Once a person has Chicken Pox, the varicella virus stays in your
system forever and a person can suffer from shingles from that same
virus. One of the theories of TM is that it is related to that
virus. (This can be backed up by reading it in the Merck Manual).
Our body just goes to war against whatever is fighting inside
itself. With TM, evidently it happens to be our spinal cord.
My butt went numb on 9/11/05. I went to the chiropractor for weeks
and then began to become
constipated. At which point the chirpractor said see a doctor. I went
to the NP- couldn't get to the doctor--- and then
began to have numbness in my legs. The NP was alarmed and insisted i get a MRI
asap but i couldn't get scheduled for months. She told me if there
was any change
to go to emergency. I had excruciating frightenin g pain one night. I
began to have
urgency and then difficulty peeeing. When I began to feel loopy I wen
to emergency
about 10/4 and was hospitalized (big city) over a long weekend. I
was able to walk again, given steroids
diagnosed with TM. I got better for several weeks, but had bladder
problems. On 11.14/05
at 3 am , after being awakened by the urgent need to pee, I fell as I
walked back to my bedroom
have felt like someone pulled a plug out of my back, a click, and i
couldn't walk and haven't
walked since. My poor cats lived alone for 4 months... and i remember
crawling to pull on clothes and calling the cat lady to unlock my
door so that when i called 911 they wouldn't break it down as
i was upstairs in my home. (small town hospital, but they got the big
hospital records then transferred me to the big hospital)
I was asked if I had the flu shot that year--- I hadn't, as it had
been in short supply. I was tested
fro lyme disease, herpes, etc. the last test that took forever was
for CMV cytomegalovirus
i'm told my TM is idiopathic.... they can't tell what virus caused
it. Though i was administered
an anti viral and steroids.
I've begun to feel numbness again-- i am praying this is a good sign
, to feel numbness vs. nothing.
I take naltrexone, oxybutnin (for bladder management) and aspirin (
my post wafarin). That's it.
I also take b12,b6,folic acid,d,e,c, cand calicuim supplements.
That's my TM story. My life was destroyed and I'm just beginning to
rebuild. I was in Rochester for two
years, in an allegedly wheelchair accessible apartment that wasn't
and from the hospital to the nursing home to that place, it was a bit
of hell on earth. I am grateful to have survived it and pray to begin
to thrive and recover some of who i was before this happened.
Akua
--
http://www.akuadesigns.etsy.com
http://www.artfarm.com
