I have been thinking about posting for way too long. I was just hoping so much that everything was in the past and I wanted things to be better and something to finally work. I didn't have the heart to post when things weren't "perfect". Everybody wants to read about a happy ending, and I didn't have one to give them.
I decided to continue writing, not so much anymore to keep people up to date on myself, but possibly to help somebody that may be going through the same thing.
Just a few quick bullets to bring this blog up to date, then I will expound on the details further:
- Continued to have left sided weakness and numbness
- Right hip pain from being off balance because of the "complex migraines"
- Developed lymphedema in my left arm
- Came out of menopause
- Continued abdominal bloating
It has been a rough few months. To make a long boring story very short, I wasn't able to stay on the steroids, and by the third day it seemed to cause more problems than help. I established with a local PCP. She put me on Amitriptylene to counter the steroid symptoms. I went back to the Neurology
Clinic in Gilbert for a follow-up and saw the P.A.. It was a complete waste of time. She told me to continue to stay on the Amitriptylene and increase the dosage. She also gave me a headache journal to fill out. So basically, I drove 600 miles for absolutely nothing. The biggest problem was that I didn't see the same doctor, and although the PA was nice, she really didn't offer me anything.
If I were to fill out the journal, it would either be 100 pages long with constant (non-pain) symptoms or it would be blank since I rarely have "headaches", I have constant numbness and weakness. And I didn't want to be on medication for 6 months! I really think that the first physician that I saw probably could have helped eventually, but since I wouldn't be seeing him for all the visits I cancelled my follow up with the office, and I won't be going back. At this point I was close to giving up and "living with it". The only problem is, that my family has to live with me.
My left side was weak, and I was compensating with my right side, so my right hip was extremely sore. If I sat down for more than five minutes, I could barely walk when I got up. I was still having numbness in my jaw and my left foot. I was still taking the Amitriptylene, which didn't seem to be helping, it only made me really "draggy" during the day.
With all this going on, I quit swimming because I didn't have the energy to get up in the morning. So, things continued to spiral down. If you really stop to think about cause and effect, everything you do has some impact on something else. It is only when you finally "crash" that you realize where it all started.
....and things started to look brighter.
I quit taking the meds and tried to get back to my "baseline", which wasn't saying much, but it was better than what I was dealing with.
My friend, who does Cranial-Sacral therapy came down from Phoenix for Thanksgiving. I agreed to have her do a treatment on me. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that. I just really didn't see how it could help. But it did!!!! I just wish I had know this months ago. The numbness in my jaw went away, the numbness in my left foot and hand decreased, and my right hip didn't hurt. I have had a couple other treatments from her since then, and so far, she has been the only one that has truly helped.
So, that part is much better, but I did develop lymphedema in my left arm. That is the side that had the lymph nodes removed. It wasn't doing a lot of swelling, but it would get very sore, and I could feel the lymph nodes. I think I have had it for about a year, but when I asked the doctors about it, they didn't seem to know what caused it. I am going to a lymphedema specialist in town, and that has helped tremendously. She showed me how to do manual lymph draining and use Kinesio Tape (amazing stuff by the way) and I got my lymphedema sleeve last week. As long as I keep up with the manual lymph drainage, I am fine.
I think I will save more for a later date. I am tired from all this writing.
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