Health Update

Dear Friends and Family-

Many of you have been asking for an update on my medical situation. Some of you know more than others but I’m just going to tell everything I know!

My migraines: I saw a neurologist a few months ago. He gave me a new pill and I’ve been really careful with my diet-avoiding anything that can possibly be a trigger for migraines. I have only had a few migraines since then. I’m very happy with that progress.

My back: I have two bulging disks in my lower back and two in my neck. Because of this, I have a lot of pain in my back, neck, and shoulders. The pain is usually on the right side but recently has been extending into the left.  I saw two surgeons and a neurologist about their opinions on surgery. All three of them said no. I am going with a doctor named Mark Reichman (at the IMC in Murray). He prescribed: physical therapy, regular exercise to strengthen my core and to lose weight, do another injection, and take anti-inflammatory pills.

I’m seeing a physical therapist a few times per week and we are doing a technique called “Lumbar Stabilization.” Basically, when you look at a spine-there is support from the ribs towards the top and the hips from the bottom. The lower back only has muscles and tendons surrounding it. I have to learn how to stabilize those muscles to protect my back from getting more damaged. As I am able to stabilize then I will be able to do more with less pain. I’ve started swimming as well to help my back. I’ve lost a couple of pounds in the past few weeks from trying to eat better and going to the gym nearly every day. I will schedule for the injection soon.

Long-term plan-In 8 weeks I will check back in with Dr. Reichman. If the PT and dieting and such are helping then I will keep doing that. If there is no improvement at all-he will think about surgery. He said that by the time I’m 35, I will need to get the disks fused which is a start of other surgeries-which we obviously don’t want. But if it is the only thing that will get me out of pain, that is what we will do.

The rest of my body: I’ve been having a lot of pain in my arms and legs. It is hard to explain the pain sometimes. Pain in my joints-elbows, knees, ankles, wrists, and shoulders are fairly frequent but come and go. A few different times in my arms-there will just be constant dull pain and then when I try to do things with my hands-as simple as typing or moving an ice pack—and sharp pain will shoot up my arms. Sometimes it only goes to my elbows; other times all the way up towards my shoulders. There is also weakness fairly often. If Iay down and try to read or text by holding the book/phone above me-I don’t last very long. My arms begin to hurt and are extremely weak. Areas have also become sensitive to the touch; just touching the top of my arm-just above my wrist-can cause pain and sensitivity.

My legs are doing the same thing. Last Saturday, I went to Ikea with my aunt and mother. About 10 minutes into the store, my right leg began hurting in general-just dull, constant pain. Then with each step, massive pain would come. I couldn’t put any weight on that foot without pain. Within another 15 minutes my other leg was the exact same. I tried to push through it-but that was impossible. My aunt ended up pushing me on one of those furniture carts.

I talked to my neurologist about this yesterday. We went through all of the pain points associated with fibromyalgia. He is pretty certain that is what I have. He asked that I do an EMG and see a Rheumatologist. He wants these things done to make sure no major nerve damage is done. Tomorrow, I will go back for a nerve conduction study. I looked up the definitions online so I didn’t explain things incorrectly:

An electromyogram (EMG) measures the electrical activity of muscles at rest and during contraction. Nerve conduction studies measure how well and how fast the nerves can send electrical signals.

Nerves control the muscles in the body with electrical signals impulses. These imputlses make the muscles react in specific ways. Nerve and muscle problems cause the muscles to react in abnormal ways.

If you have leg pain or numbness, you may have these tests to find out how much your nerves are being affected. These tests check how well your spinal cord, nerve roots, and nerves and muscles that control your legs are working.

A rheumatologist is a board-certified internist or pediatrician who is qualified by additional training and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of arthritis and other diseases of the joints, muscles, and bones. **They specialize with things such as fibromyalgia.

I’m waiting on the rheumatologist until we find someone that accepts my insurance. That may still be a few months before I get in.

For now, I’m going to work with my current physical therapist and make sure that I’m getting enough exercise but not too much. Either one can hurt me more-I just need the perfect amount. Getting the right amount of exercise can bring up to 20% improvement.

I’m also on another medication. This is used to treat epilepsy but I take it at a lower dosage. Dr. Goldstein says that it is a harmless drug-it won’t damage my insdies by taking it for long periods of time. Taking the medications can bring up to 10% improvement.

Dr. Goldstein says that for someone with fibromyalgia having 30-40% improvement is great improvement. I will have to find the balance of not letting the pain stop me from living but know where my boundaries are so that I don’t hurt myself more.

I think that is a pretty in-depth summary of what is going on right now. It is hard to deal with and takes a lot of time to go to all the doctors, to physical therapy, to the gym, to do my PT stretches on my own, my own personal research…but I’m hoping that some improvements can come. I just have to take it one step at a time!!

Thanks for your support and concern!

Cydnee