I’m Still Here!
By: Jane A.
Why am I still here?
I’ve often wondered why I’m still here. Why I say this begins with my being “run over” by a car in 1993. As my husband and I were crossing a street on a crosswalk, a car stopped for us. Unfortunately, another car didn’t see the stopped car and ran into it. The stopped car then ran into me and pushed me 30 feet into the air. Believe it or not, I stood up and my husband carried me onto the sidewalk. The paramedics who came, people in restaurants, and others couldn’t believe that I survived. At the emergency hospital, my elbow was stitched, but I had no broken bones. Some people said that I had a guardian angel. My sister gave me a guardian angel pin which I wear to this day.
A new diagnosis after the accident
But did this accident cause other health problems? No one can say. One week after the accident, while being checked by an endocrinologist, a goiter was discovered on my neck, which wasn’t there at the time of the accident. So on to a wonderful endocrinologist at Keck Medical Center in Los Angeles who truly saved my life. When my husband and I moved to Washington DC, I was referred to another endocrinologist who three years later said that I needed to have the goiter removed due to Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. It has been treated through medication for 28 years with no other problems.
Returning home and the power of positivity
Moving back to California (I’m a Los Angeles native) helped me, first to San Diego and then back to LA. I have always been happiest here where people smile more (maybe it’s the sunny weather) and seem to tie in with my practice of the power of positive and hopeful thinking. I would need this power for what was to come – peripheral neuropathy.
Hmm…something else is going on
I started to go to a neurologist for vertigo, which I had since I was a child. The neurologist helped me greatly by practicing the Epley Movement when I was really dizzy. It always helped me immediately, except when my husband and I tried it at home!
I realized that my kind neurologist suspected something else in the years that he had been my doctor. At this point I had burning in my ankles and shins. During the typical tests he performed each time I came for an appointment, he said that I probably had peripheral neuropathy but needed to do further tests.
Cue Dr. Frankenstein
So, with my consent he performed nerve conduction studies (NCS) and electromyography (EMG), blood tests, and more. The only thing that helped with this was my sense of humor, where I from then on called him Dr. Frankenstein! The diagnosis was idiopathic small fiber neuropathy.
The B6 bombshell
One of the important factors was the extremely high level of Vitamin B6. I had a 107 level, where normal is between 2 and 22! Vitamin B6 can be very dangerous for some people. To this day, I don’t eat anything with Vitamin B6. Also, based on reading about gluten-free diets, knowing others on this diet, and advice from my advanced thinking gynecologist (she was gluten-free), I went on this diet along with my lactose-free diet. It is not fun eating at home! I have never gone back to a regular diet for 13-1/2 years. I am always on the search for knowledge, especially in terms of drugs. I couldn’t agree more than with another patient who said in his patient story that there must be something better than Gabapentin in all these years!
A ‘thank you’ party
On a positive note, after five years of PN, I gave a “Thank You” party to all who had been kind, helpful, cheerful, positive, smiling, hopeful, and humorous. I included my friends, doctors, acupuncturist, and a psychologist who specialized in hypnosis and meditation. My husband, who also has hope and is very positive, helped me. I believe in surrounding oneself with people who meet the above characteristics.
Finding my people
It has also been helpful to join others with PN (not the “handwringers” one sometimes meets) such as The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy and the Western Neuropathy Association.
Hope, smiles, and carrying on
As for my neurologists, two of them left me to move elsewhere. I am very loyal and they were very good. Today, my neurologist is Dr. Ha, at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, which is a wonderful medical institution. He shares a positive attitude with me.
I share hope with other patients who have written stories here. I try to pass positive thinking to others, smile most of the time (most people smile back, except for a few grouches), surround myself with friends, and never give up! Maybe I see a little better as to why “I’m Still Here!”
