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April 16 My Ears RingI don't read the local paper, nor do I go the the website online much at all, but this article caught my eye as one of my modules on cnn.com has local news.
Tinnitus has been a part of my life for years for many reasons.
First, I am a musician, and a lover of music. Considering I play guitar with distortion, you can see this as a source. I've also gone to bed many a night with everything from transistor radios under my pillow to my portable Walkman/CD/mp3 players tied to my head at full blast. Feedback is fun to play with, but trust me, that constant buzz annoys me, if it's there.
Other similar sources are movies with big explosions, video games with same results. Many concerts and sporting events under my belt. Most of the above involved not having ear protection.
I've held jobs (current one included) where ear protection is important. I worked in a meat packing plant in the mid 90's where machines or other noises (including consistant droning noises such as fans, or other slamming noises) could have helped the problem.
At Gateway, we didn't have earplugs, but as i write this, I think we should have, as our production spine when it was running full force, was...NOISY.
At Twin City Fan, it is required to wear them. It make sense, as it is a machine shop situation. Yearly hearing tests were made when I worked for them.
I know I do not work in manufacturing in my current job, but I do have to go through it as a part of my job. It can be noisy.
As the article states, we all who suffer from tinnitus have unique sensations. For me, the ringing is random, but it has been in different forms. Concerts or music, I tend to have a locust-like ring. Sporting events tend to have cheering and booing. Random times (most times), it's the sound of crickets or locusts. Sometimes, it's there, sometimes it's not. It's unique, but very common affliction.
Mind your surroundings is the best cure.
May 15 Back From the Doc'sWelp, good news is, negative on diabetes.
What's disturbing me is that six months ago, I thought I had a seizure, then spoke to a neuro guy. He recommended a medication, but never prescribed it. I go back to him in a month or so.
Question: If it was recommended for me to go on a medication for this condition, why no follow through on doing it?
Right now, I'm taking a week off from work to help with the muscles in my back from the convulsions on a concrete floor. Some still hurt, but if I don't do anything major over the week, I should be ok next week.
My doctor did hear the depositions from the two people who found me, from what my HR rep said.
Soo, guess I'll just watch 24 tonight (I watched Season 4 over the weekend, and with what's going on now...wow...foreshadowing from HELL, if you ask me!), heck, maybe get myself to 3pm on 24: CTUNY or further, clean up my room (laundry too), and if it doesn't rain, and I feel better by the weekend: mow the lawn.
Since I checked out House last week (It's a good show storywise, but I just couldn't get into it), I might check out the season finale of The Unit (Dennis Haysbert's post-24 show), and some other shows.
Ta, for now. May 13 Scare At Work, and What I Suspect is the ReasonLast night is probably the most surreal event in my life since I broke my leg.
It was around 1AM, and I was helping out the guys working the unloading at the paint booth after my normal chores were done. I'm going to describe my point of view, and elaborate on what really happened; I may be no doc, but from what I've experienced in the last nine months, and if it comes up positive...wish we would have picked it up sooner.
I suddenly had some wierd feeling, and was going down to my knees to catch a breath; like I was going to faint. In reality, the guy who I was working with came looking for me. He knows with some of the bigger fans, I take it slow, but this was a really small one. He found me convulsing on the floor, and thankfully, was near a phone, and called my boss on the intercom. My boss tried to contact my parents after it seemed like I was calming down. No answer at home. Boss asks me, "Where were you working?" I was near where I normally work, and said so. Boss and the safety comittee guy knew something was wrong.
Next thing I know, I'm in the ER. My back was hurting bad. X-rays showed negative on any fractures. Moving around, and breathing in some positions hurt. It was from the convulsions on the concrete floor. My assumption was all day today (until the safety guy called me; he also happens to the the guy I tried to stop driving on St. Patrick's Day), and told me about that.
My boss drove me to my house, we woke up my dad, and explained the best one could do for such a thing at 4AM to one confused as hell guy (me), probably one scared supervisor, and a very sleepy father.
EEG showed nothing concerning epileptic activity (I have a history). I'm going into the doc on Monday to try to discuss it.
Then I heard some commercial about diabetes after hearing some symptoms, and went to www.webmd.com. There I looked up Type I diabetes, and I discovered (in a nutshell):
1). Twitching, shaking, and confusion, or even confusing behavior.
2). Eating excessively (even after meals); drinking lots of fluids
3). Dry mouth. Also breath smells fruity.
4). Nausea and occasional vomiting (this one came out of nowhere on me several times)
5). Constant urinating (yep)
6). Fatigue feeling (spent many days home from both school and work; and even got up, showered, and went back to bed after resetting alarm just before leaving before class and work)
7). Labored breathing. Happened alot riding to and from work.
8). Lately, have had more unexplained acne (I do have oily skin, but this many pimples?)
9). Blurry vision. One: have a vision problem to begin with since birth. Two: Times at work, our safety glasses fog up. So I clean them up.
10. Last night, 1,6,7 and loss of consciousness (which is rare) all occurred.
One of the major effects is nerve damage, and hardening of the arteries. I woke up with that back in August, where my left arm went dead for some unexplained reason. We (the docs and I) thought I slept on my arm wrong for an extremely long period of time during the night. It fits, especially if I did indeed slept wrong. I've noticed lately that I am aware of my extremeties more, and adjust.
Just curious if those of you out think I'm on the right track, and theories on why it wasn't picked up earlier? I'm suspectiong because of heart history with my mother, brother, and my history with epilepsy. We just were thinking those lines, nothing else.
It's too much of a coincidence with all that's happened to me this year. October 17 Uplifting StoryGenerally, I'd put this in the sports category, but this is a true human story.
I just read an article on www.espn.com about the interim coach for the St. Louis Rams. Reading his story really shows the human spirit.
Coach Mike Martz has been diagnosed with a very deadly, but curable heart condition. He coached last week, but last Monday, told the Rams that he needs time to heal. He didn't resign, but he asked for a leave of absence.
Enter Joe Vitt. I've never heard of this man, but according to the story that I read, he's gone through personal hell. Twice, he had cancer. Last year, his wife had a life-threatening blood clot. He managed to take care of her, work, and work games. He kept his ship steady.
Everyone he has worked for and the players he's coached, they all say the same thing. He's tireless, loyal, and salty. He doesn't like the spotlight, but here he is, thrust into it for tonight's game in Indianapolis against the Colts tonight.
I'd normally would root for the Colts, because I love watching Peyton Manning. He's the next Brett Favre. But for coach Martz, and coach Vitt, I root for the Arch.
Here's the link, if you want to read it,
September 16 I'm on 'Happy Pills'Welp, family doc prescribed me Zoloft today, and it covers a variety of disorders: depression, Obsessive-Compulsie Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I'm guessing on what I told the doc, I fall under the fourth category.
As Marge (bless you hon for that post...read it this afternoon) stated on her site, I've had one hell of a summer:
1. June, I had a brother-in-law die, and come back to life
2. July, the London bombings. They almost came too personal (was personal enough, because I stayed near the Russell and King Cross Square bomb site back in '98), because I thought my niece was there on July 7th, but my sister was for the fizzled attempts.
3. Also in July, the 143rd Artillary was shipped out. Two friends of mine (both instructors at school) are going over for the second time to Iraq, although they might be down South helping with the relief in the Gulf states.
4. August was rather peachy until about two and a half weeks ago, when my hand started to do it's thing. Still haven't figured what caused it, but I think with all the stress, I must have slept violently, popped a few vertebrae in my neck just right, and pinched some nerves.
Honorable mention for August goes to a guy named Jesse at work. 26-year old kid actually had what I personally thought when my arm issue arose: a heart attack. Not just one, but several. Two days after I started having problems. I'm only mentioning it, because I finally found out the details recently. He's at home resting.
5. Fourth anniversary of 9-11. As Marge has stated, it's a deep wound in my psyche, that I don't think time cannot erase. Seeing the site helped, but I think that was more of a band-aid fix. 2002-03 9-11's didn't bother me much at all. But with the combination of the above (plus Katrina, and how that situation was botched on all levels of government), as my HR rep from work said to me:
My mind finally snapped, and all the sensory overload with things that I hold dear in such close proximity of time frame getting hurt or destroyed or just leaving me was just too much.
Heck, I had a ten minute conversation with my boss, asking how I felt. Told 'em I was on a med, and he knew about much of that stuff above. What he said helped alot, but he also said that he could tell that I hadn't been myself for awhile. I'm usually just a chipper, laid back kind of guy, when I'm not overly excited over something..
 I think that guy will be back soon...he needs alittle time.
 August 27 Music Does WondersThis is the first time I've used music in a healing way.
My poor wrist and arm is prolly going to kill me...but if my arm gains strength tomorrow from it, it's worth it.
Without brace, I've done air drum lines, keyboard stuff, basic guitar chords (air), any way to find ways to give flexibility to my wrist, fingers, and hand without pain. Had gone through alot of songs till I put my brace on.
I've also done strength exercises with my brace on to old U2, Coldplay, and some good ol' Metallica.
Rhythm. Find the beat.
I've got the beat. June 04 Tai ChiTai Chi came to me through looking for stuff about becoming as close to becoming as a real life Jedi as I could be. Now I know, it seems that funny, "ha ha", that I'm taking a movie alittle too far. But, in my research of becoming a Jedi, I found that Lucas took many aspects of the Jedi teachings/mannerisms from many sources, particurally from Martial Arts. In a way, this was a blessing, because through Tai Chi, I've learned not only to know my body, but feel it, and cure minor aches and pains. For those who do not know me, I've broken my left leg (and had a pin broken inside the hip), my left knee is banged up due to a freak accident when I was at Gateway doing garbage duty. Over the years, these aches and pains hindered my movement. Hell, I had a nickname christened to me at Gateway because of my limp. I'm forever known as Skippy, LOL! I also have a lingering injury from working at the local Bonanza as a busboy in 1988. It was my first job I ever had. I happened to slip on the floor with a full tub of dishes and hurt my lower back. I gutted it our for like twenty minutes, and told my boss about it. I went home, and ached for days. It lingered up until this year. I do not feel the pain there anymore, because through Tai Chi, I've learned to control my everyday pain. Anyhow, one night, I was looking around to see how I could become a RL Jedi. I found a site about Taoism, which is an ancient Chinese religion. Through that study, Tai Chi was mentioned as a way of meditation with oneself. I found http://www.scottcole.com/ indirectly through Amazon, and found his Beginner's Tai Chi DVD. My life changed. After my first workout, I felt terrible the next day, because I used joints in a way I never felt I'd used in those ways. I persisted, and now I'm truly feeling in tune with my body. Tai Chi has tought me that even though I'm not Superman (I'm not strong, when it comes to lifting physically), but it has tought me a way to work my body in means I never thought I could do. It's like I'm truly discovering myself as a person, mentally, physically, and spiriturally. Nuff Said |
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