Diseased Gallbladder Wrecks Havvoc

I had my gallbladder out on February 25, 2013.  After taking two trips to the ER in January and having all tests come back normal, I finally saw my GI doctor on February 13th.  I told him when they injected the nuclear medicine it set off my headaches and all my "right sided" gut and back pain.  He said that was enough to warrant taking out the gallbladder and sent me to a surgeon.  The surgeon said I was a "million dollar test" patient because when all the tests come back normal they have to go on symptoms, so she took out my gallbladder and I feel much better. My chronic daily headaches are gone.  My gut and back pain from eating are gone.  I'm still having my normal chronic back pain and I had a real bad widespread pain episode last Friday night after trying to do yoga earlier in the day, but I think all in all I'm doing better.

The pain behind my ears and in my temples I have found to be associated with high blood pressure and that is under control for the most part.  Caffeine, chocolate, and seratonin related drugs, and cold medicines aggravate it.  The problem is that those seratonin drugs used to really help with my chronic back pain so my back pain is out of control.  So basically I am treating the greater of the two evils, the headache. I did get some trigger point injections in my back on February 14th, but they haven't been very effective.

When my widespread pain hit last Friday I took one Oxycodone, then a few hours later took two more and got in a hot bath.  When that didn't help and I was still going out of my mind in pain, I took a Lyrica.  That did help calm things down and I was able to go to sleep.  My pain had resided by the time I woke up but I felt hung over and my body was limp, like a wet noodle.  I continued to take Lyrica for several evenings but found that I cannot wake up in the morning when my alarm goes off.  My daughter was late for school yesterday and today we just totally blew it off.  I did not take the Lyrica before bed last night and I woke up at 2am and as of now, 4am, I am still awake.  I can't win for losing.  Oh well, at least I'm not in pain right now.  I can live with a little lack of sleep if it's not caused by pain.

A Little of This and a Little of That

I know I said I wasn't going to enter any more posts for this blog but I've had some time now since I saw the last neurologist and I'm doing some experimenting/self evaluation to try to find relief from some of my symptoms.  I have determined the following:

1. The pain behind my ears, in my temples, and causing general scalp tenderness seems to be lessened substantially when I go off of all drugs that have to do with Seratonin.  I was taking 90mg of Cymbalta, a Seratonin Norepinephrin Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI) for Fibromyalgia.  I slowly reduced the dose and those symptoms mentioned above improved.  I stopped Cymbalta all together and those symptoms all but went away.  I believe these symptoms are now due to a condition called Seratonin Syndrome, which, by the way, can be FATAL.  While off of Cymbalta, my Fibromyalgia pain (primarily in my back) came back with a vengence, so I talked with my doctor about switching to Savella.  It is also an SNRI but has a threefold affect on Norepinephrine to Seratonin so I thought it might be able to address the Fibromyalgia without terribly affecting my head.  Unfortunately that is not the case.  The head pain is back and the Seratonin affect on the Fibromyalgia is not significant enough to help.  So now I am up tonight with head pain, back pain, and my trigeminal nerve is also acting up. I've taken Oxycodone, Tylenol, and Tizanidine (muscle relaxer), and Ambien.  Hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep soon and feel better in the morning.  I need to make an appointment with my primary care doctor and talk about what other options I have for treating Fibromyalgia without using Seratonin altering drugs.
2. Menopause/hormone imbalance.  I have been having hot flashes gallour and then am chilled episodes.  I keep telling my husband and daughter that my thermostat is broken.  I've been using Progesterone cream to help with the hot flashes, but it doesn't seem to do much. With the Progesterone cream, I do have a little more energy though and labido is returning.  My husband is happy about that :).   When the hot flashes occur it sets off the Trigeminal Nerve pain and the overall head tenderness and pain behind my ears.  Ice packs seem to help if it gets too bad.  I also need to ask my doctor to see if she can test my hormone levels and make any recommendations for treatment.  I've tried natural supplements for increasing Estrogen and that makes my head symptoms really bad, so that's why I tried the Progesterone.  I was reading that even if Estrogen levels are lowering, if there's no Progesterone (as is what happens when you stop ovulating), Estrogen dominance occurs causing the head aches, etc. so you need to supplement the Progesterone vs. the Estrogen.  I hope my cousin was right when she said hormone imbalance calms down around 56 or 57.  Only 4 or so years to go.
3. I'm starting some supplement therapy with a general whole food multivitamin for women (but it doesn't contain soy so it doesn't cause headaches), and another supplement that is supposed to be good for relieving inflamation.  I'm not sure if they are helping, but I know they are not hurting me, so I'm going to complete the 30 day supply and see if I feel any general health/well being improvements.
4. Physical fitness.  After the first of the year I'm going to start looking for a Tai Chi program.  I need to strengthen my core without setting off the Fibromyalgia everytime I work out.  From what I've read, Tai Chi is the best exercise program for that. 

So for the next year, I hope to strengthen my core muscles, increase my intake of nutrients via supplements and eating a more nutrient dense diet, go off of Seratonin altering drugs and find other options for treating my Fibromyalgia.  As for the head pain and trigeminal nerve pain there's not much I can do about that other than take opiod pain relievers and muscle relaxants.  I'm just praying that I can be more functional and a little happier to be around for my family's sake.  After all, who wants a Debbie Downer around all the time.  If there's anything I have learned from all this, it's to try to enjoy life through the pain because if I keep waiting for it to go away, I'm going to waste my life away and be a burden to my family.

Fibromyalgia Has Gone to my Head

I saw a second neuroogist today.  She was kind and listened and asked me why I came to her.  I said I wanted to know if there were any other tests to do to see if nerves were damaged or if there were any conditions left to rule out.  She said no.  My MRI of my brain from April looked good, in fact, not remarkable enough to warrant surgery of any kind.  My pain is too atypical and therefore there is nothing they can do for me since I cannot tollerate the anticonvulsant medications they use to treat this type of pain.  She mentioned that she believes the condition going on in my head is Fibromyalgia, so to me that means chronic, neverending, misery.  I'm very sad at that thought but guess I have to accept it.  I told my husband I'm done with doctors now.  I'm not going to chase this any more. I'll just take the drugs that I can tollerate and maybe eventually I'll get some relief on my own.  He thought that was a good idea.  I can't really afford to pay these doctors anyway, so I might as well just stick with my primary care physician and let her prescribe the pain maintenance meds. 

This will be the last post in this blog.  I guess the only thing I have left to say is that I'm too young to feel this damn old :(

It's Been Quiet from the Doctor Front.

The radio frequency (rf) treatment was not approved by the insurance company, so I'm waiting until my appointment with the new neurologist on November 7th before I schedule any more treatments from the pain management center.  I think the rf treatment was a shot in the dark anyway and I don't really have many, if any, other options. 

In the meantime, I got my thyroid checked to see if the nodules have grown since last year, that's a negative.  One less thing for me to think about :)  Well woman visit went well, gotta go for an annual mamogram. 

My head pain is unchanged; still there daily and unrelenting at night, thank goodness for drugs that knock me out and ice packs to lay my head on. 

On a better note, my social security disability was approved so there's some financial help on the way. 

Sorry this sounds so down in the dumps. My primary care doctor added Wellbutrin and took away Nortriptaline to see if it helps with my mood.  Maybe I'll be in better spirits next time.

Physical Therapy for your Head?

I went to a physical therapist at Barnes last Friday, her name is Jean.  She's the head of the PT portion of the rehab program I'm going to.  I mentioned to her when I was there last Thursday that I really had a stiff neck and it was causing alot of occipital nerve pain.  I also mentioned that the physical therapist that did my initial evaluation said there wasn't anything they could do for me from a physical therapy perspective. I also told her that I was referred to someone outside of the Barnes clinic that was going to charge me $90 hr that I didn't have to spend right now.  Jean said that she could help me and scheduled me for a visit on Friday.

She did some mild stretches with my neck and scalp as well as did some pressure point work.  I let her know when it hurt but overall thought the therapy was helpful.  After a couple of days I can say that it did help with the neck stress, but I'm still having a lot of episodes of pain in my head.  Jean suggested that I start a headache journal on a daily basis so that we can review any progress.  I started one and hope it will help.  It has a diagram with a model of a head in several positions, so it lets me draw exactly where my pain is and then I write notes below to describe it.  I will try to keep this up and take it to the neurologist on November 7th. 

I'm scheduled for a radio frequency procedure on October 16th.  I still haven't found out if the insurance will cover it.  I need to check back with the doctor's office tomorrow.  Glad I have the whereabouts to stay on top of this stuff. 

A Bump from a Log? Post Concussion Syndrome?

Today I was watching snipets on the sports channel on athletes and how they became disabled due to concussions.  It made me think back to August of 2011 when I got a concussion.  I was cutting the grass around a Bradford Pear tree in our front yard.  It has low branches, which I knew about, but somehow was concentrating so hard on cutting the grass beneath the tree that I hit my head smack against a low lying thick branch.  It knocked me backward almost off of the lawn mower.  I had the mental whereabouts to flip the switch to stop the blades and moved the tractor out from under the branch so I could sit up, but that was one hell of a blow.  I got a good goose egg on my head above my left eye right at the hairline.  I don't believe I got sick to my stomach later, but I was dazed and confused for several days.  I also had a persistent headache for about 4-6 weeks.  I thought I had overcome that, but what if some of my problems with my head and nerves and pain are caused by post concussion syndrome?  That is a good question I think I should ask my neurologist when I see her on November 7th.

If I remember right, I believe my symtoms eventually went away and I was fine by November when we went on a Thanksgiving Week trip to Disney World.  At Disney I did get a vertigo episode in the evening at the hotel on the day that I went on the Dumbo Ride with Jamie.  I attributed it to my Menier's Disease, but I wonder if I just had enough of a jolt in my head on that ride to bring back the concussion symptoms.  Hmmm.  Who knows?

I can't help but think that this could be why I have nerve/head pain on my forehead and directly above my eyes.  It could also explain the Occipital Neuralgia because my head was forcefully jerked backward when I hit the tree. 

Maybe I'm going down a wrong line of thinking but I think I need to include that information with the neurologist along with a request to take a good look at the nerves throughout my head and look for any damage or compression.  If found, identify which, if any, can be surgically corrected.  Because I cannot tollerate any of the anti-seizure meds, surgery is really the only option I want the neurologist to provide for me.  If I can even get half of these symptoms corrected or reduced with surgery, I would feel so much better.  We'll see.

I've decided to start tracking the symptoms going on in my head on a daily basis using outlines of a head front, back, and sides with a comment section under each.  This will allow me to graphically show where the pain is and then explain it in better terms.

In the meantime, I'm continuing with the Pain Management Rehab.  I have a few more weeks.  I think it's a good program and enjoy visiting with people who know what I'm going through.

Food and Pain.

Pizza, cheesy bread, cinamon rolls, cupcakes.  I might have well just given myself an I.V. of pain direct into my veins.  All those things I ate in one sitting at a birthday party for my husband's great niece at a pizza buffet place.  WTF was I thinking!!!! I'm in so much pain now I can't stand it and I know better.  I am really mad at myself right now.  So you may ask, "What's the connection with what you had for dinner and pain?"  GLUTEN is the reason.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and malt.  People with chronic pain often have an intollerance for gluten.  When the wheat protein enters your small intestine, your body treats it like a foreign object and the reaction you have to that foreign object is, guess what, PAIN.  So everything on the menu tonight was full of wheat, therefore, gluten, so I just basically overdosed myself with pain.

Other things that you ingest that cause pain are from preservatives and additives put in processed foods.  In particular Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Aspartame, and Cystene. MSG is found in most processed boxed and canned foods.  Aspartame is used in almost all diet sodas, Cystene is found in some processed foods.  So read the labels before you put that yummy processed food in your mouth.  The preservatives and additives are put there to make food last longer than it should and to make bland foods taste better.  So if you look at it that way, why would you want to eat it anyway. Unfortunately the industrialization of foods is killing us.  If I felt better I'd protest, but I don't, so I just need to be vigilent about not eating this stuff as well as gluten.

05/08/13
I want to add to this post that since I have had my gallbladder out on February 25th, I am still having severe pain in my back, on the left side, around my kidney after I eat anything of significance.  My doctor has put me on an elimination diet to see if I can find out exactly what foods are causing the attacks.  I'll create a new post in this blog with details.