Where Things Stand
Sep. 21st, 2012 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteFirst things first - thank you all so much for your support, good wishes, and for reinforcing the fact that the problems I'm going through are neither imaginary nor atypical.
Necondly - I need to sing the praises of both Harvard-Pilgrim Health Care, who got me in with a primary care physician on 48 hours notice and then spent most of the work day hunting down a neurologist outside their network who could see me on an emergency basis when theirs were all overbooked, and Brigham & Women's Hospital, who managed to find me an appointment with a neurologist within 24 hours of being asked.
After meeting with the neurologist today, I feel worlds better, intellectually if not physically. He agrees that, at the moment, the most egregious signs are all medication side effects, and that the best thing for me is just to discontinue all drugs and go back to ibuprofen for pain and inflammation.
The best guess is that my pain and neurological signs stem from a hideous synergism of carpal tunnel syndrome and spinal nerve compression at my C6 vertebra. Unfortunately, without extensive and painful diagnostics, it's impossible to tell what percentage of the signs are from which problem. Current plan is for NSAIDs, wrist brace, and a few months of aggressive PT. If things aren't getting better, or get worse, next step is an MRI, and possible epidural steroid injections.
On the one hand, I'd like an instant cure. On the other hand, this is worlds better than either spinal surgery or staying on these drugs. And at the moment, all I need to do is hang tight until the rest of these poisons are out of my system....
Necondly - I need to sing the praises of both Harvard-Pilgrim Health Care, who got me in with a primary care physician on 48 hours notice and then spent most of the work day hunting down a neurologist outside their network who could see me on an emergency basis when theirs were all overbooked, and Brigham & Women's Hospital, who managed to find me an appointment with a neurologist within 24 hours of being asked.
After meeting with the neurologist today, I feel worlds better, intellectually if not physically. He agrees that, at the moment, the most egregious signs are all medication side effects, and that the best thing for me is just to discontinue all drugs and go back to ibuprofen for pain and inflammation.
The best guess is that my pain and neurological signs stem from a hideous synergism of carpal tunnel syndrome and spinal nerve compression at my C6 vertebra. Unfortunately, without extensive and painful diagnostics, it's impossible to tell what percentage of the signs are from which problem. Current plan is for NSAIDs, wrist brace, and a few months of aggressive PT. If things aren't getting better, or get worse, next step is an MRI, and possible epidural steroid injections.
On the one hand, I'd like an instant cure. On the other hand, this is worlds better than either spinal surgery or staying on these drugs. And at the moment, all I need to do is hang tight until the rest of these poisons are out of my system....
