New to this forum.
Hey gang. I've been around SR for a few years and just love the place. I've been busy with life and health issues, and just now managed to come look around here.
What a wonderful bunch you guys are!!! I love the recovery you got going here.
So here's my introduction. I have a condition called "Autonomic Neuropathy", which is basically my nerves in the center of my body are withering away. In turn that causes my heart and lungs to loose control and blood supply, and they start withering away too. My blood pressure is a constant problem (it goes way up, way down, this way and that way ), as is my ability to breathe. There is no cure, yet, but lots of meds to help me manage. 'course, the meds all have side effects.
I have regular episodes of angina every day. That's a deep, burning pain in the middle of my chest caused by my heart tissues not getting enough blood. In the last three years the paramedics have dragged me into the ER 6 times, and I got to spend a few days in "club med" while my heart healed. One time I was in for a whole month, course that was one of the 3 times my heart actually stopped altogether. Not a fun time.
The neuropathy will continue to get worse over time, and eventually it will kill me. Along the way it will spread to other parts of my body causing all kinds of nastiness. At the moment we are dealing with some weird symptoms in my stomach, which may be caused by all the meds, or maybe caused by the neuropathy. don't know yet. We'll see what the HP has planned.
Just as a side note, I also had an accident and wound up having brain surgery over this last Xmas, and now I get these monster migraines from that. However, those are expected to go away as my brain heals.
Meds? Oh yes, opiates work the best. They relax the heart muscle, knock out the pain, loosen up all the blood vessels so my heart doesn't have to work so hard, and have the least _medical_ side effects. However, having been addicted to booze I know I have to _very_ careful with that stuff. I take it only when my symptoms meet certain limits I have worked out with my docs. Otherwise I take alpha channel blockers or vaso constrictors (depending on which way my blood pressure is going) various blood thinners and some steroids. The side effects of those meds are pretty ugly, but they make it possible for me to "save up" the opiates as a last resort.
I'll be posting as often as I can. I try to keep my meds to a minimum, which gives me just enough energy to hold down a simple little desk job, and not a whole lot more. I spend a lot of time in bed trying to get well enough to go to work the next morning. Weekends I go to meetings and out with friends. Once in a while I'll feel good enough to catch a meeting during the week, and those are wonderful days.
thanx for this wonderful forum, and for all the kind and supportive posts you guys have written. It's nice to know there's safe places like this.
Mike
