What The Doctor Said
Well, today was the big visit with the doctor. In preparation, I emailed her a few days ago with a list of things that I absolutely needed to talk to her about and why and the two most important issues were the acid reflux and the muscular pain in my legs and elsewhere.
O.K. So I’ve got a new temp prescription for Prevacid but I have to go on Tuesday for bloodwork and when I come back I’ve got to have some tests for ulcers and for my gall bladder. I’m very tender to touch where my gall bladder is but then I’m tender everywhere but she wants to see if I’m just an acid machine or if something’s gone wrong in there; so there’s going to be an ultrasound and also a tube down my throat, which makes me gag just thinking about it, thanks.
She’s also scheduling me for some tests for fibromyalgia when I get back and some bloodwork for that also next Tuesday. This is due to the increase in my muscular pain and the tender points that I have. She noted that my joints do not appear swollen which is the first thing most people think is the problem because I’m overweight. It’s definitely the muscles that hurt.
Anyway, it takes time to get in with a specialist, of course; so they’ll set up the appointment while I’m in England.
In the meantime, she gave me a tranq for the airplane to help relax the muscles since the plane trips seem to aggrevate the problem and I end up in agony and told me to take Tylenol Extra Strength twice a day every day. She also gave me some tylenol with codiene to take with me on the trip in case I have a really bad day. Unfortunately, I should also be taking some sort of anti-inflamatory but because of my stomach, I can’t take Ibuprofen or Alleve.
We think that maybe last year’s car accident might have made whatever it is (if it is fibromyalgia) worse and now that I’m not all fogged down with the depression and actually active, I’m more aware of it.
Oh, and when I come back from England, she is looking in to seeing if my insurance will cover aqua-therapy even before the fibromyalgia work-up. Aqua-therapy is supposed to be really good for your joints and muscles, I’ve heard. Though I think it requires owning and wearing in public a bathing suit and I don’t think that’d be good for anyone…
Anyway, I’ve been chatting off and on with J this evening about fibromyalgia which she calls FM. She was diagnosed 10 years ago and she is what I would call a good role model of what to do right (as opposed to El who refuses to do any of the physical therapy, etc.). Anyway, talking to her has made me feel much more certain that I’m on the right track this time toward a real diagnosis. As I asked her questions about her symptoms and she described things to me, it was as if someone finally understood my pain, like a kindred spirit. She knew exactly what I was talking about when I talked about the weird aches and pains and bizarre symptoms like random limbs falling asleep for no apparent reason and the worsening of the pain in airplanes. I feel kind of relieved to have someone to talk to and ask questions and yet I understand that there’s no diagnosis yet.
tags: fibromyalgia, acid reflux, Prevacid, depression
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on June 17, 2006 at 10:16 pm
Christine said:
It’s always a relief to figure out what’s wrong. As you probably know from reading my blog, my husband was diagnosed with systemic lupus last August. The diagnosis was scary, but they’ve treated it aggressively, and he’s made incredible progress. Whatever it is, once they pinpoint it, they can begin alleviating your pain.
Good luck, N, no matter what it turns out to be.
on June 19, 2006 at 10:09 am
Tamara said:
I’m so glad you have people to talk to who can relate.
It sounds like FM is more common than I would have guessed. Ugh.
I hope you can spend your vacation in relative comfort!