for those that wonder how long it took me to get diagnosed with Fibro....

for those that wonder how long it took me to get diagnosed with Fibro....

I have had arthritis since the age of 22 (back in 1980) but It took about 4 yrs for my doc to diagnose me with Fibromyalgia  (from approx 2003 to 2007) ..thats because he tested me for everything under the sun first.. which is what any doctor should do... to rule out anything else.....

I also went thru PT and epidurals and all kinds of blood work etc .. I have OA all over my body... I went to two rheumatologists... the 1st one was years ago and he could not help me any... plus he was real old... The 2nd one was a couple years ago and he confirmed the Fibro and OA even though I was already diagnosed... but I dumped him because he had no bed side manner at all and acted like he didnt care... 

right now I am going to pain management, (as you can read in my past posts) but this is for more pain issues I have adopted on top of all my other crap.. My lower lumbar MRI shows bulging discs, facet disease, lipomatosis, stenosis etc. and the pain I was having down there and in hips and thighs and sciatic pain was unbearable.. I could not walk or stand for more than 5 minutes at a time ...

I had my 3rd epidural in a series of 3--- 2 weeks ago.. It seems like the last one did a lot more than the 1st two did... I have ant appt Aug 22nd to discuss how much they worked (or not) and for how long.... So far it has lasted the 2 weeks.. Im hoping they at least last 4 mos each because she does not do more than 3 in one year after the initial first 3... if they dont work she is going to do nerve block... UGH! 

Im not saying it did anything for my Fibro pain etc but this helped the pain I had gotten in my lower lumbar over and above the normal Fibro and OA pain... So I can at least walk more than 5 minutes now and I even went grocery shopping without hubby for the 1st time in about a year... 

I also have an Orthopedic surgeon which I have had since about 2004 .. He did orthoscopic surgery on my shoulder for frozen shoulder in 2004 (repaired rotator cuff and bone spurs) and he said as far as my OA in my knees and hips he cant do anything more for me right now until I need my hip replaced and he wants to wait til Im in my 60's at least... Im 55 right now.. He said the later the better... so now I just live with whatever issues I have the best can ..which is all I can do ....

I also have had every med for Fibro under the sun and then some ...... tried them all and I mean ALL... none worked or had very bad side effects...   So right now I take  100mg tramadol 3 times a day and diclofenac twice a day along with my BP meds and triglyceride med and asthma med and allergy med and gerd med .......  I also have started taking quite a few supplements which I will list in my next post....  

Hope you are all having a not so painful day!
Take care

Hugs

Nancy

http://nancysnook58.weebly.com

epidurals continued....

seems like the last epidural has helped quite a bit with my lower lumbar issues...
I went to the grocery store myself Thurs morn to see if I could handle it
without hubby with me and I did ...
It was just too humid out there for me but as far as walking etc I did better
than I had in  over a year...

I also went walking with hubby around our block at 9:30 pm  which was
still humid out and because of the humidity I barely made it around..due to my
asthma issues...  If it was a lot cooler I could have made more than one round
which is what I was testing to see what my pain level would be ...

so for now I will just start using my Tony Little eliptical we have downstairs again which is like back and forth skiing motion in mid air..  Has no impact on my arthritic joints which is why I purchased it...
Plus I dont have to worry about the weather =)

Once the weather cools down a whole lot I will walk around the block again cuz its the
only exercise I can get now ...  

I had an appt for this Tues for follow up with Pain
Management but that wasnt even 2 weeks after my last epidural so I re-scheduled for Aug 22nd...
I want to see how long this epidural works  for longer than  1 1/2 weeks time...

I am worried about 1 of my 2 kitty cats...She's only 2 1/2 yrs old and she has not been
eating much within the past week, plus she has been cleaning herself a whole lot more than
normal and pulling pieces of hair out of her coat... leaving it all over the place...
She's also not playing like she use to.. And she's meowing a whole lot more...She's hiding
all the time which she has never done ...  She's just been acting
very weird compared to her normal and we havent changed any routine or food or anything here
Im going to call the vet to get her in Sat morn if we can or Monday  because Im worried
about her not eating much...  That can cause liver damage in kitties...  I hope they find whatever is
wrong so we can get her back to normal... She was always such a playful little girl...

well I will talk to you later!
Have a Pain Free day everyone!
Love n Hugs,
Nancy
http://nancysnook58.weebly.com

 I had my 3rd injection (in a series of my first 3) this past thurs (started June 26th) and as far as pain relief goes the 3rd one did the trick, only I dont like how my insides feel...

Im shaky in the stomach and arms, and feel more fatigued for some reason...this happened with each injection...Its the steroids because when I had to take steroids for my chronic bronchitis I felt the same way... 

I also dont know how long this will last.. time will tell..

Doc said if this works then she only gives 3 per year... I have an appt for Tues next week but I think I will cancel because the pain is a whole lot less and I can walk and stand more than 5 mins again where before I couldnt...... I will call if the pain gets real bad again... 

she said the next appt if this 3rd one didnt work that she was going to do do a Lumbar Medial Branch Nerve Block which you can read about herehttp://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/medial-branch-nerve-blocks-risks-complications-and-follow-results and then if that took ok, she would do the radiofrequency neurotomy ... that you can read about here http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/radiofrequency-neurotomy-facet-and-sacroiliac-joint-pain ....... 

so Im hoping these first 3 epidurals really keep the pain away for a long time so I dont have to go thru all that other stuff.... The epidurals were for lower lumbar severe pain of facet disease, bulging discs, foranimal stenosis, dorsal epidural lipomatosis... It seemed to have also helped my OA pain in my lower back and hips too... but as I said who knows how long this will last me ... 

I also dont know how much of these 3 visits we will have to pay... I saw one visit was $2200... I have medicare and secondary Ins. so Im hoping my part wont be much... or I will be sicker!!

Our dinner tonight was good at cheesecake factory! We hardly ever go out much but we celebrated our 12th Anniv which is Aug 1st  =)

I hope I can shake this crappy feeling from the epidurals...

I feel crappy enough without extra crappy added to it!   =)

Have a super nice week everyone!

Hugs,
Nancy

http://nancysnook58.weebly.com

Had my 3rd epidural

well I went last Thurs for my 3rd epidural .. I told her about the sciatic pain and she
made sure she injected more toward that way.. She also gave me a script for Norco which she said to only use if I need it...  I took one Thurs night and one Fri night...  I didnt take one last night cuz I want to see if the epidurals are working or not ...so I will stay off of them til I know if the pain is better or not.... So far my lower back feels better anyway..at least I can walk and stand more without  severe pain down there ... I will have to see how long it lasts...

She has me coming back in 2 weeks to see if they worked and if not she will do a Lumbar Medial Branch Nerve Block which you can read about here http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/medial-branch-nerve-blocks-risks-complications-and-follow-results  ... That is a kind of a test to see if the radiofrequency neurotomy will work for me or not...   that you can read about here http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/radiofrequency-neurotomy-facet-and-sacroiliac-joint-pain .......

I am so hoping the epidurals work  so I dont have to go thru the next two procedures listed above......
my next appt. is for Tues Aug 5th.. but if I feel that the 3 epidurals have worked I will call and talk to the doctors nurse hoping I wont have to go back for a while... I esp want to see what my part of all these bills will be also... Im hoping both Insurances cover most of it..  They only do 3 epidurals in a years time which means they would have to last 4 mos each time... and Im not sure if that will happen...   time will tell...

I am going to go grocery shopping with hubby on Tues to see if my walking improves any..
on a happier note we are also going to Cheescake Factory Tues for dinner to celebrate our 12th Anniv. (my 2nd marriage) which is Thurs Aug 1st...  And Cheescake factory on that day is having half off cheescake slices!   YUM!!  We only go there about once a year to treat ourselves!  =)   Their food is good too!

well I hope you all have as much of a pain free day as possible...
Take care and talk to you soon
Love n Hugs,

visit my homepage  http://nancysnook58.weebly.com

My epidural injections...

Hi all

well I have been going to the hospital for epidurals in my lower lumbar
for a month now... They give a series of 3 initially and I had 2 already
Go for my 3rd one next Thursday....
Reason Im going is I had an MRI done in Feb and it shows bulging discs,
stenosis, facet disease, lipomatosis, renal cyst...
and thats on top of my Fibro., OA all over, CFS, ibs, gerd, heel spurs,
asthma, chronic inflammation, chronic bronchitis, etc

I am hoping these will work for me as I cannot walk or stand for more than
5 minutes without having to sit ... The pain is that bad.....

but Im having an issue since I started the epidurals... seems my sciatic nerve
in the right side  goes down my butt and down the back of my left leg ..
It is very painful  and it seemed to only have started bad since my epidurals started
Not happy with that ...  so i have to mention that to my Pain Management doc when
I go for the 3rd injection.....   She also said if this doesnt work we can discuss
other injections....

I am so hoping Medicare and United Health Care covers this for me...
The 1st visit was $2200  OUCH!     so that times 3 visits   yikes!
I hope we dont have to pay much or I wont be able to continue going!

well I need to go take meds and supplements
Talk to you soon!
Nancy


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Hugs,
Nancy

Hi everyone,

Havent posted in a SUPER long time..Was hoping we could get this Blog hopping!  Please share this Blog with Fibro Warriors like yourself..... We could all use a Fibro. friend!  

Hows everyone doing ?

Well,  its been a long time since I posted because I saw that no one was joining in and I felt like I was talking to myself! ha! (I dont have the money to advertise so I was hoping whoever stops by can pass along my url to friends and family etc)... And then I thought well, maybe thats a good thing! hehe! At least it releases what I'm feeling and that could be therapeutic for me ...

I had a rough July and part of August with this high heat...  Lots of inflammation which makes my Fibro. and OA pain so much worse...  I hadnt even gone out much in the last month or so.. Maybe only once or twice  to go to the store.... Talk about cabin fever...  Then last week Wed (Aug 3) I had to go to my doc because I  could hardly walk due to my left heel hurting severely... It started two weeks before that and it got worse.. So I went and he said I had Achilles Tendonitis - Bursitis  down there...  OUCH!!  He sent me to the hospital to get fitted for an ankle boot (which goes up to my knee)  to wear until it heals!  I have to wear it all day and even when I go to bed all night (or whenever it is my body says I need sleep) I had bursitis in my shoulders before and that is painful but THIS in the heel is so much worse and with Fibro. pain etc its unbearable to walk on ...   This boot is awkward and heavy and itchy etc ....  blah!

I also got anti inflammatory patches to use while Im wearing the boot... I already take anti inflammatory pills and Ultram for my OA and Fibro. so he couldnt give me more.. 
So today Aug 10th I went back to the doc for follow up and it has gotten a little better so he said to wear the boot just when Im in bed and keep it off during the day and see how that goes... It still hurts quite a bit but not like last week ...  
After the doc today hubby took me to the grocery store  and after walking the store today I was hurting quite a bit...

I have issues with OA pain  in my hips and knees and feet etc  and when I wear this dang boot it makes the OA  (esp on my left side hurt way worse than normal)  because Im walking unevenly with this boot on and it makes the joints hurt a lot more...
So while trying to heal this pain in my heel  Im getting more pain in my Fibro. and OA...
Viscous cycle!!.....

I sure cant wait til I dont have to wear this boot... and I also cant wait for Fall to get here... Summer really makes me hurt a lot... I cant tolerate heat  and when it was so hot and humid this past 5 weeks or so I had to keep an inhaler with me just in case...  I never ever had to use an inhaler before .. I got one in March when I had to go to the emergency room  cuz I couldnt breathe one night and it turned out to be my bronchitis..(I get it every year and lasts about amonth)..  So amongst other things they did,  they gave me an inhaler to use  and now I asked my doc if I could get refills for summer (when its so hot and humid)  and he said yes...

So Fibro. brings on a whole lot of other issues (which I have) like CFS, RLS, GERD, IBS, bronchitis taking forever to go away (It doesnt bring on bronchitis but having Fibro. takes it a whole lot longer to heal pretty much anything!)  and with my OA I have swelling issues which aggravate the Fibro. more... 

My pain level is usually pretty high every single day even with taking Ultram and Diclofenac and tylenol Arthritis .. Plus all my supplements ... But without them I couldnt even function at all ... 

I just wish I could do more in my day ... Feel like a failure a lot of times not being able to clean my house spotless daily like I use to and go out whenever I wanted or needed to etc etc...     I do cook for my hubby all the  time... Even though that hurts me a lot I do it anyway,  I like to cook for him and he shouldnt have to suffer not getting meals just because Im in pain ...  The only time I dont cook for him is when I really really cant move ...  And he is such an understanding soul... I am so lucky to have my hubby , he helps me so much and does a lot around here ....   So I was blessed the 2nd time around ; )

well I need to get off right now..  Its  2:20 am and I still am not in bed.. Prob wont be for a little while either... I sleep during the day on the recliner end of my couch cuz laying in bed too long  makes me hurt a lot more (and then during the day I get so sleepy from not sleeping I just pass out on the couch) .......

Hope to hear from you soon!  Take care and hope you have  at least a little less pain in your day !

Love n Hugs,
Nancy

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