But, this post isn't a greeting, but an update. As many of my teafriends (or is that teafiends) know, I have been having some rather serious health problems of late. I wanted to let them all know how I was doing. MODS: Let me know if I need to take this post down - I was just looking for an easy way to do this that didn't involve me spending all day PMing folks.
If you don't know me and/or don't really care, please, feel free to skip this post. I will only mention tea a couple of times anyway
To the meat of the matter:
I had a bad dizziness/vertigo episode on Tuesday night and passed out just for a split second, twice. So, we went to the ER. I was examined and given antiverts which didn't really work and was admitted to the hospital around 11pm.
My stay was okay, if lonely and sometimes frustrating. The food was only slightly better than to be expected and the one time I ordered iced tea the stuff was so fowl I could only drink two sips. I didn't bother with the hot tea option as I assume it would be the same stuff just heated up. So, I went THREE WHOLE DAYS without tea!!
One of the doctors on my rotation was a *bleep* of an internist who seemed to think nothing was wrong with me and that I shouldn't be there. We women often get these kind of doctors who think we are just whiney babies. His type is the reason Lupus went unnoticed and untreated for so bloody long. So, I won't spend any time talking about his ideas and comments because they aren't particularly worth repeating.
I did have a nuerologist assigned to me as well. His examination was more fruitful and enlightening. For one, I was told that when the ENT office had called to say there were no visible tumors they were referring to my inner ear (which is what THEY were concerned with). What I wasn't told was that due to my braces the back lower part of my brain was not well imaged. It was warped. The neurologist spoke with the radiologist who noted that it looked like I might have a congenital issue with part of my brain, but the images were too warped to make a positive diagnosis. What they THINK they can see are elongated cerebral tonsils. These are bits of the cerebrum which hang down along the cortex. If they are too long they can eventually become pinned between the cortex and the ring that holds the base of the skull to the spine. This causes stiffness in the neck (which I have) and prevents enough oxygen from getting to areas of the brain which relate to vision and stability.
They attempted a CT scan of the area - I have not heard back about that, but he was fairly certain we wouldn't really be able to see anything in that image - but it was worth a try.
The neurologist, who went personally to the lab to check on my blood work noted something that no one has told me before. My red blood cells are smaller than normal (about 2/3rds the size of normal cells). This means that the hemoglobin that is carried by those cells is often missing a type (alpha or beta). This is called Thalassemia and there are a wide range of group disorders associated with it. So, the neurologist is have another doctor look into that for me. This would not BE the issue, but could exacerbate the real issue.
There are a few other things on his list of possiblities, but he says they are low on the list and most likely NOT the case, but if/when all else fails we can go down those avenues.
My regular ENT has also sent me to an Otologist who specializes in vertigo and dizziness. He has his own ideas, as per his knowledge base. His best guess right now is that I am caught in a vicious cycle where at some point I either got dizzy enough to cause a migraine or vice versa, the migraines cause the dizziness to get worse and vice versa in a cyclic pattern. He has given me a cocktail of drugs to try out for awhile; prednisone (
), zofran and valium. No antivert as it wasn't working anyway.I have been told not to drive, so we have to learn to deal with our busy lives with just one driver. I am gonna look at bus routes and see if it is a possibility for me to be able to continue working and getting around when no other option is available.
In about 2.5 weeks I go in for more tests and an assessment of the cocktail to see if we tweak it, change it, leave it alone or what. In the meantime.....we wait....and drink tea!!!
Cheers!
