The unknown will get you everytime!

Let's just say this has been a crazy experience for me and my family. I am blessed to have an answer to the symptoms I have been having and excited to have some relief. There have been many questions as to what my symptoms have been. I will start at the beginning and go from there.

I remember rocking DeLani in her glider and suddenly feeling as if I had electricity running up the entire side of my body. (19months ago) It was so intense that I actually looked at the closest outlet to me to see if something was shooting out of it.(OK I know that sounds weird, but it was that strong) By the way I know a lot of this is going to sound weird but after 19 months of it I was searching for anything. The electricity stopped after a few minutes and I went on with my evening. I wrote it off to my body "getting back to normal" after just having my 2nd c-section in 2 years. (Yes, I pulled a Brittany Spears and had them 15 months apart) I then started having headaches that were so bad I was having trouble driving. My primary ordered a CT scan of my brain that was normal. She sent me on my way telling me it was stress. The base of my skull and top of my neck hurt so bad on a daily basis that all I wanted to do was lay down to relieve the pain. I didn't care if I was in Price chopper, I wanted to lay down and lay down now. I didn't ever lay down in Price Chopper by the way, but the freezer section is where I would have if I did.

Poor Pat was so sick of rubbing my shoulders on a daily basis I felt bad asking anymore, but he always did it. Then the pain started traveling through my shoulder and into my left arm, tingling, numb, and painful. I am left handed so I write, carry my purse, work bag and kids all on my left side. I saw the Chiro, acupuncture and massages and tried to change my habits of using this arm so much.

About 3 months later the Dr looked into possibility of stroke, that wasn't scary or anything being in the office doing the tests to see if there were signs of stroke or not. (these tests did come in handy later) They then ordered a treadmill test to rule out any heart conditions causing the pain. From here on things progressed rapidly, I was having abdominal pain, chest pain, muscle twitches all over my body,and everything was on the left sideand major fatigue. Again more tests were run and stress was the answer I got every time. The left side of my neck started feeling very strained and it was beginning to be difficult to swallow and catch my breath at times. I started getting frequent dizzy spells. I also have been dealing with some kind of barometric pressure in my head when I leave one climate to another. I went to an ear, nose and throat Dr about this and was told "you are a medical mystery", seriously he said that to me. My left eyeball (not eye lid) started twitching or spasming. Others couldn't really see it so don't picture me walking around looking like a googly eyed freak but I could feel it and it was painful after a while. I started having shooting pains in my face again on the left side. Went back to Dr, and again the stroke tests... Sent me home saying I needed more sleep!

The final straw was when my leg stopped working twice. I now know this is called "drop attacks". My leg just went dead, not asleep with pins and needles but just dead. On one occasion my girlfriend Laurie had to help me out of our favorite Taco via to my car with the dangling leg. I knew THIS IS NOT GOOD. This is when the MRI was finally ordered after I basically said I wanted it done. All of the symptoms on a daily basis on top of working full-time and handling my babies were getting to be to much for me to take.

Now let's add the mental part of it. After Dr visit after visit of hearing that it is stress and you need anti-depressants I started to think I was loony. You know your body better then anyone and if you feel "off" you must stay on top of it. I started logging what I was feeling because the symptoms come and go and aren't all there everyday. You must be your own advocate. I suggest keeping your personal life out of Dr. visits. Let me say that I really like my primary Dr, so I am not "blaming her" just seems that young people are often over looked with chronic pain. When she asked if I had a lot of stress at the time I was truthful and told her... I just started a new job, my husband started his own business, we have 2 babies under 2 and we just built a new house... Who doesn't have stress, but I feel that from that point on it was easier to blame things on stress. I wonder if I wouldn't have shared anything with her would I have had an earlier diagnosis? Six of one half dozen of another, doesn't matter now.

If I can share anything with anyone it is to stay on top of your health care providers if you aren't feeling right. You know your body better then anyone. Now this doesn't mean google every ache and pain or you will go nuts with the things that pop up. A pain in your little toe could be a symptom of some rare cancer, don't go there. The hardest part of all this was trying to stop my mind from running. When I lay down at night is when my "brain pain" is the worst. I would lay there at night praying that I wasn't going to have an aneurysm or stroke that night. I even did the "stroke tests" to myself to make sure I still passed them. It was so scary feeling these things happening in my body with no answers. All I knew is I had to figure it out to be healthy for my family. Now that I have a diagnosis and treatment plan and am working on letting go of those unknown fears I had developed over this period of time. I am just glad I stayed on top of things because my condition can cause paralysis over time if untreated. I am fortunate to have only had mine last this long, I have read about people having the symptoms for 15 years! (Again watch out how much you read on the Internet, can be dangerous). So there are my last 19 months in a nut shell. It has been hard but I kept going for my girls. The last couple months have been the hardest and at times I told my mom I wasn't sure I could live like this. Chronic pain of any kind is not fun but it adds to the stress of it when you don't know where it is coming from or why. Still thanking God for an answer and excited for relief.