In the past, I've thought about writing a knitting blog. This hasn't worked out so well because while I start projects with relative frequency, my rate for actually completing projects is less than a little satisfactory. And then recently it hit me like a domain name shaped brick wall. (crazy, I know)
This blog will be my health diary. Not "Today was a good day. I felt well," but what is going on inside of me--what I feel and how it impacts my ability to function at a normal human level. So I'll spend the next few days getting everyone up to speed and then we'll hit the ground running.
It's just short of brilliance, I know (and not really)
So, this is how it all started
Early 2007 (aka Senior Year) I started to feel odd a large percentage of the time. I couldn't really describe it, and even now I still struggle to put those early symptoms into words when they come back. It wasn't dizziness, it wasn't disorientation. It was like somebody smacked me in the face with a shovel (but without the pain)--that level of resonance, something that momentarily knocks out all your other senses like a wave. It came day after day, week after week, and it took the better part of a month and a half to convince the parentals that all was not right in the land of Megan.
Enter the neurologist. After more bloodwork than any normal person should ever have done, we determined that I do not have Wilson's disease (a copper storage disease which is common in Beddlington Terriers. Go figure.) and my results for everything else looked like someone had copied the "Ideal" section out of their med-school text book. With this useful information in hand, madam neurologist informed us that I probably had migranes or seizures. She put me on Nortrypaline (which I am probably misspelling), an antidepressant which works as a migraine medication in low doses. This drug results in a highly photosensitive Megan with a severe case of depression. (remember this for later.)
This is the Summer of 2007.
Things have only gotten worse after graduation. Disorientation has now become the operative word. Tremors which I had had in my hands since early childhood moved into my wrists and up my arms and then to my legs and across my chest (take a moment to thing about important muscle groups in your chest. Like the one that pumps blood. Yeah.). My peripheral vision was gone. It had left from time to time before, but now it was permanently gone. I developed hot flashes where my skin becomes palpably warmer. Neurologist lady, after one spike on one (of two) EEGs, opts to put me on Topamax, a drug used for seizures with a crossover into migraines (two birds, one stone... or technically one unknown bird, one big rock) Topamax has a wide sweep of side effects, but the most noticeable is the way it attacks diet. Most people who take the drug end up gaining weight as their diet changes. My reaction fell into the .01%--I did not eat for the month of August.
And then I go to college.
In Michigan (half a continent away from my home)
And soon realize that my medication has shut off my ability to retain important memories (the kind you pay $35 000 a year to learn)
And I really didn't feel better. (well, I do, but that's because topamax turns you into a doll with two emotions and no personality. It's my favourite medication ever.)
So, I quit topamax, and make it through my first semester at college without falling over.
No diagnosis... honestly not even really a clear picture of an illness...
Christmas break tomorrow
This blog will be my health diary. Not "Today was a good day. I felt well," but what is going on inside of me--what I feel and how it impacts my ability to function at a normal human level. So I'll spend the next few days getting everyone up to speed and then we'll hit the ground running.
It's just short of brilliance, I know (and not really)
So, this is how it all started
Early 2007 (aka Senior Year) I started to feel odd a large percentage of the time. I couldn't really describe it, and even now I still struggle to put those early symptoms into words when they come back. It wasn't dizziness, it wasn't disorientation. It was like somebody smacked me in the face with a shovel (but without the pain)--that level of resonance, something that momentarily knocks out all your other senses like a wave. It came day after day, week after week, and it took the better part of a month and a half to convince the parentals that all was not right in the land of Megan.
Enter the neurologist. After more bloodwork than any normal person should ever have done, we determined that I do not have Wilson's disease (a copper storage disease which is common in Beddlington Terriers. Go figure.) and my results for everything else looked like someone had copied the "Ideal" section out of their med-school text book. With this useful information in hand, madam neurologist informed us that I probably had migranes or seizures. She put me on Nortrypaline (which I am probably misspelling), an antidepressant which works as a migraine medication in low doses. This drug results in a highly photosensitive Megan with a severe case of depression. (remember this for later.)
This is the Summer of 2007.
Things have only gotten worse after graduation. Disorientation has now become the operative word. Tremors which I had had in my hands since early childhood moved into my wrists and up my arms and then to my legs and across my chest (take a moment to thing about important muscle groups in your chest. Like the one that pumps blood. Yeah.). My peripheral vision was gone. It had left from time to time before, but now it was permanently gone. I developed hot flashes where my skin becomes palpably warmer. Neurologist lady, after one spike on one (of two) EEGs, opts to put me on Topamax, a drug used for seizures with a crossover into migraines (two birds, one stone... or technically one unknown bird, one big rock) Topamax has a wide sweep of side effects, but the most noticeable is the way it attacks diet. Most people who take the drug end up gaining weight as their diet changes. My reaction fell into the .01%--I did not eat for the month of August.
And then I go to college.
In Michigan (half a continent away from my home)
And soon realize that my medication has shut off my ability to retain important memories (the kind you pay $35 000 a year to learn)
And I really didn't feel better. (well, I do, but that's because topamax turns you into a doll with two emotions and no personality. It's my favourite medication ever.)
So, I quit topamax, and make it through my first semester at college without falling over.
No diagnosis... honestly not even really a clear picture of an illness...
Christmas break tomorrow
