Electric Car Blues

I recently purchased a 2013 Nissan Leaf, which is 100% electric. It goes about 90 miles on a full charge, but it will go further if the route is flat. Unfortunately, I live in the foothills of the San Bernadino mountains, which are full of winding canyon roads. While the drive is beautiful, it's rough on my car.

There are some things you should know about electric vehicles. First, electric vehicles don’t measure power like your typical gas vehicle. Instead of RPM and MPG, there are “miles per kilowatt” and a power bar on your dashboard with colored dots. White dots use power. Green dots recharge the battery. It uses approximately no power for one to two white dots. Going uphill uses 3-4 dots of power to maintain speed. If you have to accelerate uphill, it can use 5-6 dots. You use power to accelerate and go uphill. Second, if you need to charge your car, it takes about 1 hour for 25%, 2 for 50%, 3 for 75% and 4 for 100% charge from zero charge. These are 240V “fast chargers.” At home, if you use a standard outlet (120V), it takes 12-16 hours to charge to 100%. Finally, there is a meter on the right hand side that has bars of power (about 10 miles per bar of power) and an approximation (in miles) of how far your car thinks you can go. Usually you can go much further, but it is not recommended to push your limits.

Today, I pushed the limits. My friend, who cannot drive, needed someone to take her for a medical procedure, and I volunteered. I was hoping my car would be fully charged after charging overnight, but I was two bars short of a full charge. This means my car thought I could go 70 miles. My friend’s house is about 10-15 miles from my house, and the drive is relatively flat, so I used very little charge to get to her house. Her doctor’s appointment, however, was about 20 miles away, near my work. When we got to her appointment, I was down to about 50% charge (45 miles). I had known ahead of time that we were stopping at her cousin’s house after her procedure, and I was pretty sure I’d have enough charge to get her home and then get myself home.

When I dropped her off for her procedure, I did go and look around Riverside (CA) for a place to charge. There are three parking garages, each with two charging spots near the hospital, but all were full. There are no charging spots between Riverside, my house and her house, so I knew if I wanted to charge that I needed to stop in Riverside. Since I thought we’d be fine, I decided not to make her hang out at my work to charge the car.

After my friend’s procedure, her doctor changed her medication, and she wanted to stop by the pharmacy on the way home. I told her that was fine, and there are many pharmacies between Riverside and her house. Unfortunately, she wanted to go to a specific pharmacy that was an extra 10 miles past her house. At this point, I’m starting to worry that I might not be able to take her to the pharmacy and make it home. We are already out of Riverside, and she was not feeling well, so I decided not to argue. Remember, she cannot drive, and there was no one else available to help her out today.

By the time we finished at her cousin’s house, I was down to three bars of power, which is literally the amount I needed to take her home and get home, but I hoped I could push it a little further by driving more slowly and turning off the A/C. So I rolled down all the windows and we cruised down a flat street to the pharmacy. When we left the pharmacy, I had one bar of power left. Then I started panicking, but I did not want her to see my distress. Since the pharmacy is in a small town, I was able to drive under the speed limit in the right lane without any trouble. When we got to her house, I was down to no bars of power.

I have made it home from her house with only one bar of power twice before. Remember, there is nowhere that I can go to charge on the way home, so I took a deep breath and prayed my way back into the foothills. Again, it’s relatively flat between her house and my house, but I do have to go uphill to get to my street. I said a prayer at every red light, only accelerated between one and two dots of power and avoided looking at the flashing lights on my dashboard. There have been several times that the “gas light” has come on when I was about five miles from my house. Well, three miles from my house, an orange turtle appeared on my dashboard. While deceptively adorable, this caused me quite a bit of concern. All I could do was try to make it, so I gave my car a pep talk and started up the hill to my street, one mile from my house. Come on car. Come on car. I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again. Just one more mile, then we’re home and I don’t have to call a tow truck. Just one more mile.

I did not make it. I am literally stranded one mile from my house. I can see the light that takes me to my neighborhood. It’s just over the crest of this hill I’m stuck on. Luckily, I have roadside assistance, and the tow truck should be here any minute. My lovely car insurance company is not going to charge me to tow me one-mile home.

While I do not recommend experimenting with this sort of adventurous, dismissive attitude toward range limits, this was a fun experiment. I literally made it 10-15 miles on very little charge. My car did not recommend trying to go more than two miles. TWO! I was SO CLOSE. I almost made it. Obviously, in hind sight, it would’ve been better just to hang out at my office for an hour, or to tell my friend we could get her medicine tomorrow.

I was giggling almost the entire way home, entertaining myself with the profanities that my car must be silently screaming at me when I behave this way. My car said things to me (in my head), like, WTF is wrong with you, human? Do you not understand that I am out of power? I can’t take you up this hill. You need to find a charging station. (It actually does ask me multiple times if I’d like it to find the nearest charging station – which is further away from my friend’s house than my house.) I’m thinking about writing a skit with an electric car progressing from sarcasm to out and out abusive language at a dismissive human pushing the limit of miles per kilowatt. Possibly up a mountain, and then coasting back down once they run out of power. Either way, I think this is the least destructive way to deal with “range anxiety.” Just ignore it completely.

Crohn's Disease is Idiopathic.

I had my colonoscopy and endoscopy today. They found mild patches of inflammation (erythematous) in my upper GI tract. This is significant for two reasons. First, there are only two inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD), and of the two, ulcerative colitis affects only the colon/large intestine. So it cannot be ulcerative colitis. Second, the only disorder which involves patches of inflammation separated by healthy patches of intestine is Crohn's disease.

This is bad on a number of levels.
1. There is no cure for Crohn's disease.
2. They don't know what causes it (idiopathic), but it is an autoimmune condition, and is often associated with other autoimmune conditions. This means there's still the possibility that I have an underlying, undiagnosed autoimmune disease, in addition to Crohn's disease.
3. The drugs which are used to treat Crohn's at this stage are ASA's (aspirin-related drugs). Why is this bad? I'm ALLERGIC to ASA's and all related non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (like ibuprofen).

One other thing you should know - it's not official until the biopsies come back. But there's also nothing else it could be.

I'm so angry. I told myself that at least if they found something, I would know something. But, had it been ulcerative colitis, they could've cured it. Instead, I'm set up to go through a slew of tests, which may all be for nought, to try to find the underlying cause of the disease. Crohn's disease is a ravaging disorder. All they can hope to do is slow it down.

It's been readily apparent to multiple doctors that I have an autoimmune disorder. I don't feel like divulging the details at this juncture, but suffice it to say that every primary care physician I've seen in the last 10 years has tested me for various autoimmune conditions. One of the main reasons was chronic sinus infections and ear infections with no known etiology (...idiopathic).

The digestive issues started when I was 19/20.  In 2006, I was having severe diarrhea, could not digest dairy products or eggs, had severe abdominal pain, and I lost 15 pounds (from 160 to 145). The  colonoscopy didn't turn up anything at the time. The doctors were worried I had cancer, and they finally did an exploratory laparoscopy, and found endometriosis. Although endometriosis could not explain my symptoms, I did improve after the surgery. Since then, I've had intermittent problems with diet, have progressively cut out all dairy, eggs, salicylates, sulfites (preservatives) and gluten, and still, obviously, have problems.

In case you missed my earlier posts, I had a bowel obstruction in June, which resulted in urgent surgery. They didn't find anything, which led to the colonoscopy I had today.

The good news is I'm not crazy. The bad news is it's as bad as I thought it might be. I'm going to have to find a support group, a rheumatologist (autoimmune specialty) and a good nutritionist. The list of foods I'm not supposed to eat is ridiculous, between the salicylate allergy and the Crohn's Disease.

~Alison

Idiopathy. Head, meet wall.

The entire left side of my body hurts. The costochondritis, which is "idiopathic" - no known cause, isn't just in the costo-sterno junction. It includes my left shoulder, radiates down to my fingers and started as numbness/tingling in my left hand. The steroids, which make the intense, burning pain bearable, make my intestinal pain worse because they decrease the production of mucus, which is currently coating the damaged intestinal wall. So, that's awesome.

More than that, I've been having shooting pain in my legs for a long time, associated with idiopathic (non-traumatic) tendonitis. Well, as of last year, that got bumped from idiopathic (aka - we have no clue) to "diabetic neuropathy," except I'm not diabetic.

So, let's put this together: chronic, worsening, intractable migraines on the left side; chronic, worsening, intractable neuropathy in my legs (first), and now in my hand/arm/chest - specifically, for both, on the left side; and chronic abdominal pain on the left side. Does this sound like a disaster waiting to happen to anyone else? ...Specifically the type of disaster that derails long-term plans like getting a PhD in neuroscience?

~Alison

Costochondritis

There's not a lot of research on costochondritis, but I think there should be.

I started having pain in my lower ribcage on the left side after lunch yesterday. I thought maybe it was my pancreas, since I know intestinal inflammation can lead to pancreatic inflammation. Naturally, this meant I was worried because pancreatitis is a serious condition, but I did what all chronically ill people tend to do - I waited a few hours before freaking out. Well, the pain got worse, to the point that it hurt to breathe and I couldn't get out of bed, so I called an ambulance and went back into the ER.

The doctor did not see me until after my blood tests were processed - thanks for leaving me in pain, doc. Since my pancreatic enzymes were normal, she quickly diagnosed it as costochondritis - inflammation in the rib cage. After doing some research online, this is what I've learned:

Costochondritis is most common in women over 40, and is associated with menopausal symptoms. While not commonly diagnosed, this is probably due to vitamin D deficiency, as costochondritis is also associated with vitamin D deficiency from inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Obviously, I have the latter, and am on vitamin D supplements.

The only current treatment for costochondritis is anti-inflammatories. The reason we need more research on costochondritis is that it may be a prelude to osteoporosis - which is usually not diagnosed until it is too late. IF costochondritis really is linked to vitamin D deficiency - for which there are currently few studies - then vitamin D serves as a treatment, and the diagnosis could be used to identify patients at risk for osteoporosis.

There is also, currently, no physical therapy remedy for costochondritis, that I could find. However, physical therapy is one of the key preventive measures for osteoporosis, making this diagnosis and treatment even more important.

While the medical field has no reason to vet the opinion of a lowly PhD student, I think it is worth looking into. And for my fellow endometriosis sufferers, be aware that pelvic inflammation can lead to malabsorption of vitamins. I have some friends who have already been diagnosed with costochondritis, but who have not been tested for a vitamin D deficiency. If you have this diagnosis, it is worth the blood test, and may save you significant suffering in the future!

~Alison

Tool used for hysterectomy and fibroid removal recalled

Johnson & Johnson's morcellator (tool) was used for "non-invasive" aka intra-vaginal hysterectomy and fibroid removal. Apparently this tool was used by some doctors without first performing a biopsy to rule out malignant growths.  When the morcellator is used on malignant growths, it can spread the cancerous cells, allowing the cancer to spread. If you or a loved one were affected by the use of this tool, you can probably make a claim against J&J. (Call a lawyer).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/johnson-and-johnson-pulls-power-morcellator-a-controversial-surgical-device/2014/07/30/738e9956-1829-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html


OPINION:

I have a feeling that it has the same effect on endometriosis.  Endometriosis is the growth of mutated endometrial cells growing in the abdomen. Although it is benign, it is a form of tumor, and attaches to foreign tissue in a manner similar to cancerous tumors. If morcellation was used in endometriosis patients to perform a hysterectomy, then it is possible that this caused the spread of tumor cells, allowing the endometriosis to spread after hysterectomy.

If you have had a hysterectomy and still have symptoms of endometriosis, you may also be able to sue for medical damages, wage loss, and emotional suffering. Contact a lawyer.

~Alison