puzzles

Almost tipped over backwards this week due to balance issues. The last two days I've headaches in the back of my head (from chiari malformation). I also had a random Tinnitus episode in my right ear which hasn't happened in months. The curamin I've occasionally be taking for pain hasn't worked much in the last 48 hours. 

At least the curamin helped when I used it earlier this month. 

The barometric pressure outside is not helping. 

At least there's music, art, movies, puzzles, video games and books to distract from the chronic pain chaos.

 

And then there were vitamins

 At least today I don't feel like removing my shunt from my brain with a kitchen knife. Right eye and shunt pain was reduced by 100% when I took the vitamin curamin this morning. Yesterday, it worked for the morning and then pain returned during mid day and continued into the evening.  For now, I'm not waging a war against my shunt.

In my attempt to escape from both chronic pain and the pandemic we are all living in right now... I found two things that bring joy to my heart: music and fun commercials.

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Intro & Outro - YouTube

Kia Sock Monkey Commercial - YouTube

A great escape.

Titinus and the eye

This month, tinnitus  has returned with occasional episodes of vertigo with a side of walking issues.

I haven't heard noises behind my right eye (strabismus surgery eye) for about a month. My shunt for the most part is behaving itself the last few days. A few weeks ago I felt a sharp pain run down the side of my neck along the distal catheter. I was worried the shunt might be getting obstructed again as I had a similar feeling in 2011 and the day after my shunt was obstructed and I was in the Emergency Room.  

I do talk to my shunt sometimes, thinking  I can convince it to behave especially when it's causing pain like I experienced a few weeks ago.  Eventually, the pain went away and I was relieved that my fears of having surgery again did not become a reality. 

While I am not in the operating room now, I do think about the children and adults who are having shunt revision surgery during this pandemic. 

Heavy metal and snow

Pain behind my eyes and in my forehead all day today, I took something for it and nothing has improved.  Sometimes the curamin vitamins I take work. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes ibupropfen works, sometimes it doesn’t. Yesterday was better. My shunt beeped once while I was driving last week. Most likely it was adjusting or reprogramming itself. I did think for a second that it was communicating with a satellite since it is magnetic.

If only I could order take out food or pick up on radio stations with the advanced technology inside my brain.

Many people benefit from taking prescribed medications, I’m not one of them. In the past, I’ve used prescribed medication for pain management. Because of the side effects, I had to stop.

I was given anti depressant medication once for pain management and all it gave me was severe  mood swings. Other medications like gapapentin made my knees, fingers go numb.

Exercise is a good distraction from my pain issues as is making new art and seeing black santa décor at my local mall.

Seeing black santa fills my heart with joy, as does heavy metal holiday music.  

Time to draw...

This morning, I have some nausea and headache from the chiari malformation in addition to sharp pains from the shunt valve. Time to draw....

6:30pm

 I noticed around last night at 6:30pm I didn't have any shunt, forehead pain. This has continued into this morning. I can move my head and I don't feel the shunt making adjustments or pain from the shunt valve. So for now, I am not a war with my programmable shunt valve. And an added bonus, no falling incidents for two weeks now.  

brain walk '21 and turtles

 The Brain Injury walk I and many others usually participate in this year was cancelled because of the pandemic. Hopefully next year, we'll be able to walk in person for brain injury awareness. Last Saturday was the one day in a while where I didn't have any shunt or chronic pain from my injuries. My medical device has been reacting to the weather and whatever it feels like doing on that particular day. Monday,  10/12 I had nausea from the distal catheter part of my shunt into the evening at the same time as shunt and head pain. This made me nervous, angry and sad as I feared the shunt was getting obstructed again. Then the nausea went away by the following day. 

As of today, I have pressure in my forehead, dizziness, right eye pain and of course balance issues. Shunt malfuncioning symptoms include severe vomiting and headache, and the inability to walk and gait issues. For that reason, I was worried on Monday and relieved when things got better. With past shunt revisions, I didn't have any indication my shunt was obtructed. I would just wake up the next day and had have all the symptoms. Anyone who has a shunt or a family memeber with one will tell you how unpredictable this thing is. You just don't know when it will stop working.  

SNES Ninja Turtles IV
A fun escape during these uncertain times. 

When shunt madness makes me sad and angry, I escape through art, scrapbooking, movies like National Treasure or video games like the Super Nintendo classic, Turtles in Time.