What can I say to spice things up a bit? Basically, the congestion in my chest has shifted up to my neck. I was hoping to find some answers this week with the scheduled MRI, but it never happened. The most frequent “new symptom” was feeling like I had the mumps on the left side: numb below the ear and an achy jaw, every single day.
I did have some good news this past week: the heart palpitations have calmed down considerably; and the other good news (though not such good news for my kids) -- my kids all got sick, but I didn’t —which is the first time in a long time. This could be the result of one of two scenarios: (1) my immune system is finally kicking in, or (2) they all had the swine flu for which I was inoculated late last fall. I’m putting my money on the stronger immune system.
I found a little bit of a pattern in the heart palpitations recently. It seems as though when my oxygen supply either runs short or gets backed up by a kink in the neck (just my guess) I end up with a palpitation—such as when craning my neck to see something, or when talking for a long enough period of time that I need to take a breath.
During the week, I continued to wean myself off of clonazepam (again) by taking smaller and smaller doses. I found this helps avoid the inevitable headaches and sleepless night when I stop suddenly.
I also continued my physical therapy, comprised of two 30-minute treadmill walks, 20 minutes of Pilates, and 10 minutes of weight-bearing exercises, for six days a week, though I did miss one or two Pilates sessions. I kept my treadmill walks slow so as to determine whether I could do it without any heart palpitations, and the results were pretty good —I felt only one palpitation during a treadmill walk all week. The only thing I had to deal with was some upper chest constriction (as if my lungs refused to fully inflate) and some chronic neck congestion, almost entirely on the left side.
Last week's total physical therapy consisted of: 80 minutes of Pilates, 50 minutes of weight-bearing exercises, and walking 17.19 miles.
ODD EVENTS DURING THE WEEK:
- On one day, I ended up with a sudden bout of nausea and a weird feeling on the left side of my head. When I barely touched my head above my left ear, I felt pain sensations shoot out and upward.
- Another day I experienced some minor ringing in my left ear.
- Occasionally, my neck would throb in various areas, sometimes on the right side, but mostly on the left.
- My throat felt itchy and sore, and the right glands felt swollen.
- At least twice that week I awoke to a bloody taste in my mouth, and a lot of left-sided head and neck pain.
- One day I went to use my earbuds while on my treadmill but the left one kept shocking me for some reason, and created an earache in that ear. Decided to opt out of using earbuds while on the treadmill.
On the day that I was scheduled for the head/neck MRI, the hospital ran a CT scan first to determine the nature of the prosthetic in my right ear (having had a stapedectomy almost 20 years ago). Turns out, there was some kind of metal in the prosthesis, and the MRI could not be done. Now what? We faxed the University of Washington Medical Center for my records so we could get a brand and model number of the prosthesis, but the MRI would have to be rescheduled. I left feeling very disappointed because I still had no answers.
That very same day, I had a consultation with a GI specialist, who seemed rather perturbed that my doctor did not confirm my celiac disease with a small intestine biopsy. She accused him of making a lot of generalizations without confirming the disease, but also admitted he could be correct in the diagnosis. As for herself, she refused to call it celiac until something shows up in a biopsy (of which she said celiac likely won't show up now, having been g-free for three months), or I have the gene for it (which they will apparently do at the same time). So bottom line, I go in for an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) on March 31.
The EGD will look at my esophagus, stomach, and duodenum (first part of the small intestine) with an endoscope, which can also be used to biopsy different areas if necessary. According to SurgeryEncylopedia.com, it can be used:
"to diagnose early-stage cancer and can frequently help determine whether a growth is benign or malignant. The doctor can obtain biopsies of inflamed or suspicious tissue for examination in the laboratory by a pathologist or cytologist. Cell scrapings can also be taken by introducing a small brush through the endoscope; this technique is especially helpful in diagnosing cancer or an infection."
At the same time, this procedure can be used for:
- removal of polyps and other noncancerous (benign) tissue growths
- stretching narrowed areas (strictures) in the esophagus
- stopping bleeding from ulcers or blood vessels
- removing foreign objects that have been swallowed, such as coins, pins, buttons, small nails, and similar items
With the EGD, the GI-specialist can look for things like:
- causes of abdominal pain
- achalasia, a defect in the muscular opening between the esophagus and the stomach
- Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition of the cells lining the esophagus
- Crohn's disease and inflammatory disease of the small intestine
- esophageal cancer
- gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition caused by excess stomach acid
- hiatal hernia
- irritable bowel syndrome
- rectal bleeding
- stomach cancer
- stomach ulcers
- swallowing problems
The only thing that worries me at this point is that I still have random heart palpitations and that we don't know what is going on in my head and neck. An EGD is contraindicated in patients who are at risk for heart complications or stroke (NIH), and in my mind, as long as we still don't know why I get random heart palpitations or whether I actually had a TIA or am at risk for a stroke (where was that MRI when I needed it?), there is some risk involved with the EGD. It may be a low risk, but without answers, to me it is still a risk. Better safe, than sorry, right? But I guess we won't know until the actual procedure.
Till next time...
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