(PART TWO - please read Part One above first)
…and the Neuropathy and Migraines I already had have gotten much worse. I had started a new daily med for my migraines and I was having much fewer and less intense ones whenever I did have one. But since the concussion I went from only 4 a month back to 12 migraine days in December. They can really hijack a whole day from when I wake up til bedtime, with bad light and sound sensitivity leaving me in the dark with no sound and very sensitive to movement. I have had Neuropathy since I first started my HIV cocktail in 1999 but it had gone from being bedridden to manageable. Since the concussion I have struggled even before I got out of bed, and I also have no appetite at all. I was about 205 before when I got Covid two years ago but weighed in at 192 when I got out of the hospital and rehab where I did PT and OT but I just weighed in at 178. This is too much weight loss!
This week I started PT for movement /balance and will do so 2x/wk for 8 weeks plus OT. I have been doing the exercise I was given so far 3x/day. (Please see the Update at the bottom about a new fall recently that was probably another concussion). And with the newest med I’m on I have gotten some good night's sleep. Every 2-3 nights but still some are better than none. I use a walker everywhere I go for necessary support and have started drinking two Ensure drinks a day to get protein I need with limited eating.
I definitely am not a patient person but this 6 month scenario has me putting up with challenges for 4.5 months more and adapting to my limitations. When it’s not one thing, it’s another. It’s really helpful that I have had serious pain and lived with other limitations much of my life, so sadly it’s not unfamiliar ground and I just hang on. I enjoyed watching football this weekend while stuck in my lazyboy recliner like usual and tomorrow I will park in a handicap parking spot and use my walker to get to yet another appointment. I try not to dwell on the limitations instead I choose to remember I am on a Path to Recovery and I won’t be like this forever.
UPDATE: Sadly, I was going to post this 3 days ago, but just fell again and face-planted and hit my head very hard. I have a gash under my eye in the shape of my glasses which rammed into my face. I cut my lip pretty badly and both places are very swollen and bruised including a nasty black eye. Just the week before my Neurologist was so happy to see I was using a walker because he said “I’m glad you’re using it because the last thing we want is for you to get another concussion” I fear (and feel) that is what I just did!
#MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #Concussion #ParkinsonsDisease #ChronicPain #ChronicIllness #Disability #Limitations #Selflove #Selfcare #COVID19 #Migraine #PeripheralNeuropathy #HIVAIDS #PTSD
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