Posted by Janet I was in contact with you a while back about my Legionnaire's disease in But first I think I should give a little medical background on the slings and arrows As a toddler until around 14 years of age, I had a teeter-totter accident on one of the At 14 years of age, I broke my sacroiliac by running to my desk, the old wooden ones on the track, and as I slammed into the seat the whole desk fell sideways and that's where I landed - on the track part. T&A at age 18, spent week in hospital with anemia? Neurasthenia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (I was told several years ago that what they described as neurasthenia might have been CFS) late teens/early adult. 1977 - severe cervical whiplash; bad car accident with my car and other car crashing in the intersection both cars traveling 45-50 mph, we both had green traffic light! Repeat cervical strain in 1979, 1980, with tendonitis of R shoulder x2. 1977 - electrical shock; had one hand on top of wet clothes on dryer and rinsing my right hand in water filling the washer, hard to break contact, appliances NOT grounded. 1977, Legionnaire's disease, while renting and working for same owner noted above who almost fried me in the laundry room. I don't remember the first 3 weeks of LD because I was delirious or It was a slow recovery after I returned home; I was weak & tired most of the time and I'm sure you all know what it takes to run a home and care for a toddler. I don't know how I got through it at all. 1979 - Unfortunately, my marriage dissolved soon after that and I had to go back to work to support me and my young son. Still dealing with 1982 - Out of the blue, I developed a kidney stone and, of course, just my luck it couldn't be just a normal case, noooooo, I was rushed to the hospital in severe renal colic with the prospect Over the next several years I was still not myself and had repeated sinus infections, urinary infections, influenza, and strange rashes. 1984 - Concussion as a result of slamming my head in the car door; trauma and gash to middle of forehead near hairline, x-ray of head at ER During this time period I was also dealing with skin rashes, eczema, dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, dry skin, sicca and a few panic attacks thrown in for who knows what...to break up the monotony, maybe? 1985 - I had pleurisy, pleuradynia, enterovirus coxsackie virus (?), acute and chronic pan-sinusitis, mastoiditis. 1986 - bursitis of L elbow, vesicular rash. Between 1987 and 1990, I was really not in the best of health with all kinds of complaints; migraines, sore throats, low-grade fevers, fatigue, sleeping on my lunch hour at work, nodding out at my desk a number of times, you name it, I had it. Starting in 1990, I began a regular schedule of exercise, stretching, bike riding for an hour or longer nearly every night, walking for miles, trying to strengthen my immune system, plus eating I was also walking up and down 12 flights of stairs 4 times a day at work for exercise. I was not sweating much after strenuous exercise, I was still battling sinusitis and allergies and seemed to be in a constant state of low-grade infection and was treated on and off for sinus infections. However, in 1994, after being treated 1994 - Vitreous detachment; floaters. 1995 - a year of all kinds of systemic complaints; after my 100 lbs. dog came running to greet me slamming me into my car, I started 1996 - Diagnosed with fibromyalgia. John, I hope you're still awake if you've read this far.LOL. I didn't realize there was this much If you are more interested in chief complaints, or symptoms I've had since 1979, I'd be happy to go into more detail. Perhaps this would be more Thank you for taking the time to read this, John, and especially for providing a place for LD survivors to exchange information about this Sincerely,
on 11/3/2004, 8:07 am
69.35.60.59
John,
1977.
I would take the survey but I'm not sure I could adhere to the rules of the
survery, and I'm not sure I want to be beholden to release my medical
records
to a third party, as was mentioned.
Nevertheless, I'm able to give you some
insight into the illnesses and conditions befallen me after I recovered
from LD.
along my life line prior to LD starting when I was a child. This will give you an idea of what I was dealing with before LD and why I may have had a predisposition for LD.
big sets. The kid on the opposite end suddenly jumped off while I was at the
highest point off the ground, and I came down very hard on my back which knocked the air out of my lungs. I thought I was going to die. My whole body seemed to be in pain. I ran into a swing and cut open my forehead; sun poisoning; 2 electrical shocks, one from sticking a fork into a wall socket and the 2nd one with a knife into a
toaster; hit by car when I ran out between 2 cars into the road, got slammed pretty hard (didn't dare tell my Mom as she had warned me); many sprained ankles and wrists and the usual tomboy mishaps.
Colitis/IBS since early '70's.
Classic migraines since age 18, many ER visits for pain control.
Torn ligament L leg in 1975.
My son (only child) was born in 1975; after long labor, Fri-Mon (doctor knocked me out w/drugs on Sun to allow for sleep since I was exhausted),
labor was long because of uterine inertia? Spent week in hospital, also treated for anemia after delivery. Normal, beautiful baby! Had a TIA (mini-stroke) about 6 months later while on birth control pills. Subsequently told not to use them because of migraine history.
something. I did not want to be separated from my baby so I was discharged in to the care of my mother-in-law who took care of both me and my son and had to drive me to medical center every day for blow-bottle treatments and injections of meds.
weakness, fatigue, migraines, fighting to stay awake at work and then when I got home in the evening. I'd take a nap before making dinner and then back to bed soon after.
of emergency surgery when I got there because my kidney was shutting down.
They cranked it up somehow, so I didn't need emergency surgery, but they found I had a
congenital detect in the ureter between the kidney and bladder. The stone would get almost to the bladder but then regurgitated back into the
kidney. I was in the hospital for 8 days on morphine drip, waiting for the stone to pass. It never did, and because I had stabilized they decided to send me home to pass the stone. I passed it in a little over a month after being discharged from the hospital. I haven't had a kidney stone since that time. I've heard that sometimes stress can bring on kidney stones, but don't know if this is definitely true.
showed a tumor which turned out to be what's called empty sella turcica; it was laying against the pituitary gland causing hormonal problems which led to early menopause, going from peri- to meno- to post-menopausal within 6 months. Now *that* was quite a ride, folks!
1987 - severe pharangitis; sinsusitis.
healthy, some changes that can happen when you're a single parent needing some time alone to think and meditate.
which people took notice of, and it seemed that after exercising I felt very weak and fatigued. But for the most part, I think I was doing and
feeling better than I had in previous years after LD.
with antibiotics for 3 months, I developed Clostridium difficile (sp?) which took about another 3 months of different meds to get rid of it. Even vancomycin didn't work. They finally tried, as a last resort before hospitalizing me, a medicine in liquid form that finally got
rid of it. I think it was Bactrim or something starting with the letter B. However, as a result of this bad episode, I couldn't take antibiotics for several years in order to build up some
resistence. Everything I came down with I had to treat conventionally and let it run its course. Not good on the immune system, I think.
developing pain and swelling of my body in all quadrants going from L wrist, red, hot, pain & swelling, L knee pain, R then L heel pain, L
ankle pain, neck pain, L & R wrist pain, stiffness in hips and much pain on standing first thing in the morning, getting better as the day went on. I also had a hard time concentrating,
word finding, speaking, hearing, with crawling sensations on my body at night, restless legs, not sleeping well, etc. I was sent to consult
with mental health services and was put on an antidepressent, pain medications, and was told it was due to stress. I had remarried in 1994 and my husband's 12 year old daughter came to live with us and it became Amityville.
1997 - Fibromyalgia becoming more severe.
1998 - Gastroenteritis.
1999 - Hypothyroidism. More symptoms of FMS & CMP; cognitive difficulties, nodding off while driving. Bursitis, L & R trochanters.
2000 - Costochondritis.
2000 to present - Had to quit work because of severity of fibromyalgia flare*, osteoarthritis of both hands and sleep disorder. Last year or two a lupus component was added to the mix. Had another very bad sinus infection found on MRI of head, after several courses of antibiotics and not getting much better, I asked to have a nose culture taken which came back Pseudomonas
aurigenosis (sp?), more antibiotics and it finally cleared up.
to my medical history after my bout with Legionnaire's disease. Perhaps this is not
what you were looking for, maybe I should have left out my editorial comments, but I did try to keep them at a minimum.
helpful to others here on the forum?
perplexing disease. I have heard that once you have LD, there's a residual or antibody in our system. Can you shed more light on this?
Janet in Virginia
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