Friday, February 17, 2012

So whose trying to kill me?

My neurologist appointment was yesterday.

I only had to wait 6 weeks to get in... which felt like an eternity.  But the day finally arrived.

With my hands & feet still feeling pain, burning, a vibrating sensation - in other words - MISERY, I was anxious to see if he had any answers.

The guy was very nice... spent lots of time with me... asked lots of questions... did a lot of "close your eyes & touch your nose" things.

I passed all the neurological exams with flying colors... he said my reflexes were beyond excellent, & I was challenging him to push harder when he was checking my muscle strength.... bring it on Mr. Man!!!... until he made my bicep tendonitis hurt. OK - dont press that hard :)

The only thing he found bizarre in my testing was my hands.  I showed him where the palms of my hands are so sensitive.  He looked at my hands & looked longer & kept rubbing a part of my hand & then said, "I've not seen this before"... then he said, "Have you had any big muscle decrease lately?"... huh? 
Well, I have this 'thing' sticking up in the palm of both of my hands that run straight up to my middle finger.  I told Ricky many time that it hurt ... ends up, the doc said that is my tendon ... & it sticks up in my hand.  He said he's never seen a tendon stick up in someone's hand like that...

...leave it to me to have weird stuff....

so then since I passed all the exam fun, we start talking about what's going on.

Its just common questions on when everything started happening.

I explained to him that I believe it was that steroid that started everything.  He didnt agree.  He said that if I had a steroid shot in my arm a few weeks before & had taken a different steroid pack before that, that this steroid shouldnt have had such a big effect on me. (I personally disagree - I have researched & found that this steroid particularly HAS caused neuropathy... but I wasnt about to argue with a doctor)

But he said I definitely have Acute Neuropathy... Acute because it came on so suddenly. 

Now why it came on so suddenly was the question. 

So he starts asking questions... Am I doing any reconstruction around my house?  Is there painting going on anywhere around me?  Am I in a new building at work?

no... no... no....

Then he asks me these questions, right in a row, without stopping....

"Have you been around any heavy metal?" - to which I interrupted & said, "Yes, my husband listens to it everyday"(... I did get a chuckle from him on that one)

"Have you been exposed to any poisons?  Know of any lead you could be around? How is your marriage?  Have you had contact with any arsenic?"

WAIT....

WHAT???????

I literally stopped him & said, "Wait - did you just ask me about my marriage in the middle of all these questions about poisons?"

I think he was shocked when I stopped him... but then he said, "As a neurologist, you'd be surprised what we have discovered about people being poisoned by someone they know"... I started laughing

... but he was dead serious... He went on to explain how people can easily be poisoned & they dont realize it until they have these sudden neuropathy symptoms.

WH WH WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

I assured him that my husband has never cooked for me & the only way he could slip me arsenic was by injecting it into a York Peppermint Patty... which he is so good about bringing me home to me every day

.... that screams love... not "must kill my wife"

But the doc told me to start noticing if anything has changed... any new make up?  Facial cleaner? Any new product I'm using that could contain metal? ...

I will say, I did get a new facial cleaning system for Christmas .... I looked at the ingredients last night & half of them, I cant even pronounce, much less heard of it before - so I have no idea if that could be the culprit.

In the end, he has no idea what could be causing it - so down to the lab for blood drawn ... that's always good times.

They are testing to see if I have:
*  diabetes - which I would be shocked if I have... with all the exercise & semi-healthy eating I do?
*  any vitamin deficiency  - which I'm curious about myself since I havent eaten meat in over a year... I'm already anemic so anxious to see if that has effected me any
*   for any rheumatic issues - arthritis, lupus - he said he did find it odd that I have so many aches & pains for someone who exercises so much.  I told him I thought I had aches & pains FROM exercising so much.  But with the tendon in my hand, my bicep tendonitis & constant knee pain, he was interested in this test.
*   & he also wanted to check my blood for any sort of toxic poisoning... I'm REALLY anxious to hear about these results.

He wanted to do an EMG but I asked him to wait on that since I'm self insured & my health insurance is probably already going to be INSANE with the rate at renewal time with the MRI, & all these doctor visits & potentially a shoulder surgery... he agreed & canceled that test but said if its not better in a few weeks or these tests show nothing, then we may have to do it.

So in the end, I left with a prescription for Neurotin.  I told him I hate hate HATE medicine....(He probably HATES people like me as patients) .... I asked what the side effects were & he said "drowsiness" - I told him I was the kind of gal that would take a sinus pill & be knocked out for 2 days.  He said people take up to 3000 mg a day of this pill but he wants me to take 100 mg.. I said, "Can I cut that in half?" - he just laughed at me.. but I was dead serious.  He said he actually wanted me to take 100 mg 3 times a day - & I said ok, "I'll compromise, I'll take one pill a day"... he just laughed & shook his head at me...

yep - he probably wishes I woulda got pushed off to anotherneurologist...

so we wait for the test results - we see if this neurotin helps.

I asked if I would have to stay on this med forever.  If the neuropathy was caused by some sort of environmental cause (aka being poisoned by my husband.... KIDDING!) then my nerves would heal... abet SLOWLY... but eventually I would be able to get off the medicine.  If its from another illness (diabetes, vitamin deficiency) then we could work on that cause & hopefully stop the neuropathy as well.  But if its just neuropathy with no real reason (which also happens sometimes) - then yes, I may have to stay on Neurotin for the rest of my life...

dang it... I hate medicine...

so we'll see what happens.  I go back in 8 weeks... welcome to the world of getting in the cycle of doctor's visits.

...sigh... heavy sigh...

but at least I'm praying I get some relief...

& even more, that I'm not being poisoned...

....that's always a bummer...

7 comments:

  1. Ok so first of all, RICKY BRINGS YOU A PEPPERMINT PATTY EVERYDAY?!! (Note to self: speak with husband about new fantastic way to love on his wife through my love for Peppermint Patties :).

    Moving on.....

    I took Nuerontin years ago and it really helped me. I don't like meds either and generally react pretty poorly, but I did alright with it.

    I'm so sorry friend. Yesterday was Nuerologists day I guess, as I visited mine too :)

    Love you friend ~~. Have a Super Blessed day,
    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you use lipstick? Did you see where they discovered that some lipsticks contain dangerous levels of metal in them? Just wanted to make you aware of that in case it could be something that simple.

    This is all so weird and crazy! Praying for some answers for you friend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hate to break it to you - but it's the tea, coupled with coke withdrawal. Just kidding - that's probably NOT the culprit.

    Here's hoping they figure it out SOON - & that the new med is helpful & not annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh stink! I'm thinking environmental too, because you are taking care of yourself otherwise. I hope and pray and answer comes up soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So much to comment on, so I'll just state this:

    Diabetes isn't always due to things you do or don't do, sometimes it just is.

    ReplyDelete
  6. See, meat really IS good for you...

    Kidding, kidding. Kind of.

    Hope the Neurotin works for you until they find the cause. Maybe it IS that new facial kit? That would be weird, but way better than being poisoned.

    Keep me posted on your lab results!

    ReplyDelete

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