A reasonable “excuse”

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!