Monday, February 7, 2011

The Lost Weekend

My family used to apply this phrase to my Dad when he had gone on a bender.  Now I get to apply it to myself.  I lost this weekend to neuro symptoms.  I spent Friday, Saturday and part of today lost in a haze.  I still haven't figured out a trigger for these symptoms.  At first I thought it was just me doing too much and not resting enough.  But after experimenting with this, my doing too much doesn't necessarily lead to the head bobbing and coordination issues.  Then I thought it might be chemical exposure but looking through my symptom journal that doesn't seem to be the case either.  After all I wasn't exposed to anything Thursday or Friday that would have triggered the latest round of bobblehead syndrome.  Another thing that turned up in my journal is that this happens about once a week.  So what makes these symptoms different?  On one of my 'well' days I'm tired but my head is relatively clear.  I have joint aches and occasionally IBS symptoms.  These all come and go as erratically as the neuro stuff.  However, the neuro stuff scares me and always makes me cry.  What are these symptoms:
  • uncontrollable head bobbing
  • uncontrollable movements of hands
  • loss of balance
  • ringing in ears gets even worse
  • can't think straight
  • can't talk
  • loose language skills; have trouble talking, forming sentences
  • can't remember words
  • severe memory problems
  • can't concentrate; almost have ADD
  • side to side motion on TV causes motion sickness
  • can't type: mangle words, use wrong words, can't control fingers (I touch type), have to go very slowly and have to do lots of corrections 
  • pain is much worse
  • need help walking; have to concentrate on leg and foot movements
  • stairs are a problem due to lack of coordination and muscle weakness
  • loss of muscle strength and coordination: have trouble holding glasses, manipulating utensils, cutting food
  • short term memory is even worse than usual
I'm going to keep up with my symptom journal.  It includes activities, food and symptoms.  I am hoping that it will help me see if there are any connections between what I do/what I'm exposing my body to and my symptoms.  There might be nothing but if I can figure out a connection I might be able to make myself a little bit better.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, some of us are really messed up aren't we? Last week I went to the store with my sister and we needed to use an escalator...no big deal right? I couldn't get on or off without her help, I felt like everyone watching thought I must have been drunk. Most of the time when things happen (like what you have listed above) come and go with no reason. I have tried tracking symptoms with no luck. It just happens,
    mo

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