A Shaky Past
The other day I realized that today is 1 year ago that my tremors started. Christmas morning I was getting ready for church and my right hand was shaking. I thought that maybe I was going to have a migraine, as sometimes my right arm would shake when a really bad one was coming, but nothing came of it.
I went to see the chiropractor, thinking that maybe I had pinched a nerve in my shoulder that was causing the tremor. Even after a few visits it didn`t seem to be going away.
As the days went by it started getting worse till it was going all the time. I went to see my family doctor to get some prescriptions renewed (they had gotten wet in the flood) and she went into `high alert`mode and she had the student working with her that day do a full nuerological accessment and then did her own. Two days later, with dear Betty Ann as my second set of ears and questions, I was in the nuerologist`s office (apparently my family doc had called in a favour to get me seen so quickly).
As we left the office Betty Ann said that she was so relieved that I did so well with the tests. She, along with the family doctor were thinking it could be a tumor or MS or a host of other things, but because I did so well on my exam the nuerologist ruled those out. I still had blood work and an MRI to make sure (well - mostly for peace of mind) and the final result was that it was brought on by stress and was just a different manifestation of my migraines.
To say December 2011 was `stressfull`was an understatement. I did 6 months worth of work in 2 weeks (we had the name and logo change at work and I didn`t get those until the first week of December and had to change everything over, print out 400 books and enrollment packages with stickers, labels and everything else that goes will it in 2 weeks). Then there was the flood - I guess that sent me over the edge.
The tremor in my right hand lasted about 3 months. About 1 month in, it `moved` to my left shoulder and a stutter. We were having job reviews and board meetings about that time and on the Monday I had a review and just a hand shaking, Wednesday one of the board members came back to do some work and I was stuttering and on Friday he came to do some banking and I was going full tilt, shaking hand, left shoulder and stuttering.
I think that people were a lot more`freaked`out than I was. Apparently Betty Ann, Rachel and Ryan were getting phone calls and emails making sure that I was being looked after and watched (to make sure things were getting worse). No one really said anything to me (which was a good thing!!!). By God`s grace I was never anxious about it - more bothered and frustrated and not being able to talk and tired from the constant shaking.
It is much better now. I still have the shake in my left shoulder once in a while (if things are getting to be too much for me to handle it goes). Oddly enough the place where it is the worst is at church (we talked about it and it could be that I just feel self concious that people are still watching me closely and there are some folks who like to `startle`me which gets it going). The stutter doesn`t come too much anymore either.
The other day we were sitting at the dinner table and I tripped over my words and Tristan right away looked at me with big eyes |Auntie Jen, are you talking funny again?'. They were always so good about trying to 'ease' my pain by rubbing my arm or patiently waiting for me to finish my words. Even when I (or am) in bed, they quietly come downstairs, turn on the little lamp, smother me with smooches and let me sleep.
So, as long as I'm not too startled or scared or anxious or busy or nervous, I'm pretty good (on the shaking front). It is amazing to look in files from last year and see how my writing was greatly affected (it took a LONG time to hand write addresses and letters and notes etc) and how great work was at saying that if I couldn't hand write it we'd type and print it (we like to do as much hand written stuff as possible because for some guys it is the only handwritten mail they get). So glad that we didn't have to go that route!
God was so good during this time! I was never overly anxious (except when I was talking to my family doc on the phone and she so casually said it was a tumor... then I just cried, called Betty Ann, cried some more, called the neurologist to be sure that I misheard the family doc, called Betty Ann, and cried some more) or worried. That was so huge! With everything else that was going on, I wasn't worried about it.
A few good things came out of it (though when I tell my family doctor she just laughs and tells me I'm crazy and they are NOT good reasons!).
1. The shaking of my right hand strengthed it greatly so when the twins were born and needed to have their bottoms constantly patted to stop them fussing - I was able to do it without getting a sore/tired hand. It was shaking anyways so I just put it to good use.
2. I lost about 25 lbs between January and April (when it was really at it's worst). I think that I should have something shaking all the time - but my doctor doesn't think that would be good. I wouldn't mind 'shaking' off another 30 :)
Time has flown by! And through it all God was sooooo good!
I went to see the chiropractor, thinking that maybe I had pinched a nerve in my shoulder that was causing the tremor. Even after a few visits it didn`t seem to be going away.
As the days went by it started getting worse till it was going all the time. I went to see my family doctor to get some prescriptions renewed (they had gotten wet in the flood) and she went into `high alert`mode and she had the student working with her that day do a full nuerological accessment and then did her own. Two days later, with dear Betty Ann as my second set of ears and questions, I was in the nuerologist`s office (apparently my family doc had called in a favour to get me seen so quickly).
As we left the office Betty Ann said that she was so relieved that I did so well with the tests. She, along with the family doctor were thinking it could be a tumor or MS or a host of other things, but because I did so well on my exam the nuerologist ruled those out. I still had blood work and an MRI to make sure (well - mostly for peace of mind) and the final result was that it was brought on by stress and was just a different manifestation of my migraines.
To say December 2011 was `stressfull`was an understatement. I did 6 months worth of work in 2 weeks (we had the name and logo change at work and I didn`t get those until the first week of December and had to change everything over, print out 400 books and enrollment packages with stickers, labels and everything else that goes will it in 2 weeks). Then there was the flood - I guess that sent me over the edge.
The tremor in my right hand lasted about 3 months. About 1 month in, it `moved` to my left shoulder and a stutter. We were having job reviews and board meetings about that time and on the Monday I had a review and just a hand shaking, Wednesday one of the board members came back to do some work and I was stuttering and on Friday he came to do some banking and I was going full tilt, shaking hand, left shoulder and stuttering.
I think that people were a lot more`freaked`out than I was. Apparently Betty Ann, Rachel and Ryan were getting phone calls and emails making sure that I was being looked after and watched (to make sure things were getting worse). No one really said anything to me (which was a good thing!!!). By God`s grace I was never anxious about it - more bothered and frustrated and not being able to talk and tired from the constant shaking.
It is much better now. I still have the shake in my left shoulder once in a while (if things are getting to be too much for me to handle it goes). Oddly enough the place where it is the worst is at church (we talked about it and it could be that I just feel self concious that people are still watching me closely and there are some folks who like to `startle`me which gets it going). The stutter doesn`t come too much anymore either.
The other day we were sitting at the dinner table and I tripped over my words and Tristan right away looked at me with big eyes |Auntie Jen, are you talking funny again?'. They were always so good about trying to 'ease' my pain by rubbing my arm or patiently waiting for me to finish my words. Even when I (or am) in bed, they quietly come downstairs, turn on the little lamp, smother me with smooches and let me sleep.
So, as long as I'm not too startled or scared or anxious or busy or nervous, I'm pretty good (on the shaking front). It is amazing to look in files from last year and see how my writing was greatly affected (it took a LONG time to hand write addresses and letters and notes etc) and how great work was at saying that if I couldn't hand write it we'd type and print it (we like to do as much hand written stuff as possible because for some guys it is the only handwritten mail they get). So glad that we didn't have to go that route!
God was so good during this time! I was never overly anxious (except when I was talking to my family doc on the phone and she so casually said it was a tumor... then I just cried, called Betty Ann, cried some more, called the neurologist to be sure that I misheard the family doc, called Betty Ann, and cried some more) or worried. That was so huge! With everything else that was going on, I wasn't worried about it.
A few good things came out of it (though when I tell my family doctor she just laughs and tells me I'm crazy and they are NOT good reasons!).
1. The shaking of my right hand strengthed it greatly so when the twins were born and needed to have their bottoms constantly patted to stop them fussing - I was able to do it without getting a sore/tired hand. It was shaking anyways so I just put it to good use.
2. I lost about 25 lbs between January and April (when it was really at it's worst). I think that I should have something shaking all the time - but my doctor doesn't think that would be good. I wouldn't mind 'shaking' off another 30 :)
Time has flown by! And through it all God was sooooo good!
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