Things That Sucketh

Ya'll please excuse me while I vent. I've had enough already. Seriously now ... I'm only 31 years old. I don't even want to think about how much pain I'll be in by the time I'm 50. I wish one of these docs would figure out what is going on so I can try to do something about it. I've been going to an orthopedic surgeon, a hematologist, a rheumatologist and an ENT and all they have managed to do is tell me I have "several issues" but we don't know why yet and refer me on to more doctors. Now I have to add an allergist and an oral surgeon to the mix due to my CT scan results and was told that I need either sinus surgery or a temporary fix of an in-office procedure involving burning the swollen lining of my sinuses to shrink it down. Um, no thank you. (i'll spare you all the details of the nasal scope I endured with a hangover on Wednesday ... absolutely awful) I didn't even know my sinuses were involved here. Jeepers man! I know they are in bad shape but I've learned to live with that. What I'm not learning to live with is the unbelievable, unrelenting, increasing pain in my ankles. I don't know which issue is causing more of the pain ... the arthritis or the tendonitis due to me having a coalition rather than a normal joint.

I also have bilateral degeneration in the articular disc of my TMJ which I'm managing by wearing a bite guard and eating soft foods (i really miss my granola) along with heat packs and Advil. Honestly, Advil has become my best friend over the past six months. I'm sure my liver and/or kidneys would disagree at this point but it's better than a prescription narcotic. So all that pain I thought was in my ear turned out to be my jaw. I have a habit of teeth grinding which I have apparently sent into overdrive with all the stress over the past several months. Go figure. The good news is that the pain has seriously calmed down since I've stopped using my jaw so much. (not easy to do, by the way. talk about teaching an old dog new tricks!)

I'm trying to narrow things down since all these crazy symptoms popped up and all I've managed to accomplish is to add more doctors to my medical "team". I think I need a real life Dr. House. Anybody know one? I go back to the rheumatologist on Monday to get my latest test results back. Looking forward to that. You should have seen all the blood they had to draw. He ordered just about every test on the lab sheet plus hand wrote in the bottom "additional tests" area about six or seven more tests. Then I get to endure the fun of allergy tests a week after that. I had really, really bad allergies when I was a kid (think three shots a week) to the point that I could not walk through grass that needed to be mowed without having hives all over my legs from the grass seeds touching me. I also had a really bad episode after dusting some shelves when I was about 13. Scared my mom pretty good with that one. Most of my allergies went away as I grew up. The only things that seem to bother me still are dust and medication. Well, that I know of anyway. I actually hope they find me allergic to something I'm surrounded by because if they don't then that means it's an autoimmune condition which goes along with all the other funky stuff I've been dealing with and we're back to looking at lupus, RA and similar autoimmune diseases. The rheumatologist thinks I may have a collagen deficiency which is a model of RA (whatever that means) along with possibly hypothyroidism.

Ya know, I was a pretty healthy woman about two years ago. BEFORE I had a 12 pound baby. I honestly have not been the same since. Something got seriously out of whack when I had Brody. He better be glad he's so darn cute and entertaining! My body went back to normal very quickly after Houston was born. I don't know what happened with Brody. I now have a funky blood rash of varying degrees at any given time (called petechia) , arthritis in my ankles and jaw and probably other places as well, tendinitis and random bouts of dizziness and nausea. I also may or may not have decreased energy. I have resorted to drinking a steady flow of coffee throughout the day to keep me going. I thought it was just because I have two little boys that require a lot of attention as well as about fifty other things to deal with during the day. The more I think about it though, it may be a symptom too. And the weight ... ugh ... while i'm not obese I do have about 15 extra pounds on me that I can't seem to get rid of. I work really hard and loose 8-12 pounds and then it comes right back. It's a cycle I can't seem to break. I've never had that problem before. It's always been easy for me to drop pounds and keep them off. Is it just because I've hit that magic age of 30 where the metabolism supposively slows? Or is it hypoglycemia or hypothyroidism or both? I've learned they can both be hormone related and it's not uncommon for them to occur together. I bought a blood glucose test kit yesterday and am monitoring my blood sugar. It was a little low yesterday when I felt a little icky. I'm curiously awaiting my next round of the shakes to show themselves so I can test and see where my level is.

Well now that I've wasted a good part of the afternoon sharing my personal medical issues with anyone on the blogosphere who happens by ... I'm going to step outside to the porch and join my hubby and father-in-law who are getting their weekend started a little early. Unfortunately I'll just have to watch them drink beer instead of joining them. Seems these days all I have to do is look at a beer and I gain a pound and then fall asleep. I do have some yummy hazelnut coffee brewing though ... mmmmmm. Actually, I think I'm going to go play my piano for a while first. I haven't blogged about Charley recently but we are still getting along wonderfully. I have actually managed to reach the point that I can flip through a book that I have and play about ten different songs without too much effort or error. I absolutely love it! :)

(PS ... Angie ... I made the baked radishes last night and they are yummy! thanks for the recipe!)