Medical Updates
Kerissa • October 11, 2013
This past Friday, I had a follow-up with Dr. F, my neuro-ophthalmologist. She’s so so sweet! The external ophthalmoplegia (weakness/paralysis of the eye muscles) in my left eye is stable at the moment which is great news! For those who don’t know, my left eyeball can’t look to the left very well at all which isn’t much fun…but there’s not a lot that can be done for treatment, so she just wants to keep monitoring it.
I still get nystagmus ( fast, uncontrollable movements of the eyes) every now and then, but thankfully, I can keep it at bay as long as the migraines aren’t too bad and I get adequate sleep.
For 3 weeks now, I’ve been having horrible spine pain, and I have no clue what started it. So my physical medicine dr. squeezed me in today. So grateful! He ordered two x-rays of my thoracolumbar spine, and the images show that I have some multilevel degenerative disk disease. One problem after another…I sure feel older than 21……..lol.
The spine pain may also be from the underlying mitochondrial and/or neuromuscular disorder. So Dr. C ordered more physical therapy, and I have a follow-up with him in 3 and a 1/2 weeks. If things are no better by that point, then he’ll possibly order more imaging studies like an MRI.
The spine pain may also be from the underlying mitochondrial and/or neuromuscular disorder. So Dr. C ordered more physical therapy, and I have a follow-up with him in 3 and a 1/2 weeks. If things are no better by that point, then he’ll possibly order more imaging studies like an MRI.
This coming Wednesday is my spinal tap at 8 AM! I’d appreciate your prayers! My pain dr. told me I’m at increased risk for a post-dural puncture headache, so we’ll see how bad it is the second time around.. Thank you all for your continued love and support!
Dear friends, At the beginning of October, I started taking a new medication for the autoimmune disease. I thought I was tolerating it just fine, but after several days passed, I began experiencing nausea, loss of appetite, weakness all over, and increased pain. 🙁 It’s like I’m experiencing another “mito crash.” I found out that this specific lupus medication affects mitochondria. That is, it causes an overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This, in turn, causes cell damage and oxidative stress. I sure wish the rheumatologists would have known about this before prescribing. But I have to remember that Mitochondrial DNA Depletion Syndrome is rare, and they’re not “mito experts.” Anyways, the last time I felt like this was back in May.. I’m so grateful to God that I haven’t needed to be hospitalized from this, but at the same time, I’m also sad that this happened at all, especially because I had such a nice stretch of stable health. I’d really appreciate your prayers, that this muscle weakness can resolve soon, and that this increased pain all over will get back to my baseline. Every time I have a “mito crash,” it feels like I’m fighting the flu which always sucks. The pain has been hard to bear. And whenever I’m in the thick of it, it’s difficult to remember that this too will eventually pass. 😢 Pray that I will endure and follow Jesus’ example like this passage from Hebrews 12:1-2– “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...” Thank you all so much for praying for me. ❤️
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
