An Update for a Rough Week

I've had a very rough week. I started having some new, strange symptoms, after I ate dinner Monday night. I started having severe pain in my right shoulder, chest, and back... the pain was so severe that I had trouble moving, breathing, coughing, etc...

While it improved some, the following day was still very painful. It has slowly gotten better, but it's still painful.

I'm also having pain just below the sternum, and often have severe abdominal pain. I found out in January 2009 that I have a small hiatal hernia and gastritis. So, I called my GI doctor, but he can't see me until the end of August.

I set up an appointment with my primary care physician for Thursday, but the pain was still so bad that I moved the appointment up, so I saw him on Wednesday. We did an EKG to make sure my heart is okay (with acute chest pain, pain and numbness in my arm, etc...). It came back fine... thank God!

We also took some blood to check my kidneys, liver, etc... Everything came back normal (kidneys, liver, electrolytes, and all of the stuff checked in the comprehensive metabolic panel). By the way, I have to brag on myself a little. Even though I'm still losing weight, my calcium and protein (I mention these because I was deficient in them both, when I was in the ER last September) are both very good. :-) 

I had a gall bladder ultrasound yesterday. My doctor called late that afternoon and said that the results are normal. So, I'm supposed to continue taking the daily Omeprazole that he started me on the other day, and monitor the pain.

I think what jump-started all of this mess (we believe it's a combination of the hiatal hernia and gastritis) is all of the stress lately (moving, husband getting a job, temporarily living with his parents, getting used to everything here, etc...), as well as my continuing weight-loss.

I was 120lbs at the time of my accident (October 2008), and have been up and down (mostly down) since then. I was steady at 110 lbs (the end of January through mid-March), then I was down to 105.5lbs by the end of April, we stopped the Topamax beginning/middle of May, but I just keep losing weight... At the end of June, I was 104.5 lbs, and the first symptoms of the hernia pain were the day after that weighing. The horrible hernia pain started July 11, and I weighed 102.5lbs on the 13th.

I've been taking so many medications over the past few years, that it's just tearing my body up (and NOT helping the things they were meant to treat!). I really wish I didn't have to deal with ANOTHER source of PAIN. I just don't have the strength right now. 

I think that once we get moved and everything starts to level off, that things will begin improving a bit. I really need to figure out how to gain some weight because I think that's contributing to A LOT of the new symptoms, as well as worsening old ones. I just don't know how to eat more / gain the weight... it seems an impossible task with all of the chest/shoulder pain + migraine pain + nausea...

On a POSITIVE note, I went to my neurostimulator doctor this week. I got my stimulator rebalanced/reprogrammed (and added a few more programs), which should help. My doctor wants to see me every 2-3 weeks (now that I'm living closer), in order to try to get the stimulator helping me more. He hasn't given up yet. :-) I really hope we figure out a way to better manage the migraines.