I have written many posts in this short blog so far about
wanting to get healthier. Most people give terrible excuses to others, but
mainly to themselves, as the why they have not just been able to do. While I
will admit that I have a tendency for laziness like many people, I have a few
other obstacles that stand in my way from time to time. These obstacles are
rather legitimate excuses if I would say so but I will leave you to judge that.
With many medical based ‘stories’ this could be long and
boring, filled with many words I copy and paste from google because I am not a
doctor and don’t understand all of it; instead I will give you the cliff note
version.
My fourth year of college I began to get these seemingly
random but excruciating shooting pains in my left thumb. It started centered
around where the base of the cuticle meets the nail. At first they were short
and sporadic, as they became more frequent, more intense, and lasted longer I
sought out my general Physician for guidance. He referred me to a local
Orthopedic Hand Surgeon. After reluctantly agreeing he gave me an injection that
would hopefully help and we would take three months to see if it did any good.
During this time he had sent me to a hand therapist in Soquel. The pain was
palpable on my face she later told me. I saw her off and on for about a year as
the pain would fluctuate. Well three months after my first injection the pain
came back, I was then referred to a different Orthopedic Hand Surgeon that was conveniently
located down the street, after about 6 months, x-rays, two MRI’s and two
injections he was at a loss and sent me on my way. He referred me to a doctor
that specialized in some sort of nerve damage. After spending two hours getting
shocked up and down both of my arms, this new doctor established that I had no
major nerve damage and referred me up to the Chronic Pain Facility at Stanford.
At this point the pain was constant with spurts of excruciating. It had
interfered with my school work while I was in College and with work once I had
graduated. After seeing two different doctors (both of whom took over a month
to get appointments for) they sent me upstairs to my now third Orthopedic Hand
Surgeon. After more MRI’s, multiple injections, and about a half a dozen visits
to the hand therapy at Stanford; I was no closer to an answer or a solution
then when I had started. They had ruled out many options, which was something, I
suppose; but no one could tell me why I was getting mind numbing pain that would
shatter my world for minutes on end.
I had been put on a few
different medications throughout this trying process to relieve my pain. I
ended up leaving Stanford with no new answers, a lot less money in my bank
account, and 60mg a day of Cymbalta. The Cymbalta did help reduce the pain, I
was able to maintain it at a livable level, but there was no hope that I might
be able to find salvation in knowledge or the hope that one day I might not
have to be on a medication daily. This was until I ended up in the office of an
acupuncturist for a different injury. I had gone to Dr. Berke for pain in my
back, after a work installation of a lobby; she was also able to help me with
some of the most terrible headaches I have had in years. I had also suffered a large loss of motion in
my thumb due to the pain, I was only able to bend it about a quarter of what I
should naturally be able to do, after about 4 visits with Dr. Berke though I
had regained full motion. She has been amazing!
I have recently
decided to get off of the Cymbalta and that is one of the hardest things I have
done. The past year and a half has probably been the unhealthiest I have been
and looking back at much of that I could attribute to side effects of the
Cymbalta. I was getting unbearable headaches, nausea at night, I was sleeping
hot, I had gained weight, etc. If the side effects from the drug itself were
bad, the side effects from withdrawal were even worse. I constantly felt out of my head, my eyes were
foggy and burning, that fogginess caused me to be nauseous often, I felt shaky,
and over all just crappy. It took me a good 4 weeks to wean off of the drug and
an additional 2-3 weeks before the withdrawals stopped making me feel foggy and
nauseous. I have been completely clear of it for about 3 weeks now and I have
not felt this good in quite some time. I am having to battle with some of the
pain returning in my hand now that the Cymbalta is out of my system but it is a
fight that Dr. Berke has been helping me with. Along with her my mother has
been aiding me in research on various herbs, acids, and essential oils that
have been helping to keep the pain manageable a decent amount of the time.
Now that I am starting to feel like me again I want to get
back to a healthier place. I am starting up Weight Watchers again, I want to
become more active, and my family is on board to try and live a healthier
lifestyle…so the real battle begins because I am an Italian girl who likes to
enjoy her food!
