried them, let me know! Does it really work? How does it work? Are there any major side effects? Also, if it’s truly as healing as people claim, why isn't it a household name? A few friends mentioned it, and there’s some stuff online, but most websites are pretty vague. I’d much rather hear from real people who have bought it—whether it helped or not. This monthly treatment is $1667, and you need at least three months of it, so $5000 we're talking serious money. Every single dollar counts right now, so I’d really appreciate any honest advice or details on this product.

If you know of any other options that might help, please share those too!

Feel free to shoot me a private message or just reply right here.
Thanks, guys!

CHEERS!

Just wanted to jump in regarding these immune supplements....
My dad is also battling bone marrow and bone cancer. After he lost weight so fast, his whole look changed, and his bloodwork was terrible. He felt completely drained and just miserable. After chemo and a successful transplant, I thought the exact same thing you did. I did some Googling and asked around some acquaintances (who deal with these illnesses, though they weren't keen on trying this stuff), and I tried to convince my dad that besides eating well, he should boost his immunity with these supplements. When I printed out all the different versions—including the one you mentioned—his hematologist in Washington, D.C. shut it down immediately. He basically said if these things worked as well as they claimed, they would have cured his cancer ages ago... and we wouldn't even need these aggressive treatments that fight the disease but wreck everything else too.
So, his advice was that while medical professionals do everything possible to save patients, the most important thing is eating right, walking, resting, and guiding the body toward healing naturally.... Everything else is just a huge expense with zero help to show for it... Peace.... 🙄