The Faces of Endo Video

I know I have promised this for over a year, but many things have happened that wouldn't allow me to get to it but I finally managed to get it done even when my computer was on the fritz since day one of collecting the collage photos. Someone, somewhere did not want this posted that is why I feel it was such a problem LOL..

8 Months Post Hysterectomy

As I start to approach the one year anniversary of my hysterectomy, I can say without a doubt this was quite the ride so far. I knew I was going to have rough times and I can't say that it has been crazy hard but I have had so many complications that I can't yet determine if what I have been going through is actually menopause or inflammation. I feel like my entire body is inflamed and on fire all the time. It is not like a hot flash either it is a steady burning type pain that lasts for hours if not days.

It all seems to have stemmed from me losing feeling in my arms in August 2014. My arms were swollen and I could not bend my fingers or elbows for an entire month. It was excruciating. At around the 3 month mark I finally got some of my feeling back and the pain was a lot less severe but not totally gone. It took 3 months for me to get a CT Angio, MRI and nerve testing done. The only thing that was done within a couple of days of onset was blood work to check for RA but no other inflammatory blood work was done. Over the years I have had multiple inflammatory elevated blood work but because nothing stood out and my ANA came back negative nothing further was being done. I have some sort of inflammatory disease this I know and I am sure of. It now is up to me to find a doctor to listen. My doctor was supposed to send me to a Rheumatologist since I haven't been to one in 20 years since being diagnosed at 17 with Fibromyalgia. That being said I am going to have to follow up today.

At this moment I am back on Cymbalta 30mg a day to help with the "Fibro" pain and anxiety/Panic. Funny enough it is helping with some of the inflammation and it has calmed down the nerves that are shooting off randomly all over my body so that is a plus. Brain fog however is at its worse. Is it the med or menopause I have no idea but it is not a good feeling. I could be driving and all of the sudden start to panic that I have no idea where I am. It is like I have never seen the street I am driving on which I have driven on for years. It is a scary feeling as I am not on any HRT and I always worry about early onset of dementia. I am just not comfortable going on one because I am not having side effects from the Hyster or surgical menopause which I find very alarming to be honest. I don't sweat at all and my nose is so dry. These are not new things but they seem to be worse now than before.

The one thing that hasn't changed is my bowels. I am more constipated than ever so I am continually trying to find out what makes it worse and obviously any drug I take makes it worse even if I am drinking 4 ltrs of water day and my diet is great. It will take time and patience to deal with this. The other issue is my bladder. I am thinking right now I have severe pelvic floor dysfunction and since taking Cymblata it has definitely calmed down the spasms I have been having. It has been hard for me to walk without feeling like my bladder is going to drop out. The pain and pressure I feel is only on the right hand side so not sure what is causing that. When I walk I feel like its really heavy and it makes me feel like I have to pee again. That started about 6 weeks ago but like I said got better the last week since being on Cymbalta for a month now.

I am over the hump of bad side effects of Cymbalta for the most part. So that I am glad about because it was a rough painful ride. I am also waiting to see if my drug plan covers this med and I will need to know soon as I only got samples for 3 months and if I don't have them it will be torture. This drug is very strong and coming off it like that is 2 weeks of the worst days of your life. So here is hoping it will go through.

Am I still happy I had the hysterectomy? Yes I really am. I am confused as to why I have not felt like I have been induced to menopause though. Why am I not having all the side effects that others are having? The arm pain for me isn't something new as 2 yrs ago I lost feeling in the left arm. The inflammation has always been there its just been worse since the hyster if anything. So is that all I get from this? Inflammation? Should I be expecting something more after a year is done or is this it?