Have you noticed there just isn't much happening over here at AOL BRAINCHEESE? That's because all the fun stuff is happening over at
Same blog, different website. Continuous cornucopia of crap...podcast of poo...Bookmark it. Do it now! (Man I love to be bossy)...see you there!
(If you haven't been following BRAINCHEESE at www.brain-cheese.blogspot.com , you've just been missing out! Come on...make the switch. This post is a follow up to one "over there"...so, if you haven't been "over there", you may be lost!)
Wow! I've been missing from action for about 36 hours. I managed to finish the final inservice/teaching project at work on Thursday (**insert a big "WOOHOO" here please**), only to find myself completely debilitated AGAIN very early Friday morning by another headache...AKA, "migraine", as Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named has labeled it. It was that same pliers-squeezing-my-eyeball-pain in my left eye...THIS time, I also had numbness and a bit of a droop to the left side of my face! Talk about a happy Friday the 13th...
Fortunately, I'm a fairly quick study (sometimes) and decided around 2:00AM to start loading up on the narcotics. I finally fell back to sleep around 8:00AM and was able to doze off and on all day on Friday...the pain began letting up Friday evening. Dr. SWWNBN has decided to do yet ANOTHER MRI of my noggin, but I'm not sure what (if anything) she is looking for...she may just be checking to make sure I still HAVE a brain! I suppose since this "brain pain" is brand new, she might be checking for any changes afoot.
A few days ago, I wrote about possibly trying an experiment with myself being the sole participant...it was about cutting out the "Dew"/caffeine from my diet and seeing if there might be any significant and noticeable changes in my fatigue/sleep/blood pressure (and now headaches, I add).
Well...as luck would have it, I was so miserable in pain and nauseated on Friday, I consumed NO caffeine whatsoever! So I decided now might be as good a time as any to get my project, "Downsize Me" under way...this should be interesting...LOL
I'm going to be tracking my fatigue, hours of sleep, weight, and blood pressure for the next 28 days as I eliminate ALL caffeine from my diet...I'm already CRAVING chocolate of all things! Of course this is completely subjective (and I'm sorry to say, most PHARMACEUTICAL STUDIES are, too...they'd just like to think they're not!) and will never be published in the annals of Neurology Today. LOL Woe is me...
As I weave (and maybe even heave) my way through the next 28 days, I'll be using BRAINCHEESE as a forum to document this "highly regarded study"...as always, I'll try to keep it entertaining if not down right riveting...(now I'M nearly wetting my pants laughing at that prospect!)
So, here's a little video I've prepared for you as the launch pad for "DOWNSIZE ME"...and just so you know...no animals will be harmed in this study!
And if you're curious why I'm so tired, head over to www.brain-cheese.blogspot.com to read why...truly rivoting things are happening over there! LOL But then again, I think I could make passing gas intriguing with enough "colorful" words! (But it's still just a fart, folks...)
Yup...it's true. I'll be up at the crack of dawn AGAIN on Monday! Why God, why?!?
I know why and the answer is simple...I'm easy. Fortunately, I am NOT free! I will be training the final early morning class of Management of Aggressive Behavior in the wee hours of the morning at work tomorrow. And just to pour an ample amount of salt in my wound, it IS supposed to be my day off!
It's nearly 9:45PM on Sunday right now...I'm still up posting on a blog...I'll probably STILL be up until my "usual" bedtime, which falls somewhere between midnight and 3:00AM. The good news (if one can call it "good") is, with such little sleep in the morning, I will remain blissfully unaware and unconcerned about the training attendees...at least not until around 10:00AM when I actually DO wake up. LOL
We also have the first round of good-bye parties for DP, my retiring boss. But, of course, this will not start at the office until 2:00PM (when I would normally be reporting for work if I was SUPPOSED to be at work...and not home ON MY DAY OFF!)...this means I will "linger" (or malinger...just depends) at the office following our training, which ends at noon. There's always lunch to eat, but two hours is a long time to kill when sleep deprived...sort of makes me WANT to kill instead.
I cannot seem to get that totally stupid sleep aid commercial out of my head right now as I type...you know the one. Lunesta. By tomorrow evening I'll most likely be wishing I had some of that, except MY drug would be spelled "Loonesta"...fitting, eh?
Off now to prepare to go to bed so I can stare at the ceiling and chastise myself for my "simple" ways...
**Note to self: Never ever agree to do something at work unless there is a substantial amount of cash involved for your time and effort. Thank You's do NOT equal cash, nor can Thank You's pay the mortgage.**
But if YOU want to read about it and my Easter heathen ways, you'll have to jump over to Blogspot (do I STILL need to put the link in here?!? Fine... http://brain-cheese.blogspot.com/ ).
See you there...
Why are you still here? Do you fear change soooo much you'd rather miss more PEEP postings over at www.brain-cheese.blogspot.com ? Are you continuing to linger here as a subtle message to BrainCheese?
Take a deep breath...now blow it out...carefully move your mouse over the above link and left click. That's right...nice and easy...you can do it! You're almost to BrainCheese on Blogspot!
I have faith in you...LOL
They've been on the shelves now, probably even before the sun went down on Valentine's Day...I'm talking about those sugar-laden, little marshmallow things we've come to associate with Eastertime. Peeps.
When I was still young enough to believe in the Easter Bunny (and I promise NOT to digress here about my concerns of just how prolific rabbits and the resurrection of Jesus became a combined holiday tradition and belief! LOL), there were Peeps. These little candy treats have been around for nearly 70 years (and NO, I am not old enough to remember the "birth" of Peeps...who, by the way, are made by a company called "Just Born"). They are a part of Springtime and now even a part of Christmas and Halloween.
The weirdos I work with (no, I'm NOT talking about patients here) have held long-standing traditions and beliefs about Peeps...how to eat them, when to eat them, etc. Some in my office prefer to buy their Peeps a year in advance, save them to "age" them, and then bring the Peeps out for fine dining the following year. Still others believe the "newer" tradition of Peeps shaped as bunnies is just plain WRONG...Peeps are chickens/chicks after all!
One year, a few of the "brighter bulbs" in my office decided to try something new with Peeps and use them to make smores. Graham crackers and chocolate bars were collected, as well as an assortment of Peeps. But since no one had access to a campfire in our downtown office, "someone" got the bright idea to try heating the Peep smores up in the microwave. An important lesson was learned that day...marshmallow Peeps WILL explode in a microwave!! (File THAT little tidbit of information in your important trivia files.)
There is even a tradition this time of year held here in Seattle...it's called the Peep Art Show/Competition. If you look closely at the photo above, you WILL be appalled to see Peeps have been substituted as disciples in Leonardo da'Vinci's "The Last Supper"...or maybe you WON'T be offended?
Maybe you, like me, will find humor in the political "incorrectness" and sarcasm of the photo and get back to the grass roots of what is REALLY important to remember and to celebrate during this Easter/Passover season. You DO recall what this is, don't you? Good...now let's all take a moment of silence together and pause to remember the Easter Bunny...LOL
Peep out, my peeps...
Well, not exactly. Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named instructions were to take a handful of Verapamil and see if this helps my eye pain/headache!
Yep...it's still here. That vise-pressing pain in my left eye. Nothing to date has helped relieve this pain and optic neuritis has been ruled "out"...rumor has it on the streets, I may just be experiencing my first MIGRAINE.
I started out my day with a visit to my favorite Nurse Practitioner's office, PP...I had this appointment scheduled well over two months ago as it was time for my every-two-year physical. You know the "one"...where no opening on the body is left unexplored. LOL
I gimped into her office and threw myself down in a chair. My blood pressure was elevated. Her assistant asked me if this was because I was in pain? "Duh", almost fell out of my mouth, but I restrained my vocal chords.
Yes, I WAS in about a class 6-7 pain mode (the worst pain I ever had in my life caused me to pass out, so that's my "10" on the pain scale). Yes, my B/P was most likely elevated to 135/100 because my left eye felt like someone had grabbed it from behind with a pair of pliers. I tried to be pleasant to the assistant, but I just wasn't in the mood.
Put on the gown and strip down to the socks...was there anything in particular I needed to talk with PP about? Again, "duh", was sitting with a tremendous fidget on my lips...I bit my tongue as I let the assistant know I would speak directly to PP about my "issues", thank you very much.
PP entered the room, took one look at me, and inquired "what's wrong?" I proceeded to fill her in on my litany of complaints while she dutifully responded in kind with "ahuh's" and "oh's!" to each of my rehearsed lines...after all, one cannot waste time in these appointments...it's best to go prepared with a list. LOL
She listened intently (which is all the more reason she remains my FAVORITE Nurse Practitioner!), took notes, and started to address each complaint systematically. She proceeded through the motions of the "physical" while I told jokes in a feeble attempt to normalize the fact my knees were up in the air and PP's head was much to close to my Cha-Cha.
PP had blood work drawn, talked to me about my peri-menopausal symptoms (like how quickly "duh" flies off my lips in fits of hormonal agitation!) and told me to wait in her office while she consulted an ophthalmologist. I did as I was told.
The wait was short and she returned to my darkened room to tell me I was to go immediately to said Op Doc's office a few blocks away for an eye consult...PP obviously has more "pull" in the medical community than I give her credit for! I gathered my things and again, did as I was told.
The Op Doc's office was only a short wait before 11 year old, Doogie Houser, came out to take me to HIS darkened exam room...the poor man appeared to be young enough to be my son and I was sure I saw a glistening wetness behind his little ears (he WAS barely wet behind the ears!).
Doogie/Op Doc examined my eyes...he dilated my eyes (without warning, I might add), he peered inside the windows to my brain, and announced "everything looks good". I thought this was rather funny for an eye doctor to say..."looks good"...he didn't understand why I was chuckling.
Doogie reassured me my optic nerves were intact in both eyes and there did not appear to be any inflammation or external cause for my pain...he needed to consult with Mother PP. He returned to tell me Mother PP wanted me to contact Dr. SWWNBN for follow up...I asked why? He told me he didn't know, but didn't want to get in "the middle of it". Bless his heart. I think he may have ALREADY gotten too far in the middle of things! LOL
I left his office to go outside with my completely blown pupils, only to discover, the one day out of the year the sun just HAD to shine in Seattle, was today. I could barely see to drive, but decided why should THIS minor event stop me from becoming a potential auto fatality? I rubbed Buddha's belly and got in my car, saying my prayers to the Highway Heaven and drove home. Somehow I managed to make the 15 mile trek home with only one eye open and my left eye watering like a hose.
I promptly emailed Dr. SWWNBN...she promptly emailed me back. If this wasn't optic neuritis, she was placing her bets on migraine. I was considering leafing through the Yellow Pages to see if anyone was still performing lobotomies...for HER, not me!
Migraine??? But I've never had a headache in my life, I proudly emailed back. There are only a few things I take such pride in and one of them is my self-proclaimed idea I have NEVER had a headache without a cause (such as concussions, meningitis, etc.)...that, and the fact I like to rub it in that my bladder works JUST fine, thank you very much! I AM a proud person, after all.
Why in hell's name would I be experiencing my first headache/migraine at age 42?...my fingers were hot on the keyboard as I searched for any other plausible explanation for my pain. Dr. SWWNBN swiftly emailed me back (like a shot to my heart) and informed my stoopid self, "Migraines and MS are quite common". That was it. The doctor had spoken. The verdict was in...and the jury of one convicted me. I am having a migraine.
I'm new to this headache world, so pardon me if I am a bit "poo poo" about this event. I DID agree to try Verapamil (a cardiac calcium channel blocker, I think?)...but only under duress...this pain is KILLING me!
OK...it's NOT actually killing me, but I'm almost to the point with it I "wish" it would! I've had many and various "pains" in my life (some in my neck, some in my arse LOL), but I've never had this type of pressure in my head before. I am learning a greater empathy for those who suffer from migraines...it's pretty friggin' miserable.
So, I'm off to drug myself with Verapamil, Zanaflex, Mirapex, and anything else I can find that might stupefy me for a few hours of sleep. And I am hoping when I wake up in the morning, this new little migraine friend will have relocated...I'd say maybe to YOUR house, but I wouldn't wish this kind of discomfort on anyone!...I humbly bow to you MS migraine suffers...
It started yesterday afternoon/evening with a teary left eye. Since I/eye was already feeling quite "crappy" with restless leg symptoms in my left leg, weakness in my right, and a magnitude 6.0 quaking spasm in my lower back, I/eye didn't pay much attention to the "eye".
This morning, I/eye awoke with a solid "ache" in both my eyes...as if my eyeballs were being squeezed in a small vise. The pain was intense, but not such that I/eye couldn't bare it...and the left eye continued to water relentlessly. I/eye couldn't ascertain if the pain was actually radiating from my eye sockets or the eyes themselves.
Dutifully (and as always), I/eye emailed Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named AFTER completing my own nursing assessment of my condition...there was no fever, no increase in pain with increased ocular pressure (put my head below my waist while standing), no unusual sinus drainage...nothing...except the additional eye pain. I/eye had been chewing on Zanaflex, Mirapex, and Advil for the past 24 hours like they were tic tacs...I/eye was being a "good" patient and resting as I/eye was told to do. Why had THIS new event now occurred?
Dr. SWWNBN had no explanation...did I/eye have a fever? No. Did I/eye have green snot blowing from my nose? No. Had I/eye ever had a cluster headache before? No. In fact, I/eye can proudly say I/eye have never had anything remotely close to the pain described by migraine suffers...unless one could include two concussions, a skull fracture, meningitis, or headache as a side effect from medication as a REAL headache! LOL The good doctor remained stumped and told me to "just rest and see how you do" (?). Like I/eye wasn't doing THAT already?!?
I/eye started taking Advil and Tylenol in a rotating, two hour pattern in an attempt to get some control over the eye pain...eventually the left eye ceased tearing as much and the pain became more localized in the left...but the pain remained too intense for my liking. I/eye substituted the Tylenol for 1/2 a Vicodin, thinking it was time to bring in the "big guns", AND I/eye emailed Dr. SWWNBN of my progress (or lack of it). I/eye didn't hear back from her.
Finally deciding to take matters into my own hands, I/eye researched "cluster headaches" on the Internet...I/eye feel confident in proclaiming I/eye do NOT have a cluster headache. Although some of my symptoms appear similar, the pain has not relented...this would normally occur with a cluster headache.
So I/eye remain puzzled as to what is wrong with my eye(s)...I/eye believe if this were O.N. (optic neuritis), I'd/eyed be experiencing an even worse excruciating pain. Sinusitis? Perhaps. Brain tumor? I/eye highly doubt it.
I(eye)'m getting ready now to go load up on as many medications as I/eye think it will take to tranquilize this elephant and try to get some sleep...between my back/legs and my eye pain, I/eye anticipate sleep will be somewhat elusive for me. I/eye DO see my favorite nurse practitioner, PP, tomorrow, so I(eye)'m hoping she can help me sort out this mystery pain (along with looking in every other orifice for my every-two-year physical exam!)...and maybe she will be able to figure out if this episode is a real relapse or secondary to some other illness/infection.
We'll "see"...or maybe NOT if this eye pain worsens!...
Having grown weary and short on time, I have decided the AOL-ers will just have to click on Brain-Cheese at Blogger to read the most recent post! Besides, the post titled: Happy(?) April Fool's Day...I Think?... has an Easter Egg embedded in it at the end of the post. I simply cannot disappoint those on Blogger by double posting a treasured Easter Egg here on AOL now, can I? LOL
Hit this link, and you should be directed right over to Brain-Cheese on Blogger: http://brain-cheese.blogspot.com/
It happened so quickly...we were demonstrating a self-defense technique to the class and I was on the floor. "T", my partner in training crime, was holding the kick bag and pretending to be my attacker...I was "pretending" to be a victim on the ground, about to be assaulted with a knife. We had done this maneuver before together...we were the "trainers", not the trainees after all...skilled and aware of the safety issues of the class.
I gave a solid blow to her knee in the direction of the kick bag (with my allegedly weak leg) and that's when it happened. My foot slipped up under the kick bag and connected with "T's" knee, nearly buckling the leg.
There wasn't any swelling initially..."T" remained a trooper and returned later in the day to instruct ANOTHER 4 hour session with our coworkers...but the "knee" was very sore. I hung my head, feeling like an idiot who had just sternly instructed my coworkers (the trainees) on the issues of SAFETY while in the course, the need for careful attention to detail, and to NOT injure one another.
"T" called me today while I was in a 9 hour Union meeting. There's a crack in her bone...not fractured through, but cracked. She can't walk on the leg and the doctor has instructed her to stay off of it to give it time to "heal".
She tells me, "Well, that technique really works cuz this is proof. I'm supposed to stay off my leg and it should heal just fine."
Unfortunately, while she's going home to heal, I feel like a heel...
Peggy used to say that...my mother, that is. "No rest for the wicked". To this day, I have no idea what exactly that saying meant coming from her! LOL
All I know is I must have racked up some "wicked" points in the past few months because I've had no REST at all these last few weeks...my job has been extremely fast-paced and relentless lately and I am nearly "too pooped to pop" (another "Pegism"...she had some good ones, didn't she?!?).
Tomorrow morning, I return to work at the crack of dawn (7:30AM) to present two, 4 hour training sessions ON MY DAY OFF, I might add. I will literally be at work from 7:30 in the morning to 11:00PM at night...you may now make wagers on exactly how "wicked" I have been recently...LOL.
I have become so tired recently, I find myself waking up each morning and saying the MS Prayer...you know the one..."Dear God, please don't give me a relapse of my multiple sclerosis today. And if you must, please let it kill me."
I very much doubt between now and Saturday I will find the time to post anything on either BrainCheese sites (you AOL-ers REALLY need to get on board and switch to the dark side of BrainCheese at Blogspot: http://www.brain-cheese.blogspot.com/ )...I also have an all day meeting to attend starting at 9:00AM on Friday. As I have told Corrine via a private email, "I imagine I will be ass-spanking insane by the time this month is over"!!! Well, at least I work in the business of "insane", so it IS familiar territory...
So, I'm off to go about my "wicked" ways...I have some typing and an outline to get completed before dawn shows her gnarly face in the morning. I imagine by 11:00PM tomorrow I will feel as if I have been "rode hard, and put up wet". Someone should really thank my mother for these God-awful sayings...anybody have a Ouija Board handy so we can call her??...LOL...
If for some strange reason, you are still lurking over here at AOL to read BrainCheese, you ARE missing Easter Egg #2 at BrainCheese on Blogspot...and believe me ladies (and I apologize now, gentlemen!), EE #2 is a keeper!
Head over there now at http://brain-cheese.blogspot.com/
It's official...Anna Nicole Smith died from an accidental, polydrug overdose. I NEVER would have guessed that in a million years.
**THUD**
For the love of God, I am sick of hearing about this poor woman's life! I would be curious to know how many thousands of dollars it has taken to determine that she DIED FROM A PRESCRIPTIVE DRUG OVERDOSE. If only "they" would have called ME, I could have saved people a hella load of money on that final report...and I am neither a pathologist nor a rocket scientist. LOL
It amazes me the stories that "entertain" us (focusing mostly on American culture now) these days...dramatic, bizarre, freak-show-type tales of other people's lives. I guess this is why reality TV is sooo popular in our culture, too. Our OWN lives have become so mundane and boring, we must rely on the tragedies of others (and I'm sorry, but every contestant on any reality TV show is a "tragedy"!) to entertain us or feel better about ourselves in some sick sort of way.
For instance, we now have TV shows about midgets, obese people trying to lose weight for money, celebrities trying to lose weight for money, kids singing with the dream to become an "American Idol" but usually ending up humiliated on national television, stupid women trying to win the "love" of a bachelor for cash, and the list goes on and on.
Let's face it folks...we are ALL fat, stupid, ugly, untalented, graceless, irritating slobs to some degree if that's what we choose to see in other people around us. We will never be any more than what we choose to believe is REALITY about our neighbor.
Maybe that's why so many of "us" are killing ourselves these days from "accidental drug overdoses"...just a thought...
Yeah, I know...I threatened you "peeps" with a move of BRAINCHEESE over to Blogspot.com...and I AM in the process of trying to transfer every last, freakin' piece of rambling prose over to that "other" site! I imagine this move will take another six months at the rate I'm going...
Anybody else sick of those Verizon commercials?!? I can't wait until that commercial guy who walks around in those silly things really DOES start to have hearing problems...and not just because of his cell phone connection! But, I rant for not...
Actually, the title of this post is to elicit feedback from all of you loyal CHEESE readers (that would be all two of you) regarding hearing problems and Multiple Sclerosis. Generally speaking (and posing an extremely simplified version of a complex question), do YOU have any difficulties with your hearing because of your MS?
My personal quest to unravel this mystery stems from my own curiosity...that, and a vague response from Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named regarding this issue! It began as follows:
About two weeks ago (maybe more, maybe less...I'm not much for attention to details when it comes to symptoms and time LOL), I started noticing these brief periods of "buzzing" in my left ear. I have frequently had "issues" with my left ear since childhood (i.e., multiple ear infections, some hearing loss, occasional pain, etc.), so my first notice of this occurring was more of a "Hey...that's odd" type of thought. Not wanting to be an alarmist, I'd just sort of "note" it, and carry on.
Then the buzzing episodes began occurring almost daily, very briefly, no pain, and no real reason to think I wasn't just experiencing some bizarre allergy or head cold development. Now, I am experiencing this buzzing several times a day. It's not exactly tinnitis (ringing in the ears), but literally more like a white noise, buzzing sound that seems to mute my hearing slightly. It is as if the sounds around me are having to travel under water before I hear them. (I know, I know...now I really AM starting to "sound" like a lunatic!) It's truly no more than an annoyance and the episodes only last for a few seconds to minutes...but, it IS bugging me!
I emailed Dr. SWWNBN a question about MS and hearing problems and she responded, "potentially" MS could cause this and that I needed to see an Ear/Nose/Throat doctor. I not-so-gently reminded her I just SAW an ENT that SHE sent me to in January and my ears checked out just fine!
So, I've now decided to pose this question to the REAL experts...all y'all who read my blathering crap and have MS! Have YOU had any trouble with your hearing caused by MS and/or experienced a similar symptom? I KNOW more than two of you with MS read this cornucopia of crap, so please throw me a friggin' bone here and leave a comment...I'd love to HEAR (yuck yuck) from you!...
