It’s all about balance

 So I have yet another diagnosis to add to the list on my patient portal. That's the bad news. My legs and feet have "neuropathy." They have lowered feeling from mid-calf down. I'm sure a few of my readers experience the same thing.

I've been having trouble walking up and even down stairs. And when standing from a sitting position, I felt like my legs were wood, and waited a minute to start lurching forward. Which was good for my blood pressure also! I didn't feel like I couldn't walk, just had my legs spread in my gait to make sure I was steady.

The good news is that some of my balance issues can be helped (a bit, I hope) with physical therapy. I will be evaluated this next week, and hopefully start working on being more capable, better balance, and gait. I've worked with this therapist before and liked him.

The neurology report on my memory difficulties was to be expected...somewhere in the mild range. I did have trouble giving answers on the verbal test at times. At least I was oriented to time and place. The doctor didn't seem to appreciate my jokes though. I respect him for that. But he said it was a normal range - however when the comments were typed up, he said mild memory impairment. I take that as validation of what I thought was happening. 

The golf course in Black Mountain with North Fork Rd.

And third, and perhaps most important, my essential tremor in my fingers is perhaps going to respond to higher doses of the medication I took before. However it has side effects for my breathing. And/or my breathing meds have side effects for my fingers. It's a delicate balance.

I've got to breathe. I don't gotta type blogs every day. But it would be nice to be able to type, feed and dress myself.

I decided to go ahead and talk about me here, because last night (writing on Tues) I took the Primidone (which is also for seizures) and slept through the night, not even getting up to use the bathroom. I think I felt drugged when I woke up, even though I also felt I'd slept well. It's interesting to note that it's a barbiturate, a central nervous system depressant.

Primidone is something I started at half this dose, and took for a couple of years, before getting to this level. I stopped it four months ago because the doctor in the hospital told me of how it affected the memory of his father. He didn't tell me I should stop it, just gave me that information. (I told the neurologist this, but he never commented on it.)

I personally didn't notice any help with memory having 4 months off that drug, while my fingers got more and more shaky. (I have to use my left hand to steady my right one enough to write anything legible.)

The Albuterol inhaler is called a rescue inhaler. Nobody ever said "this is when you need it." They just said, you'll know. So I found by trial and error that it did help if I was going to do anything like climb a flight of stairs or walk around the lake...by using it beforehand. It doesn't seem to do much if I'm coughing a lot, which can be caused by stress, inhaling chemicals or dust, or exhaustion.

I've also got the same drug in my nebulizer, which I use to clear out my lungs with a saline inhalation twice a day. Then I am supposed to use an Albuterol solution also. I've never noticed it made any difference. 

And now the neurologist told me that Albuterol could diminish the effectiveness of the Primidone.

OK, I've done a bit of research on line, and the drug interaction between Primidone and Albuterol doesn't show up on my first attempt to see more research. However, a neurologist did tell me that, and wrote it in his clinical notes about me.

So now I'm trying to balance between my fingers tremor and breathing.

Did I mention the side effect of being lightheaded all day? So I didn't take the Primidone the next night.

All art today came from the internet!