April 25 2015

April 25 2015 Greetings My Friend A Facebook friend is overwhelmed with her health issues. Her pain is her constant companion and today she wishes she could give up. I understand her discouragement and my response is to tell her how she offers me strength when I am not so sure I want to keep trying. As I write my response to her I realize how much other’s struggle inspires me to try once more. I also have learned about my own struggles that for years I did not understand. Chiari Malformation is a disease that moves around my body and I may struggle for a while with weak wrists only to be okay a year or so later. It is not a clear path to what is going on with me. Even my straining headaches and Chiari headaches tend to move around. My diagnosis a few years ago began to make sense some of my life long struggles. I have always stumbled over my own two feet when I am very tired. Today I understand that it is Chiari Malformation. This disease also is progressive. My stumbling when I was tired days now are a constant imbalance issue for me. I can get dizzy looking up high, bending and stooping. I am no longer able to judge a ladder and moving over on it like I once could. I have also learned that many Chiarians have swallowing issues. I have these issues now and is it Chiari, GERDS? I no longer can take multiple pills or supplements in one setting. At present I need to take them throughout the day and not at one setting anymore. I bring up big pills, feel like I am swallowing a brick or feel like it is taking its sweet time dissolving. My friend is struggling with pain that won’t quit and my heart goes out to her. So far my pain is minimal. I have learned how to keep it at by to an extent. I have found eating frequently helps with the straining headaches and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables also helps. I still get these headaches but not as often. The headache stops me in my tracks when they do come on so I have a sense of my friend’s pain. If I wait too long to eat I can get so sick I will vomit so I give myself a rigid eating schedule, mainly to avoid vomiting and the headaches that often accompany the vomiting spells. A cane helps me get around from the car to the building but if I want to walk for awhile I will need a walker or a buggy to hold onto. I am learning that many of my health issues are sister ailments in Chiari Malformation so attempting to decide how to report my struggles is a problem and from what I am learning there are very few doctors who truly understand my disease. My thought at present is to work on each health issue as it arises and if it gets worse see if I can find a specialist in my disease. My GERDS being a sister related struggle is so far being kept under control with medication. Now the swallowing issues may lead me to seek further assistance but for now I will try the conventional methods for resolving my struggle. May God bless you and you make His face shine on you. Love Janet