Throughout the 3rd week post-procedure, I've had a few minor symptoms reappear. For the most part, they happen when I go through the better part of a day without drinking as much water as I would have liked. I have a 1 liter lulu lemon water bottle that I drink from all the time, and ideally I'd like to get down 4 full bottles throughout the day. However some days when I have a few errands to run, or find myself at the mall for a couple hours (just to get out of the house), it's easy to lose track of time and barely get half of that in my system before suppertime. I find these are the days that I'll notice a symptom spike in the evening. I don't know if it's from the running around, from the lack of H2O or the combo of it all, but you can be sure that if it's an easy fix like drinking more water, I'm gonna have to be more vigilant. If there's one positive though, it's that my bladder enjoys the break on these days! haha!
For those of you who don't already know this, CCSVI has its own symptoms, as does multiple sclerosis. Yes they share a few similarities, but it's important to know that CCSVI is a disease of it's own. It was only by luck and through looking outside the box while examining MS that CCSVI was discovered. Now through ongoing research this disease is being thoroughly examined and it's still to be determined how CCSVI and MS are related. A patient with MS is more likely to have CCSVI (narrowing of the neck veins) than a health patient. It has been determined that a patient with CCSVI usually experiences fatigue, interrupted sleep and dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. Also, they may experience cognitive dysfunction, usually in the form of "brain fog" or difficulty finding words. The doctors at Synergy told me that through the hundreds of patients they've treated, these are the symptoms that consistently clear up after the procedure. Other more distinct MS symptoms such as spasticity, tremors, gait & sensation problems tend to remain, even after the procedure.
My biggest symptom complaints before the procedure were:
- brain fog
- tingle sensations
- uncontrollable shivers
- freezing left foot
- 24/7 headaches
All MS symptoms yes, but some possibly solely CCSVI symptoms. Still following? Anyway the doctors at Synergy said that the brain fog, headaches & body temperature issues have a good chance of improving. Unfortunately, the tingles may always be an annoyance and knee-high wool socks have just become a go-to accessory for me. Good thing they're in this season! But to be honest, as long as the "cog-fog" & headaches stay away, I'll consider the procedure a success as my quality of life has improved by removing those two symptoms.
Like I wrote in an earlier post, week 2 I was feeling A-MAZ-ING; like my old MS-free self! When I say that symptoms have been reappearing throughout this 3rd week, it's only been the tingles, which is actually a symptom that shouldn't have been affected by this treatment to begin with. There's really no explanation for this phenomenon so I won't waste time stressing over it. All I can do is continue to do the things that make me feel good and try to avoid the things that don't. Simple.
Now for some inspiration... Here's a picture of my hunky doctor, Dr. Todd Harris. I'm pretty sure he's straight off the set of Grey's Anatomy :P
H. xo
