"It's not Lupus..." -House, MD

I can’t tell you how relieved I am to finally have some answers from the doctor. I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It’s nothing that is life threatening or contagious. It is something that I will probably have all of my life but it is manageable with medicine, diet and moderate exercise. To make a long story short, I have overly sensitive nerves in my body that make normal activities feel like torture. Interestingly enough, my epilepsy, endometriosis, sleep issues and hypoglycemia are all connected too. Who would have thought?

My test results came back fine except for some high cholesterol and blood in my urine. The doctor prescribed Lyrica, an anti-seizure drug that has recently been approved for the treatment of Fibromyalgia along with Fish Oil caplets (mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon) and Omega 3. I took my first dose last night. Let me tell you, the Fish Oil is fun to burp up!

The doctor has been fantastic. He got my charts from my other doctors and studied them as a whole. Finally! Someone is putting all of the pieces together. I don’t feel like a crazy woman anymore! I’ve had these symptoms for years. I’ve always felt very “in tune” with my body. I can tell you the second something changes. Growing up, I know that my friends thought I was a clumsy, nut job or a hypochondriac with sleep issues. It was this constant battle between 1.) I know something isn’t right with my body and 2.) People think I’m nuts and keep running to the doctor on every whim. So I would quit talking about it and try to hide my physical pain as much as I could. This year, it got to be too much. Finally, I’ve got some answers!

The medicine so far makes me pretty subdued and a little sleepy. I had a little issue last night with muscle twitching but nothing major. I’ve yet to start the diet part but will be doing that this week. The doctor also recommended acupuncture if my insurance will cover it. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Maybe massage therapy is covered. I’d be much more comfortable with that instead a million needles stuck in my body. :) I’m also supposed to keep a “pain journal” that I record what hurts, when and what I was doing when it started to hurt.

Thank you for all of your support. You guys have been amazing!

Love,
Rachel

Health Update

UPDATE
Monday, April 21, 2008
I went to the doctor today... eh.... *sigh* I think I found one that is going to be really good, very patient. He spent almost an hour talking to me about what's going on. I didn't know this when I called to make an appointment but he is actually trained in muscle pain and such. Good for me. :) The other thing that was really cool was when the nurse called me into the room, she was carrying a laptop instead of my chart. Apparently, the "new thing" is that all of the charts are digital and accessed over their wireless network. You know I love the computers. lol As for the serious stuff, I'm going to go this week for a full blood panel to see what's going on with my body. Based on my symptoms and medical history, the doctor said I'm a huge candidate for an autoimmune disease. So, he's testing to see this week for 4 specific things: Multiple Sclerosis, Thyroid diseases, Diabetes or an Iron Deficiency. He said "We'll start there". Good, but freaky. You know? I'm trying relax but my mind is racing with worry. I keep praying that God would 1. Heal me 2. Give the doctor's answers and wisdom and 3. Give me and my family some peace. The doc said that if I can get the test done in the next day or so, then we'd probably have the results in a few days. Anyway, that's all I know as of right now. Thanks for asking and for praying. I'll keep you posted as I hear info.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I went today for the blood tests. Little did I know that a vampire was taking my blood. LOL Seven viles, one finger stick and one urine test later, I got to leave. :) The nurse said that I should hear in 2 to 3 days what the results are. Here’s to waiting… :)

Much too young...

It’s about time that I made an update on life. I’ve been reluctant to post this since I’m still coming to terms with this myself. But hey, I need all of the help I can get right now. :o) I’ve been sick and in pain for quite a while and have finally gotten a doctor’s appointment to figure out what the heck is going on with my body. I’ve had most of these symptoms for several years stretching way back into high school and beyond. But lately, they seem to have gotten more pronounced. Since John just changed jobs in January, we’ve had to find a new family doctor that is on our new insurance…not that we really had one before…the kids did though. LOL I finally sat down and wrote out a list of all of my symptoms…

*Pain mainly on my right side (arm, leg, back, shoulders, neck, jaw, all joints)
*Muscles around the joints feel really tight and painful
*Occasional tingling in the right leg and arm
*Headaches
*Sleep for 8 hours but feel like I haven’t went to bed at all
*Have to urinate almost every hour (yeah, I know you wanted to know that…lol)
*Tired ALL of the time
*Achy ALL of the time (to the point where it hurts to move around at all sometimes)
*Thirsty constantly
*Dry, scaly rash/patch that comes and goes on my forearms, legs and back
*Stiff joints after laying down or sitting for a while
*Right side feels week and heavy
*Keep losing handfuls of hair when I’m in the shower or brush my hair
*Muscles around my chest feel achy

I have some “good days” where I feel fine except for some annoying throbbing pain but most of the time I feel like I’ve been squished by a Mack truck.

Combine that with my medical history of Epilepsy, Endometriosis, Laparoscopic Cholycystectomy (gallbladder removal as a teen) and Rotator Cuff repair surgery as well as my family’s medical history:

Father: Hypoglycemia, Arthritis and Epilepsy

Mother: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Diabetes, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and High Blood Pressure

Maternal Grandmother: Hyperthyroidism, Rheumatoid Arthritis, COPD and Bladder Cancer

Maternal Grandfather: Diabetes, Stroke, Kidney Failure, Arthritis and COPD

Paternal Grandmother: Stroke, Several Heart Attacks, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Arthritis

Paternal Grandfather: Arthritis and Brain Aneurism


We’re “healthy”, aren’t we? LOL ;o)

Needless to say, I’ve been a bit freaked out about going to the doctor to see what is actually going on. You know me, I love the internet so I have looked up every disease known to man. Did you know that there is actually a “Symptom Checker”? You can check all of your symptoms off on a list online and it will spit out all of the diseases that have those symptoms in common. It’s good information but I know that some doctors would cringe at the thought of all of us “self diagnosing” ourselves. :o) The top diseases that it says I’m a candidate for are Thyroid diseases, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis.

Anyway, to make long story short, I finally have an appointment on Monday at 10:00 AM. It took forever to find someone who was taking new patients but hopefully I’ve found the right one. If not, I’ll keep looking. I’ve been to the doctor before for some of these symptoms – chiropractor for back/neck pain, neurologist for epilepsy and numbness (several years ago), regular doctor for arm/leg pain (doc said he thought I just pulled a muscle…Nope!), regular doctor for my sleeping issues (he contributed it to having 2 small kids). None of these symptoms have gone away especially since they have been treated individually. I’m ready to come in on Monday prepared with my list of issues. I want someone to finally look at all of this as a whole. Is it connected or not? Who knows? I’m just ready to 1). Know what’s going on and 2). Deal with it or let it go away.

So, that’s where I’m at. A little scared. Very tired and very much in pain most of the time. Oh, and it makes me annoyed sometimes that I can’t always do what I want to do physically. Just walking up the stairs to go to bed at night is a chore. I sometimes walk up like a dog climbing the stairs, on all fours, because it feels better that way than standing straight up.

I’m not one for asking for help or prayer for myself. I’m the oldest of 5 kids and you know that means that I think I can handle it all and “fix it” myself. I think I’m the one that is supposed to take care of YOU! LOL But I can’t do it all. Chances are that Monday is going to be a consultation, especially since I’m a new patient, and then I might be sent for some blood work and such. The waiting is going to be fun. Please pray that we figure out what is going on with my body and what to do about it. To borrow a phrase from Garth Brooks, “I’m much too young to feel this…um… old”.

Thanks guys. I love you all!
-Rachel