Update on Me

More doctors... more tests... someday hopefully some answers. not being able to catch your breath is very scary. It has caused me to go to more doctors, more ER trips and offer up more blood then I normally do in years. I just want a definite this is what is causing the breathlessness and this is what we are going to do to fix it.

Medical Doctors:
I have been tested, re-tested, poked and questioned, yet every test says I am okay. There seems to be no definitive reason why someone who is active and healthy just changes in a matter of days to weak and breathless. Yet no doctor seems to really care that I can't seem to catch my breath.... even in conversation. No exertion required. One common thread is that I need to not be stressed... but not being able to breathe seems to cause a significant amount of stress in ones life. Last trip to the ER... maybe it is sleep apnea... need to get a sleep study, if my doctor will approve it.

Chiropractor:
So far my only source of some relief. I am hoping with continued visits that my breathing will return to normal and I will start to feel more and more like myself. Downside - I may never find out what caused this in the first place and the relief for now seems to only be temporary.

Mental Health:
Yep, the doctors tell you long enough that it is all in your head and eventually you start to doubt yourself and think of yourself as a head case. So today a mental health appointment. I went in there basically begging a pleading for them to tell me that it is just stress and anxiety. Nope... no dice!! After five minutes of listening to the life I have been living for 21 days... the therapists asks has anyone said anything to you about chronic fatigue syndrome??? Well, nope, no one has mentioned that. What are the symptoms of chronic fatigue???


word-finding difficulties
inability to comprehend/retain what is read
inability to calculate numbers and impairment of speech and/or reasoning.
visual disturbances (blurring, sensitivity to light, eye pain, need for frequent prescription changes)
psychological problems (depression, irritability, anxiety, panic attacks, personality changes, mood swings)
chills and night sweats
shortness of breath
dizziness and balance problems
sensitivity to heat and/or cold
alcohol intolerance
irregular heartbeat
irritable bowel (abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, intestinal gas)
low-grade fever or low body temperature
numbness
tingling and/or burning sensations in the face or extremities
dryness of the mouth and eyes (sicca syndrome)
gynecological problems including PMS and endometriosis
chest pains
rashes
ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
allergies and sensitivities to noise/sound, odors, chemicals and medications
weight changes without changes in diet
light-headedness
mental fogginess
fainting
muscle twitching
seizures.


I would say... I have quite a few of the symptoms.... plus the excessive fatigue. I haven't slept well in 2 years.  Hmmmm.... now to get a medical doctor to take me seriously. There lies the problem. The doctors can't take a test a diagnose Chronic Fatigue Syndrome... it is diagnosed by exclusion. When everything else has been excluded then the doctor can say, I think you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I don't even have the energy to put my hair in a ponytail sometimes, my arms are just that weak. Something is wrong and I will keep excluding things until my doctor has no choice but to think well maybe it is chronic fatigue syndrome. One step at a time, next step sleep study, which the thought of causes anxiety because in 18 months Mike and I have never spent a night apart how am I supposed to sleep well enough for them to study me. If the sleep study doesn't give me answers then I seriously want my doctor to investigate Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

More about this stupid whatever is wrong with me stuff....

Really.... what is it???? We have no idea... absolutely none!!!! I am so tired of doctors telling me nothing is wrong that I want to scream. I was on Topamax which I quit taking first because this is not a migraine, second because it made me a raving lunatic, third because it did nothing absolutely nothing for the headache!!! I wake up every morning judging the severity of the headache because it doesn't go away. I get out of bed head downstairs and hope that when I get to the kitchen I won't feel like I have been working out. Well... so far... no change. No idea what is causing it... since the doctors can't get a machine to tell them what it is in some way then it is all a figment of my imagination.... and thankfully the imagination of those who love me as well because they realize it is real and we have no idea what it is.

Basketball :)

Saturday was Lillee's first basketball game....ever!!!! She was super excited and way nervous. She knows what she is supposed to be doing she just doesn't have the confidence yet. Give her a little bit longer and she is going to be great. She played more of the game than I think even she thought she would play. She gave it everything she had... they all did.... and they won, YAY!!!! So not only did we experience our first basketball game but it was a win... a great way to spend a hour on a Saturday!!!

Your neck... well my neck I guess...

I know I skipped a bunch.... I promise to share it.... but I have to tell you about my neck....

My silly little neck in all it's 4" might be my culprit. Thanks to Terry for urging me to go to a chiropractor. Thank you to the chiropractor for explaining my problem in words I understand. My C2 vertebrae keeps popping out of place, which is causing the headaches. The chiropractor so nicely puts it back and the headaches goes away. Yet something keeps making it pop out. He said our nervous systems are like electrical systems and when you plug the toaster in and the circuit pops it necessarily wasn't the toaster. Well something is wrong with my C2 circuit. So I came home and looked up my C2 circuit, guess what it does??? No... guess... Okay I will tell you. It controls breathing. Yes it does. Now what, right??? Well, now I am going to get my doctor to x-ray my neck and prove to me that my C2 vertebrae isn't damaged that is what I am going to do. So there doctors who think I was faking.

Me...and my stinkin' non-migraine migraine part 1

I needed a place to keep this straight in my own head... a place to get all the details worked out... a place to direct people so I quit having to use all my energy to explain this over and over again and again... and also... a place where maybe just maybe it will make sense to someone... and I can find out what is wrong.

October 27, 2011 I sat, quite peacefully, enjoying my morning coffee watching the today show when my head exploded. My head quite suddenly felt like hot fireworks were exploding inside it, the right side of my face went numb and my right arm went numb. I sat there stunned for a moment and thought, "Should I see if this get better or go to a doctor???" I called my family doctor but he wasn't in the office that day, so I got in the jeep and drove to the ER in Fort Dodge because it was closer. Once there my vitals were taken. My blood pressure normally is around 100 (110)/ 65(70) that morning it was 134/88 that is a bit of a difference for me. Back to the exam room I go. They check me for all the signs of a stroke, my mouth isn't drooping, I can grip, I can feel my feet my eyes are fine. I just can't feel my face and my fingertips and my head feels like it is on fire. I suffer from migraine headaches and this my dears is nothing like those. I tried and tried and tried to explain the pain in my head but no one seems to listen. I was given toradol for my migraine and then taken for a CT scan of my head, which came back normal. I am told it is a migraine and a pinched nerve take some muscle relaxers and you will be fine. Bye-Bye.

I went home, slept the remainder of October 27th in a horrible drug induced sleep. I awoke on October 28th in terrible pain and still extremely numb. What to do??? Well, I tried calling my family doctor again, still out of the office. Thinking maybe he is working the ER in Lake City I get in the jeep and drive to Lake City. Same symptoms, same blood pressure, just want answers... if it is a pinched nerve please show it to me. They put me on oxygen, telling me that sometimes it helps headaches. Blood work, CT scan of my head, urine analysis... AND... try taking imatrex for your migraine and follow up with you family doctor and an eye doctor. Side note here... they never even asked.... but the oxygen did help with my headache :) it didn't make it go away but it gave me some relief from the burning. Bye-Bye.

I went home, slept the remainder of October 28th in a horrible drug induced sleep. I awoke on October 29th in terrible pain and still extremely numb (sounds familiar) but wait... now... I am short of breath. When I talk or try to do anything I can't seem to catch my breath. I sit on the couch all day debating... ER... no ER... I feel so stupid for worrying the way I am but I am still numb, my head is still on fire, I can't catch my breath, and I have no idea what is wrong with me. Well I decided no ER... give it a break.... rest.... hopefully things will be better in the morning.

October 30th. Worse. I couldn't catch my breath. I felt like I had been sprinting and giving it all I had, I don't sprint anywhere and if I did I wouldn't give it all I had that's for darn sure. Mike took me back to the ER in Lake City, same doctor, I swear she hates me. She did an EKG, more blood work (it took the 7 tries to draw blood), and tested my urine again. Once again no signs of anything, yet I still can't breathe, my head is on fire, my are was so numb that they wiggle that needle all over to draw blood and I didn't feel a thing. So that lovely doctor with her hateness comes in and tells me I am fine... and then I guess to try and scare me well tells me the only thing left is a spinal tap... and then walks away... and I start to cry.... Bye-Bye. Go home you faker.

That was the first time I cried...(spoiler alert it isn't the last) there is something wrong with me. I don't know what it is. I am a really, really healthy 31 year old. I have two really, really active little girls that I have absolutely no problems keeping up with. I wake up at 6 in the morning I drink coffee and watch the news with Mike, I make breakfast for the whole family by 7. By 7:30 I have everyone out the door except Evangeline. Then Evangeline and I flylady this house. (check it out flylady.net) I make a snack by 10:00. Then do laundry. Lunch at noon. Nap time/movie time. Then we start getting stuff out and ready for dinner. I make dinner for the family. We eat as a family every night (we may not sit at the table but we eat together) Lillee gives Evangeline her bath while I clean the kitchen. Then bed time for Evangeline.... and then... then... I start to slow down for the day. I can't do any of that.... there is something seriously wrong with the picture here, but ask the doctors I am just fine.