REALITY?: The Real-life Version of TV Medical Drama

Blogs can be helpful in dispersing information about all facets of life, and while what we read as ‘personal experience’ should never be taken as fact or generalization, some things are important enough to pose as examples of possibilities in seeking answers. Particularly in health issues, one needs to be wary and not hop online for answers, certainly not taken off a weblog but I know that once before I felt impelled to describe a friend’s two month ordeal with what was diagnosed and treated as back pain when she had in fact a life-threatening abscess on her spine.

This is all boring health stuff, but I’d suggest a quick scan just to make yourself aware of it and am hopeful that if you or someone you know ever presents with this condition you’ll be one step up on it.

Now what I’ve been through the last two weeks was not life-threatening, but there was the possibility of loss of eyesight–that’s permanent loss of eyesight–had the condition not been diagnosed correctly in time. Now I am not a baby when it comes to pain; nausea, yes, but I have a high pain threshold.

The simple fact timeline: I went for a regular doctor’s visit, went back for regular blood testing but complained of a slight swollen neck gland (which I wouldn’t have even gone in for if I hadn’t been going for bloodwork anyway) but after the nurse’s five unsuccessful attempts at sticking a needle in to draw blood, and knowing the doctor hadn’t added any bloodwork for the gland situation (odd, since tests might indicate an infection that is the usual cause of glandular reaction) I said I’d come back another time.

Okay, my fault here; the doctor had suggested a visit to my dentist guessing at an abscessed tooth. I didn’t feel this was the case having had that problem twice before (and many almosts) so I settled into a dull pain control with aspirin (switching with Ibuprophen and Aleve and Tylenol) along with some outdated penicillin (not a great idea, but figured it might help). It did seem to be bearable, and the pain didn’t explode into my head, face, entire scalp until a week and a half after the initial onset. Pillows weren’t soft enough, extreme pain shot out from my temples and the base of my skull if I moved, and just pounded happily along if I didn’t. Besides the constant moderate to high level pain, the scalp was extremely sensitive; I’m talking, moving a hair hurt. The aspirin et al, no longer touched it, and a cold compress was all that offered some relief. Noise and strong light didn’t make it any worse, but movement of any kind did. Made an immediate appointment (same day) with the dentist wherein xrays showed no abscesses or infection sites, and went immediately then back to the doctor under my husband’s steady hand. She checked me again, and I agreed to have blood drawn but I gave the nurse one shot at it because the pain in my head was reaching the teary intolerable point. The doctor also prescribed Oxycodone for pain and Amoxicillin as an antibiotic. The Oxycodone wasn’t any more effective than the aspirin. Next day, with some blood tests complete, she spoke with my husband at work and had made appointments for head xrays (possible sinus infection) and with a rheumatologist. Xrays showed nothing, but the rheumatologist, ah, the rheumatologist is my goddess.

Just as Dr. House and his crew go through all the possibilities and leave a black and blue but alive and smiling patient (who likely hasn’t seen the bills yet for the zillion procedures performed on him) the correct answer is found. A pill is taken, and life seems worth living.

What they found was a condition called Giant Cell Arteritis, or specifically, Temporal Arteritis, which is very simply an inflammation of the arteries, and in this case, those in the scalp. Prednisone was prescribed and taken even before a biopsy was done to impede the process and avoid the possibility of loss of vision due to a blockage of bloodflow to the eyes.  I’ve linked the condition not because you care all that much, or even out of curiosity, but rather because if you do look into it, I wanted to lead you to what I’d consider the best source of information at the Mayo Clinic website.