dirtier_old_man's Journal

Health issues and other assorted nonsense.
So I've been battling some neurological symptoms of late... I say of late, but some of them have been going on for nearly a decade now.

It started around eight or nine years ago, numbness and pins and needles in my wrists were the initial symptom. I instantly thought it must be carpal tunnel. I'm constantly on the computer and in addition use my hands a lot at work, so it seemed obvious. I got these brace things for my hands and things seemed to improve for a period. Flash forward six months or so and my arms begin to get weak, while I can still lift anything I could before... suddenly things feel like they weigh more than what they should.

IE: Something as light as a wine bottle, while still being light.. feels more akin to what the weight of holding three or four bottles at a time would be like. I had slight weakness in my legs as well and general fatigue. These symptoms would come and go over the last decade... recurring around twice a year... lasting a few weeks and then going away. I never thought much of it because I'm very stubborn about my health.. always have been and since it would always go away.

Well things are showing no sign of letting up this time, they started back up toward the end of last year and still going strong. The numbness and pins and needles in my hands are stronger than ever and in addition my feet now get the same thing. I'm fatigued on a near constant basis, sometimes have trouble using my arms and walking is starting to become difficult.

Truth be told stubborn or not about my health, I'm finally ready to get things checked out. unfortunately I'm in no position to do so until December. Long story short (chalk this up to awful timing) around the same time all these symptoms started hitting I had to take an unexpected pay cut and hour cut at work. I seemingly overnight went from making fairly decent money, to making less than half of what I was making before. Won't go into specifics... but will simply state that I felt this was unjust, took advantage of the fact that I work for a union company.. filed a grievance and just last month my case finally went into arbitration and I won and got my old position and pay back.

Ok good that means I can go get my health checked out... well not so fast around this same time I get a call from a bill collector about an old credit card bill. Long story short I get tired of the harassment from them and agree to setup payment arrangements. Dur to said payment arrangements over the next two months, I again can't really afford to get my health checked out.

I suppose I'll simply have to wait until December and hope for the best, there are some scary things going through my head given the nature of the symptoms. MS being the one that scares me the most and seems to fit the symptoms to a tee.

My little brother seems to think it's all in my head and nothing major.. and while it may possibly be nothing major, it clearly isn't just in my head.

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