Last night I woke up at 4 in the morning with horrible intense intestinal pain; it was so bad I was near the point of tears at a couple moments. I really have no idea what that was. I ate late, but I often do and the worst that usually causes is heartburn. This was something else. I feel perfectly fine now, though.
months before before i was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis (2013).. i was fine one moment and than the next i couldn't move because my joints (spine and hips), and my tendons/ligaments were ON FIRE!!!! it felt like anyone's worst nightmare come true.. my legs and hands swelled up, and i had a bad case of inflammatory bowel issues (all of these problems co-existed the moment it started happening)
I waited too long to get help and by the time i did, i couldn't walk anymore (the inflammation had caused a lot of damage in my joints) and life was utterly miserable.. after spending weeks in and out of the hospital trying to find out what was wrong (x-rays and other scans).. i was diagnosed with AS.. they prescribed me a monthly shot that i now have to take forever to slow down the progression of this disease- to slow down my joints from fusing together (when you're joints are badly inflamed, your body tries to fight off the inflammation by producing extra bone to cover it with- when that happens, the infected joints can become non-existent- it becomes 1 solid bone basically.)
the host that i take every month helps control the inflammation in my tendons, ligaments, and joints, helps with my inflamatory bowel issues, and got rid of the swelling in my legs and hands (i still have to watch what i eat because an inflammatory bowel flare up is painful and not fun)..
about the part where i couldn't walk anymore (because i waited to long to get help).. well, i spent 2 years in physio (i had my current job for 8 months so far, i started 'fully' walking without the use of my canes and wheelchair about 4 to 5 months before i got my job..
i've been going to the gym a few days a week for the past 6 months to do my stretches and exercises, to help make me more flexible etc (i could do this at home but it gives me an excuse to get out, and to socialize with the seniors- i like listening to their life stories, and world history from back in the 30's, 40's and 50's etc.)
This is the story of my medical misadventure from 2015. Early in the year I started having severe pain on my left side. The best way to describe it is that someone took a chemical patch, attached it to my side and then set it on fire. I went to my doctor and she said i had Shingles even though I hadn't broken out in a rash yet. She prescribed some medication and went on my merry way. Well, the medicine didn't even touch it, and I never broke out in a rash so it wasn't Shingles. Now, this pain was unlike any other pain I have ever experienced, It wasn't a throbbing pain, it didn't come in waves, it was constant and persistent. It was the most intense burning sensation I could ever imagine. The only thing that helped was to lay down on that side and put a little pressure on it. That didn't make it go away, but it did help some. I called my doctor back and told her the medicine wasn't working, she sent me for a CT Scan to see if anything would show up on that. She called me several days later and said there was a mass on my lungs and my liver. She sent me back for another scan, this time with dye. That scan showed nothing, everything was normal. She prescribed me some pain pills, but they didn't help either. By this time, the pain had migrated into my left hip. Felt like someone had whacked me with a 2x4 on that side.
One afternoon about a week or so later, I was laying on the couch watching TV and the back of my leg started itching. I tried to scratch with my toenail because I didn't want to move. I couldn't get my foot to apply any pressure to my leg. My foot wasn't working, it was partially paralyzed. I called my doctor and told her what was happening. She told me to get to the Emergency Room as quick as I could to make sure I hadn't had a stroke. When I got there, they ran all kinds of tests on me. The did x-rays, a sonogram and another CT-Scan. They were so nice, they actually invited me to spend the night. The next day, they did an MRI and a few more tests. Later that afternoon, I got a visit from a neurologist to go over the tests with me. He kept asking questions about the foot, none of my answers considered with what he learned in school. That's exactly what he told me. I swear I was being honest with him. He sent me to a Neurosurgeon. I made the appointment, and went and talked with that doctor. He sent me for a nerve conduction test on both feet because the right foot got jealous of all the attention the right foot was getting and decided to stop working as well. I could bend them down and side-to-side, but I could not bend them up. That is an important part of walking, by the way.Now, if you have never had a nerve conduction test, you have missed out on a lot of fun. They run currents of electricity through you from point A to point B. This HURTS! It will make you say words that would embarrass an old sailor.
When I went back to the Neurosurgeon, he came into the room with a perplexed look on his face. He had read the results of all the testing I had done and told me I was a complete medical mystery to him. He said I had some stenosis (narrowing) of the spine and by all indications, my right hip should be hurting instead of my left hip. By now the burning in my side had subsided quite a bit, but the pain in my hip was making up for it. He actually told me several times during the course of our conversation that I was a medical mystery to him. He said there was some interruption in the nerves in my leg, but not enough to cause the paralysis. Because I am who I am, I told him that I've been telling people for years that I wasn't wired like everyone else. He looked me right in the eye and said. "I don't think you are either." I've never seen a doctor look so confused. He sent me to physical therapy to see if that would work. I did 10 or 12 sessions, I don't really remember how many. One day, I went shopping with my daughter and fell on the sidewalk. I landed on my right hip, and ended up back in the ER. I thought I had chipped something in my hip bone. They x-rayed it and told me I just has a severe contusion on the bone, nothing was broken. They gave me crutches and sent me on my way. PT was a little difficult after that. With both hips screaming at me, it was hard to do the exercises they were making me do. I got through them though. My feet were still partially paralyzed even after finishing the PT sessions.
I did find out that if I only used one crutch, I could walk a lot better. I held onto that crutch for about two months.and used it every time I had to walk somewhere. I'm not sure what happened, but the paralysis left my feet and my side eventually stopped burning altogether. My hips are fine now and there is nothing wrong with anything that was giving me grief. This lasted from around March through October of 2015. I was in constant pain for around eight months and no one can tell me what was wrong with me. I am in no way saying the doctors were inapt, just that I'm weird. Somehow my body healed itself and for that I'm grateful. To this day, they still can't tell me what was wrong with me. I guess I shall remain a medical mystery.
2015 was not a good year for me, and I hope I never have to go through anything like that again.