Up until I got pregnant with my daughter, back in 1988, I had been fairly active. I jogged about
two miles a day, about five days a week. I worked out at a gym about four days a week. At the
age of 38, I looked more like 28. I loved to buy clothes because I looked so nice in them, etc.
During the pregnancy I gained a lot of weight as I was on complete bed rest. We had moved to NJ
and I had no one to spend time with me all day long as my husband was at work. I was lonely,
scared of losing my baby, etc. So, I ate.
During the pregnancy I started have sciatic problems because I could only lie on my side. My
back started bothering me as well.
After I gave birth to my daughter, in 1989, and healed from my c-section (a fourth surgery in
that area for me), I tried very hard to lose the almost 60 pounds I had gained. I started
walking and eating more sensibly.
I noticed my back would hurt after a while, but didn't pay too much attention to it.
I lost weight and started jogging. I did the yo-yo lose/gain weight for quite some time. I
noticed that if I stood in line too long my lower back would start to ache badly.
In any event, during 1997, my back started to bother me more. I was still walking, and riding a
bike and occasionally roller-blading.
The back pain got worse.
I took my daughter to Disney World in March, of 1998, and it was awful for me because I was in
such pain from my back. It was hard to stand in lines, walk around, etc. I was cranky and
snapped at my daughter a lot. Meanwhile, this was a birthday present to her and I still feel
guilty for how cranky I was.
During the summer of 1998, I bought a pair of shoes that seemed very comfortable. They had
elastic bands stretching across either side of the foot.
Around the time of wearing these shoes (which I wore everyday), I noticed that my feet were
becoming sensitive on the bottoms. I could not aim the shower hose directly on the bottoms
of my feet as I would scream from the pain! I remarked on it to my then husband who was
surprised by it, but not concerned.
Also, in the areas on the inside of both of my feet, I noticed that I was getting what looked
like broken blood vessles under the skin. I figured the shoes were rubbing me, so I stopped
wearing them.
I went to my family Doc who told me it was athlete's foot!!!!!! He gave me a cream to rub on
the insides of my feet (only place that was visibly affected).
Well, that cream did no good. Now I started feeling a sharp pin-prick pain every time one of
the little vessles would break and start bleeding under my skin.
So, my husband said: "go to a Dermatologist," which I did. He had never seen anything like it.
So he did a biopsy. He gave me a numbing injection on the inside of my left foot as this was
the worse of the two feet. Then he cut out a cone of tissue in one of the worst areas of the
inside of my foot. Was this a "punch-biopsy?" -- I don't know.
Anyway, it healed, but my feet continued with this under the skin bleeding.
Eventually, these symptoms stopped as randomly as they started. The areas that had the blood
pooled, turned from red to brown, and then faded. My feet were still very sensitive on the
bottoms. The biopsy came back inconclusive of anything specific.
At the same time as all of this was happening, my back was getting worse. The sciatic pain
that was localized in the middle of my lower back, started spreading across the left side of
my butt, down the outside of my left leg and eventually went all the way into the arch of my left
foot.
Visits for physical therapy didn't help. MRI showed "degenerative disc disease" in the L5-S1
area. People said try to do all possible to avoid back surgery.
This was now around the fall of 1998. It got so bad, I couldn't hardly walk anymore. So, I
scheduled the surgery and had a left lamenectomy in Jan. 1999.
I healed from the surgery and the pain was almost completely gone. I got back on my bike and
promptly had an accident which resulted in my left wrist breaking! (I am left-handed).
This was in March of 1999.
Anyhow, my wrist healed. But, during the time after March, 1999, the numbness and tingling
and burning started with the feet -- the left one being worse.
I had the usual tests and to this day, the only thing that showed up was that I have carpel
tunnel and pinched ulnar nerves.
I also have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
Since the summer of 1999 until now, I have tried all the usual medication for PN with almost
no relief. I am now in pain 24/7, and my life has become very restricted.
Basically I have no idea why I have this lousy condition.
Enid Weiser
E-mail: enid@safeplace.net
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