This post I write won't be especially well written, considering I feel foggy today.. I'm just sort of continuing to think out loud. This is my sort of stream of conscious. It may not be accurate and is based mostly on hunches.
Still, currently, I feel that my neurological issues stem from hormonal imbalance. I believe the two are connected. The worst of my symptoms surface neurologically, but the very first imbalances I recognized in my body seemed to indicate that my hormones were going berserk.
The first odd symptom I had soon after I got (what I believe to be) an e-coli strain or food poisoning illness was that I started to spot before my period came. I would spot a day or two before, and then get my period. I was in my mid 20's and had always been super regular so these changes were sudden and bizarre. Slowly it increased to spotting 3 or 4 days before, and then as much as 8 days of spotting until I got my period. And my hair falling out and breaking off at the same time.
These were the first things that happened. And then after that... months I suppose, the 'neurological' type issues started to come... feeling spacey, muscles shaky and fatigue, blurred vision in and out....
And then months after that, worsened issues like: trouble with coordination.. trouble speaking the right words.. memory impairment.. temporary dyslexia(?) Feels like one arm is heavier than the other... And then I started to lose LOTS of hair..
But the thing I keep going back to when thinking about
all of this, is, why is my menstrual cycle so off? Why did it change? This was the very fist change I noticed. And, to me, this is a big deal. For something to throw my body off this dramatically. To have lost so much hair on my head? My hair is considerably thinner. I believe I must have lost at least half of the hair on my head or many 60% because I was looking at a video of me during college and my hair was SO THICK and now at 30, its so different. I know many things can cause hair loss, but I still wonder if it could be the same hormonal imbalance that has caused my period to be bizarre.
All I know is that I've had the thyroid test twice or so and its always in normal range I guess.
An ultrasound showed that there was nothing especially odd about
my ovaries or reproductive organs and all (when I was first concerned about
the spotting).
I've not seen an endocrinologist. My GYN just looks at me funny when I mention all this like she's not sure.
The reason I'm going into all of this? I know that there is no 'cure' for Fibro, at least not yet. I know we don't know all there is to know about
it, but I still want to keep digging to get to closer to the bottom of it.
When I had a back injury after doing repeated heavy lifting in a daycare, it didn't show up on any test or X-ray. I was in intense pain and couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes. I went to spine specialists and everything that looked at me and said, "hmm... everything looks normal" yet every-time I took a step with my left foot I heard a loud POP from my hip/back area. I KNEW something was off and that someone could help me get to the bottom of it, but the docs didn't understand and I live in Charm-city Baltimore, the city of doctors. I had to do tons of research online and finally I found something that sounded like it made sense... people that also had terrible low back pain as young as me in their 20's and heard a popping sound when walking. They went to see one physical therapist that called it "sacro-illiac dysfunction" and it turned out to be that a particular set of ligaments in my lower back were too stretched out and floppy (so to speak) and the slight disconnect in one joint was causing the excruciating pain and throwing off the posture of my whole body!!! No one knew what I was talking about
, but she did... I traveled all the way to another state, 15 hours away to see her, and she helped me to rehabilitate myself. I learned what to do and what not to do. And now, years later, I'm 95% better.. I'm SO grateful!
I still feel this way about
my Fibromyalgia and hormone/menstruation issues. I feel like none of the people I've seen have really been able to make the full connection of all my issues or give me a good plan of action to balance myself better, but there has to be someone out there that can. I don't need a 'cure' but even just a better management plan would help, like with my back. Like if someone were to say, "what?! You were spotting for 9 days before your period in your 20's? That's strange.. Lets find out whats going on.... oh.. it turns out you have really high levels of this.. or low levels of this.. lets balance you out" but I've not found that person yet.
Its only my suspicion.. but its the same type of suspicion I had with my lower back injury. Like I KNOW something is wrong and someone can probably help me to pinpoint it so that I can better manage it, but finding that lovely lady took a lot of work... and a hotel stay in another state to see her.
Like I said, I'm not looking for complete healing. My body has changed. I can accept that. But what I want is better balance. I feel that I'm lacking balance.
These are my thoughts.. Thanks for reading if you did! (Also, I apologize for crowding up the forum with my venting threads... lol. I usually like to be more helpful when I write but this is just sort of serving as a place to put my thoughts.. as usual, responses are welcome)
Post Edited (CharmCityLady) : 9/29/2012 5:51:46 PM (GMT-6)