When Genetics Finally Catch Up

I've known for awhile that I will be having a rough time of things, considering all the different ailments that are on both sides of my family. I've known that I have several strikes coming against me. It's just a matter of time when they decide to rear their ugly heads. On both sides I have diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol issues, weight problems, "old timers" (which runs early on mom's side) and cancer. Today's entry deals with one that seems to be exclusively on my mom's side.

I've always been high strung and more tightly wound than most. I get stressed at the drop of a hat. Any hat, really. Shit, it can be just a little yarmulke and I'll get stressed. I've found that the older I get, the tighter I feel wound. In 2011, I started getting these killer headaches. Worse headaches than I'd ever had before. Usually, a nap will take care of a headache. However, these were more like 2 or 3 or more headaches all ganging up on me. Eyestrain? Check. Sinus pain? Check. Stress pain (neck, shoulders, back of head)? Check. Nausea? Aw hell. Check. I'd end up spending the day in a dark, semi-quiet room (can't be fully silent otherwise the tinnitus would amplify the headache and make it worse) and attempt to sleep it off. Gone were the headaches that only lasted a few hours. I started getting the ones that lasted 12-16 hours. Most of July was spent in pain. It seemed that every other day I could look forward to being laid out on the sofa, not moving much, and sipping chicken broth. I realized that this was all a bad reaction to stress (that idiot was getting out of prison that month), so I never bothered with the doctor. I figured they'd go away once I got it through my head that there was nothing I could do about the situation. Eventually, they stopped showing up every other day and got to be only a day or so a month. Even then, there wasn't much to do about them because I knew what the trigger was. In this case, I was in pain for another reason and got stressed. Just lie down and try to relax.

So off and on, I’d get these headaches and I’d just deal with them. Mom had migraines when she was in her 30s so I’d been expecting I’d eventually get them as well. Up to 2013 (maybe a bit before or after), they weren’t anything I couldn’t handle. The winter of 2012 I came down very sick. I ended up with this nasty bug around Thanksgiving time and fought it off and on all winter long. By early 2013, I was so sick that I ended up giving in and going to the doctor’s. She put me on some wonderful drugs to help me get over the crud I was fighting. We suspected that it wasn’t just several colds, but some nasty bug that lasted and lasted and lasted. The Energizer Bunny of all colds, ya know? Anyhow, I’d gotten home from the dr’s (or did I go the day before?) and gotten comfy for the afternoon when I had this bad coughing spell. All of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe for a couple seconds. It scared the daylights out of me, but not enough for me demand to see the doctor again so soon. A few minutes later, I get coughing again …..

This time, I woke up confused and face down on the floor…. and bleeding. I’d lost my breath to the point of passing out and fallen face first into the tv cart. My nose and other sections of my face were scuffed up as well as my knees (rug burn) and my left hand. Hubby ended up bringing me into Urgent Care because by the time we’d gotten me cleaned up and had a discussion whether I should go in or not (yeah there’s a story there), the clinic just down the road was already closed. Not that it mattered because they don’t have a CAT scanner at the clinic, so they would have sent me off to Urgent Care anyhow. This was when they found that other problem I talked about in one of the previous posts, the reason why they sent me in for an MRI and all.

Fast forward to 2014, to when I start getting the migraines again. I wasn’t really calling them migraines because it’s more like an eyestrain/sinus/stress headache, but whatever. They got worse, much worse. The kind of worse where you not only think your head is going to explode, but you think your stomach is going to evict itself from your body. Yeah, I not only had the nausea, but I had vomiting now as well. The migraines were showing up a bit more frequently than once a month or so. They were showing up at least 1-2 times a week. The dr at the Urgent Care referred me to a neurologist for follow up care. The neurologist, in turn, sent me in for an MRI (God, I hate those damned things!) in October to see exactly what was going on. He also sent me in for a blood work up, just in case they needed to use contrast.

In November, I got this note from the neurologist:

Received:

11/4/2014  9:47 AM EST

Dear Ms. B

The MRI of your brain does not show an acute process. You have a borderline Chiari ( the cerebellar tonsil is slightly low) which was also seen on previous imaging. Please contact me if your neurological symptoms worsen and schedule a follow up appointment.

Sincerely,

Completed by: C J W MD, November 4, 2014, 9:47 AM

(names withheld for my own protection)

Additional reading because not everyone knows what a Chiari is:

Chiari info:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chiari/detail_chiari.htm



Looks like I was more than likely born with it because a couple of those symptoms I've had for more than a couple decades. The ear ringing started when I was still at home, although not to the extent I have now. He's not talking surgery yet but if we can't get these migraines under control, it might be where we'll have to go with it. Top things all off, thinking back, I’ve had a lot of blunt force trauma as well.  There have been at least 3 events since 2000 that could have aggravated a symptom I was born with.  I’ve already told hubby that if it’s not life threatening, I may just deal with the migraines. Considering I’m extremely high strung, over weight, and local pain killers don’t work on me ….. well that’s just an accident waiting to happen (or a stroke or other heart event). Why? Because generally brain surgery means you gotta be awake for it…. and I panic easily.

Top things all off, the neurologist pretty much had a stroke when he saw my blood panels. Seems my white cells are outta whack. Thing is, they have been for years. He suspects that it might be sinus disease and the only way to check for that is a spinal tap. Yeah right. See above paragraph if you think I’m gonna allow that one to happen….

So… if you’ve written… or called… and ask how I am doing and got the old “SSDD” response, or a “I’m fed, clothed and have shelter so I really can’t ask for more than that” kind of response. This is why.  And this isn’t even the full tip of the iceberg, to be honest. I have at least one more condition I haven’t mentioned yet, PLUS what’s going on with everything else….

PS: I was given a listing of things that could trigger my migraines. Some of them are food items and I've found a couple of those that have decided they want to be triggers. *sigh*  Chocolate, I shall miss you....