I should have started this earlier...
To this date I have nine doctors... but that is getting ahead of myself, so... Let me splain... No there is too much Let me sum up. (a little humor for you movie fans).
Two years ago I started to see lights out of no where. It would be just a little blink of colored light, sort of like if your cell phone had a message light blinking. I would look and my cell phone would not be there or it would be upside down so you could not see the light. Next I noticed movement in my peripheral vision. It always looked like someone was walking up the steps of my apartment or by my window. I would look and no one would be there. I did not actually see people I just saw a quick movement out of the corner of my eyes. This was once in a while so I did not think about it much. I worked a lot of hours, I did not sleep much, I was under a moderate amount of stress (but no more than normal), and I ate horribly. Any one of those excuses I chalked it up to, so I ignored it.
Now five months ago for whatever unknown reason it started happening all the time. First I was noticing objects every time I drove, it looked as though something (no Discernible shapes or objects... just I thought something was coming into the road). I would swerve to avoid whatever it was and then look into my rear view mirror, nothing would be there. That happened for a few weeks and I chalked it up to working a lot, not eating right and not sleeping.
One night I was trying to sleep between two shifts I was laying in bed, with no lights on, shades down and on the one wall I saw a light on the wall, and the only way I can describe it is as bright as magnesium flashing. I looked over at it and looked away then it flashed again. With no way for the light to come from somewhere else I got worried. I made an appointment with my family doctor. He gave me some medicine that I took the maximum dosage of for a week. I was at work and it did not work. I was standing in front of my parked car and out of the corner of my eye it looked like the car was rolling towards me. I turned and went to put it in park... the car had not moved. I turned away and it looked like it had moved again. I had one more incident while at work that was ... dangerous (I will leave it at that). I went and took off the next two days to give myself a week off and found a neurologist because the medicine did not work.
I went to the first neurologist, who put me on medicine, told me that I could not go to work (and have been using my vacation days ever since). The neurologist wanted to see me in three months. I started the two medicines and they made me feel horrible. Propanolol, after two weeks of taking it, I felt worse... I called my neurologist who was away and they put me through to a back up doctor. He was rude and started to yell at me on the phone. I have never spoke to someone the way he spoke to me. He told me if I felt that bad to go to the emergency room rather than have me come into the office. On top of the visual anomalies I was getting eye piercing headaches, so I went to the emergency room at U of Penn Hospital. There I got a CTscan and they gave me news that I do not have a tumor (which at that point was good news since I was fighting to get the MRI, MRA and MRV that was requested by my neurologist. Insurance needed prerequisite and it was not submitted by the doctor's office).
I was unhappy with the side effects of the medicine and how I was feeling. I became weak all of a sudden. I had always been in good shape, able to sprint, push ups, sit ups, and I was working on P-90X. All of a sudden a walk around the park exhausted me. I had ED (which is embarrassing enough) from the medicine and everything just started to go downhill from there. I was expecting the medicine to work and after several weeks it had only felt worse. My family doctor gave me more medication for seizures just in case that was the cause (it has run in my family).
I started to see a second neurologist because I had such a hard time getting a hold of the first. He started me off on a higher dosage of the medication that my family doctor put me on. It was supposed to help seizures and optic migraines (Topamax). Now the nickname for that medicine is Dopamax. I stopped eating because I did not feel hungry and I was still feeling worse than when I started. My legs were feeling weaker where it hurt to take steps more than one at a time and I have to make sure I hold onto the railing and wall for support. My hands started to tremble and continue to. At this point my relationship with my girlfriend deteriorated. She was a good sport about me not being able to drive, not working and just feeling horrible all the time. I don't blame her for wanting to go, I was sick, whatever is wrong with me was bothering me and the meds were bothering me ontop of everything else. I guess best to leave early and it only hurt a little than stick around and hurt more...
To be continued... I am tired of writing.
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