your time,
enegry and any effort into helping me. I am 501(c)Laudine's Story
From the stories I am reading, I must be one of the lucky ones, because after YEARS of suffering I finally got help. I always remember as I child having very severe headaches, I cried my self to sleep many of nights back then, but never really thought too much about it other than I had a bad headache. The headaches never stopped me from being active; I was always very athletic and still am.
My symptoms began in 1989 when I was 23 yrs old living in Southern California; headaches and neck pain were my biggest complaints at that time.
I always felt like if I could just get my neck to crack I might feel, better. Well my boyfriend at the time, now my husband suggested that I see a chiropractor, I did, and the first adjustment felt fine, but of course the chiropractor wanted me to come back for nine more adjustments. The second time he adjusted me he twisted my neck, it cracked and I heard this huge pop and was immediately sick to my stomach. Of course the chiro said I was fine and that this was all normal, I never went back.
I lived with the neck pain and headaches until 1992, by this time I not only had my previous symptoms, but was now throwing up for no reason and felt pressure in my head. I went to my GP and explained my symptoms, he ordered a neck x-ray and said it looked normal, for the vomiting issue he did an upper GI which all came back negative. I asked to be referred to a neurologist, but my GP said that my symptoms showed nothing to see a neurologist for. I went to my GP often trying, begging him to help me, order more test, a CT, anything, I knew there was something wrong, I knew what I was feeling was not normal.
After many frustrating doctor appointments I gave up, I told myself this is just how you are going to live the rest of your life.
My symptoms got progressively worst year by year until 1998, that’s the year my husband and I moved to South Florida. We moved in April of 1998, at that time I needed my eyes checked, just the normal eye exam. But the optometrist doing my exam, keep re-measuring my eyes, saying that my eyes had changed in size. I could tell this alarmed her, but that day she had brought her toddler to work and was distracted, I remember asking her if there could be something wrong, she couldn’t give me an answer.
Well if I had gone to an Ophthalmologists instead of an Optometrist, I’ sure they would have picked up that there was something causing pressure on my optical nerve, that’s why the shape of my eyes had changed, if you looked at my eyes at that time they looked like the pointed side of an egg.
I started to develop more symptoms, vomiting daily just out of the blue, numbness in my head, hands and fingers, when sleeping my eyes would not shut, they stayed open, very creepy for people who thought I was just sitting in a chair, I could no longer sleep lying down, I slept sitting in a chair for the next six months. I could not bend over to tie my shoes or pick anything up from the floor for the pressure in my head felt like I had an air hose in it, I told my husband I felt like my brain was bleeding, at times while sleeping I would wake myself up because I was gasping for air.
Ok enough, I thought I have got to try and see of a doctor in our new city could help me. I saw a neurologist, who took one look at me and said I was too healthily looking to have anything wrong with me, ( I managed, some how to stay fit) the neuro ordered an x-ray of my neck, again normal, I begged him to order an MRI or CT at the least, he would not.
We are now in October of 1998, three months to the day starting a new job, my boss saw me trying to bend over to get something and she realized I couldn’t bend over. My boss said something is wrong with you (I had been out ill for the last two days), why don’t you go to the ER?
I did, drove myself, my husband just started he’s new job and I didn’t want to worry my family members, on the way to the ER I threw up all over my self, I was really, really sick, I just wanted someone anyone to help me!
The doctors at the ER once again gave me this look like yeah right 30 something young woman complaining of headaches, neck pain, passing out, nausea, etc., finally after a few hours they ordered a CT scan, the look on the doctors face when he came in was “shock”, he said yes you have something very wrong with you, you have an Arachnoid Cyst the size of a large lemon and hydrocephalus, we need to get you into surgery ASAP!
I was transferred to a hospital in Palm Beach Gardens, FL from Boca Raton to have the surgery, I was fortunate enough to have been placed in the hands of a gifted neurosurgeon, who performed the 8 hour surgery. The cyst was drained and a VP shunt was put in place to drain the fluid from my brain, the doctors said one more day and I would have probably had a severe stroke or just died in my sleep. The cyst was so large that is was putting pressure on the optical nerve, the doctor could not believe that my sight was not affected.
While in the hospital I did have seizures and my brain was still very swollen because of all of the trauma it had been through, I was in the hospital for 11 days, but oh how much better I felt, yes I was weak from all that I had been through, but I felt great.
During this whole ordeal I pushed my body to the extreme, I had to. I had a husband, family, pets, and a job. The human body is an amazing thing, but when it is telling you something is wrong, there is probably something wrong. Listen to your body!
I have had many medical issues after having to deal AC, Chari malformation, cervical neck surgery; heart arrhythmias (IST), not sure if any are related or caused by my AC, but who really knows.
Hope my story helps, be persistent don’t give up.
Laudine
