RBOBody (and some other random stuff)

• Down to 48 unfinished blog drafts … Not sure what we will do when they run out!
• I was feeling incredibly anxious.  Then I took a magnesium supplement and felt better.  Magnesium also seems to help with hormone-related headaches.  Vitamin D and also… salt… seem to help when I’m feeling tired for no reason.  I wonder how many of my personal problems are just vitamin deficiency.
• After a long time of not getting much spam in the wordpress filter, it’s starting to ratchet up again.  It also caught a genuine comment which I didn’t fish out until days later.  Sorry about that!  I’d gotten out of the habit of checking.
• As DC2 reaches tween years random people are starting to get really obnoxious about gender policing.  Zie purposely dresses somewhat androgynously and people, from school mates to waitstaff just flat out ask if zie is a boy or girl.  I guess people mistook me for the other sex back when I had a short haircut in elementary school and it only bothered me at swimming when they tried to give me a key to the wrong locker room, which is probably actually a good time for someone to just ask which locker room.
• my kindle battery is starting to die.  I hate planned obsolescence.  I also don’t want it to lose the order of when I last read something.
• Finally saw the pain doctor.  In less than 15 minutes, maybe even 5 minutes, he explained exactly what was wrong with me (spine triggering nerve which triggers foot nerves, and the left toes thing is an L5 thing and the right ball of foot thing is an S1 thing, both from the same broad-based disc bulge) and the three potential treatment options.  First line recommended treatment is a steroid injection which allows the bulging disc to heal — in cases like mine the first treatment often works within 3 months before it wears off.  Second line recommended treatment is physical therapy, but it doesn’t have as high a success rate on its own.  Third line treatment is an oral pain killer which he didn’t recommend.  So I got a shot in the office and a new appointment for September that I should cancel if the pain has gone away.  If the pain hasn’t gone away in 3 months he will give a second injection and refer to me to physical therapy.
• The injection was a lot like the dentist office (except I was face down with my shirt up and my pants down a little bit, something that doesn’t happen at the dentist office, thankfully).  It turns out that’s because the first shot is lidocane.
• He also said it was really good I’d caught it early because it means that I have a really high chance of healing.  A lot of people put off going to the doctor too long and it’s too far gone by the time they seek relief.  I mentally cursed my “just put lotion on it” GP, but said the podiatrist had told me the same thing and that a lot of people think it’s all in their head when it really isn’t.  I felt very validated.  (Also during that night’s insomnia, see below, I found the article he was referring to– 87% of patients get relief from this shot if they’re mild and only something like 64% if it’s severe.)
• He also took metformin off my record since I hadn’t taken it.  (He needed to know because he has to do different things if a person has diabetes.)  I explained that my GP had said I was overweight and had put me on it but then my blood tests came back with no indication of blood sugar problems so I never picked up the prescription.  He said good and I shouldn’t be taking metformin in that situation.
• The nurse said it will take about a week for the injection to seem like it’s doing anything.
• Things in the first week:  1.  insomnia, but it’s like the kind when you’ve had too much coffee, and 2. a great thirst.  Steroids, man.  Those wore off by the end of day 2.  3. The injection site was still a bit bumpy but eventually faded.  (I guess that’s why they say no hot tubs or swimming for a few days.)
• Also when they said to avoid blood thinners, they included aspirin and advil according to the sheet they sent home.
• Delta-Trainer became Co-Pilot is now Trainwell.  Microsoft stole their name so they had to change!  It’s still working well for both DH and me.  And apparently Wheezy Waiter

Foot Update #2

MRI results:

Multilevel mild to moderate degenerative changes are present within the lumbar spine, with level by level analysis outlined above.

MRI Lumbar Spine Noncontrast:

HISTORY:
Radiculopathy

COMPARISON:
Radiographs are referenced

FINDINGS:
Conus medullaris is normal in morphology and terminates at the T12-L1 level.
Lumbar spine vertebral body heights are preserved. No acute marrow edema.
There are small, chronic Schmorl’s nodes at the inferior L1 and L4 endplates.
Mild accentuation of lower lumbar lordosis, without evidence of significant subluxation.

L1-2:Right paracentral disc protrusion slightly effaces the ventral aspect of the traversing right L2 nerve root. Otherwise, no significant stenosis.

L2-3:No significant stenosis

L3-4:Disc bulge without significant stenosis.

L4-5:Disc bulge and small superimposed central protrusion. Mild ventral thecal sac effacement, as well as mild bilateral subarticular stenosis, with crowding of bilateral traversing L5 nerve roots. There is bilateral facet hypertrophy and moderate right,
mild/moderate left foraminal stenosis.

L5-S1:Broad-based disc bulge. There is a right paracentral annular fissure. Bilateral facet hypertrophy and mild bilateral foraminal stenosis.

DH found this Cleveland Clinic webpage about that last thing:

So… that is exactly my symptom.  From what I understand (but I could be wrong), the foraminal stenosis affects a nerve in my back which affects a nerve in my foot which makes the left side of my left foot itch/tingle.

I’ve been referred to a pain specialist, but the earliest available was late May.  So far the inserts don’t seem to be doing anything, but it’s supposed to take 6-8 weeks for them to work.

Update on my itchy foot

After being blown off by my “put lotion on it” GP, I went to a podiatrist.

The podiatrist narrowed it down to something bothering my plantar nerve and took x-rays in case it’s a back nerve issue (apparently back problems cause foot nerve problems?).  He prescribed some shoe inserts.  He was really nice and explained all the things it could be and said I definitely wasn’t crazy and lots of times people are afraid of seeming crazy so they put off nerve problems until they’re really far gone.  He didn’t think it was likely that a lipoma was pressing against a nerve, but did think it sounded like I might have a back problem since the foot itching happens when my knee is bent, so had me get x-rays.

The x-rays came back with a “back nerve issue”– no details in the email, just that I’m going to need an MRI.  I’ve been referred for that and to a “pain specialist” though do I have pain?  Does my back always hurt and I’m just used to it?  Is itching pain?

Based on the email (the MRI/pain management), DH thinks it’s a disc problem.  I assume one of these days the actual information will get uploaded to the test results section of my online portal.

Update:  The radiology xray report got uploaded.
Minimal lumbar spondylosis with no acute osseous abnormality identified.
FINDINGS: 5 lumbar type vertebra are present. No evidence of fracture or acute subluxation is identified. Minimal degenerative disc disease and facet joint osteoarthritis. Vertebral body heights and spinal alignment maintained.

MRI is scheduled for Saturday.

#middleage