Let me start with a bit of background...
I'm 45, married forever, 2 grown kids...yadda yadda yadda...
When my youngest was 17 I decided to go back to school and learn a recession-proof trade (certified medical assistant! I had a 3.8 gpa at time of graduation) and had every intention of building a future together with my husband.. settling down in Miami perhaps...who knows. Anyhoo... Long story short...
My body started to fail in 2008.
It started with my legs and feet going numb and progressed to excruciating pain down my left leg. I'm talking about pain that was debiliatating and crippling.
I've had MRI's and numerous trips to the ER. I've had to deal with incontinence (embarrassing!) and walking with a cane. My kids have tried to adjust the best they could...and my husband was convinced that it might be all in my head.....I think its denial.
I have had to go thru many trips to the ER where they have doled out many prescriptions of opiates and no conclusive answers until this past Monday!
After an extensive medical history....the answer was two-fold.
The MRI results showed degenerative spinal disease where I will have the spine of a 70 year old woman by time I'm 50 (which I can't do anything about) and a long-forgotten disease that I want to bring attention to.
When I was 19 I had a mild case of chicken pox. When I was 25 I had a severe case of chicken pox (don't let anyone tell you that you can't get this disease twice!) and then started getting strange skin irritations...hives...lesions...
Here it is, many years later and I have been diagnosed with "postherpetic neuralgia" which means that the virus which causes chicken pox has been dormant all these years only to attack the nerve cells close to the spinal column and cause PAIN!
Please....if you or your kids have had chicken pox (even one case) please watch for outbreaks of "zoster" or "shingles" which is what is left-over from the pox!!!
My doctor said its because of my age that its so severe. The disease can lie dormant for years and attack the immune system without warning. Watch yourself or your kids for strange skin irritations months or even years later. Once it hits the nerves.....it becomes postherpetic neuralgia and can cause life-long pain.
There is no cure....only treatment.
I just found out about this 3 days ago...and as grateful as I am to finally have a name to attach to this....I don't want someone else to deal with a mysterious, nameless entity that can wreak havoc on your body!
I feel that knowledge is power...and the more you know the more power you have.
Peace y'all.......
Patti
