First Appt. with Neurologist

November 1, 2001

Carol,

Glad to hear you are finally getting the answers you need. Good luck

with your sleeping and your new exercises. God Bless

Allicia

November 1, 2001

The other day, I had my first appt. with my Neurologist. He is a very nice

man. After talking to me at length, and poking, prodding, etc., he told me

that he feels that I not only have Fibro, but also something called Thoracic

Outlet Syndrome. We are going to try physical therapy exercises that will

teach me to open up the thoracic area. Because this area is kind of 'closed

in', so to speak, it is one of the reasons that my hands and arms are going

numb, and apparently, it can also cause severe pain, which, of course, I'm

in. He had me hold one arm up, and turn my head the opposite direction, and

my hand turned white. We did this on the other side as well, with the same

results. Apparently, this is cutting off the blood flow to my extremities.

This also explains my chest pain. Anyway, I go back to him in 3 months, and

hopefully the exercises will have helped, and will make me more comfortable.

He is not sure at this time if it will completely clear it up, or make it

better at all. If, when I return, I am not better, I will have to look at

surgery to open up this area. Apparently, posture can play a role in it,

but I'm also willing to bet that the fact that in the last several years,

I've had severe falls, landed on my elbow (two different falls), and broken

them. This would have jarred this whole area severely, and this could be

the result. He also told me that for now, we'll keep my temporary handicap

parking, and if , in three months, I'm not any better, he'll change it to

permanent. He did tell me that this could possibly be permanent. As far as

I'm concerned, I'm very thankful. One of the reasons I was sent to him, was

because there was some concern that my numbness might be caused by MS, but

he definitely feels that is not the case.

On another note, I've been on Amitriptyline to help me sleep at night, and

my appetite has shot through the roof! Yikes! I'd lost 25 lbs., and I know

I'm gaining some of it back, so I called my GP yesterday, and he put me on

Ambien. I tried it last night, and it seemed to work well.

That's all for now, folks! I go back to my Rheumatologist next Friday, so

we'll see what he says!

I hope you all have a GREAT week-end!

Carol

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