Polymyositis
After two months of muscle aches and pains, I finally have a culprit: polymyositis. Unfortunately, tracking down the diagnosis consumed several weeks, several weeks during which my body's immune system was permitted to have a field day consuming some 12-15 pounds of muscle in early May alone.
Fun stuff.
Apparently it's an incredibly rare autoimmune disorder. It was brought on by the flu, in my case, in mid February. I noticed that the aches and pains never quite went away, but I was running two companies, selling a house, had just bought a new house, etcetera.
I'd mentioned the muscle aches to my asthma doc during a regular checkup in late March. He prescribed prednisone for a week and I was cured. That's when we made the offer on the new house.
But, as fate will have it, within days of closing on the new house the muscle aches came back. And this time they meant business. Within days I had no energy. None. Imagine mononucleosis times ten. If I carried a box from the car to the house, I'd have to lay down for ten minutes to recover. Then double pneumonia set in, followed by loss of appetite, pounding headaches and total unrelenting fatigue.
My general practitioner was stumped. "Don't know," he said. "But I can tell you what it's not."
So I prayed. Quite a bit actually. And I began making several mental contingency plans. I could feel my body shutting down, so I knew I wasn't being overdramatic.
A rheumatologist, reviewing even more blood work, was able to pin the ailment down. "Why, your creatine-kinase level is 1,800; it should be 200. That's a tell-tale sign."
Overall this thing can be beat, but it's often chronic and even in great-case scenarios can require a half a year from which to recover. I've never been one to really relax much, so learning to work even eight hour days is going to prove challenging.
Conventional medicine, meanwhile, offers several treatment options, some of which make me quite uncomfortable. However, I'm fortunate to have access to a physician wishing to help attack this disorder using alternative therapies, which is what I'm going to do.
For now it's back to prednisone. Thankfully, after a solid week of dosing, the aches and fatigue are showing signs of weakening (and the pneumonia's clearing up noticeably). Now it's up to me to get more rest, eat better and study up on this illness.
Fun stuff.
Apparently it's an incredibly rare autoimmune disorder. It was brought on by the flu, in my case, in mid February. I noticed that the aches and pains never quite went away, but I was running two companies, selling a house, had just bought a new house, etcetera.
I'd mentioned the muscle aches to my asthma doc during a regular checkup in late March. He prescribed prednisone for a week and I was cured. That's when we made the offer on the new house.
But, as fate will have it, within days of closing on the new house the muscle aches came back. And this time they meant business. Within days I had no energy. None. Imagine mononucleosis times ten. If I carried a box from the car to the house, I'd have to lay down for ten minutes to recover. Then double pneumonia set in, followed by loss of appetite, pounding headaches and total unrelenting fatigue.
My general practitioner was stumped. "Don't know," he said. "But I can tell you what it's not."
So I prayed. Quite a bit actually. And I began making several mental contingency plans. I could feel my body shutting down, so I knew I wasn't being overdramatic.
A rheumatologist, reviewing even more blood work, was able to pin the ailment down. "Why, your creatine-kinase level is 1,800; it should be 200. That's a tell-tale sign."
Overall this thing can be beat, but it's often chronic and even in great-case scenarios can require a half a year from which to recover. I've never been one to really relax much, so learning to work even eight hour days is going to prove challenging.
Conventional medicine, meanwhile, offers several treatment options, some of which make me quite uncomfortable. However, I'm fortunate to have access to a physician wishing to help attack this disorder using alternative therapies, which is what I'm going to do.
For now it's back to prednisone. Thankfully, after a solid week of dosing, the aches and fatigue are showing signs of weakening (and the pneumonia's clearing up noticeably). Now it's up to me to get more rest, eat better and study up on this illness.
posted by Erik Eckel at 9:22 PM
5 Comments:
Hey, man. Sorry to hear you're having this struggle. It sounds pretty horrible. But I'm glad you could post the update and that the you're able to get good care.
Thanks man. Diagnosing the thing was half the battle, I think. I think I'm on the road to recovery now, though. Still, I'll likely need to delay my attempt at the Millennium Trail to late summer. But I still want to give that a go!
Good luck, Erik. At least now you have that diagnosis--knowing thy foe is half the battle.
Yes, indeed, diagnosis is half the battle.
After a trying weekend (clocklike fever from 11 am to 3:30 pm), I've learned that Tylenol helps quite a bit. As the fever was only 101, it took awhile to figure out that was part of the problem (but it goes along with the disorder, apparently).
Today I received a prescription for an antiobiotic, which I've added to my current daily meds lineup. There's a small shot it'll work. Here's hoping it does.
Hi. I was diagnosed in 2005...it took two years to figure it out! Most docs said it was in my head. Wishing you luck...and keep up the postive attitude!
Peace,
Beverly
http://mylifewithmctd.blogspot.com/
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