i guess the quick and dirty approach: last
fall I had a slew of symptoms for the
first time in my life like arthritic pain
in my legs, sciatica-like pain down my
left leg, and throat tightness, in
addition to a strange low-grade fever for
5 days and extreme fatigue.
Over the winter I was generally okay
except i'd suddenly developed physical
urticaria for the first time in my life.
Sometimes it was pretty bad and i'd have
to take antihistamines.
Now recently the sciatica-like pain is
back but much much milder and in the other
leg; the throat tightness is back; i've
had sharp one-sided chest pain that i've
self-diagnosed as costochondritis; and
i've been slowly developing problems
breathing. 3 days ago it got so bad I had
to go the emergency room for the first
time in my life.
The doc said I should see a neurologist
about "skeletomuscular rehabilition",
which I guess I needed for my back anyway
(an x-ray in the fall found some
intervertebral disc pathology, a rotated
vertebra, and a bony outgrowth on that
vertebra). He also diagnosed me as having
asthma, though i've never had breathing
problems before in my life, I don't get
hayfever or seasonal allergies, etc.
I just find it hard to believe that at a
relatively healthy 25 years old, i've
"suddenly" developed asthma. He
prescribed what i've later found out to be
a very powerful medicine for asthma, just
based on a single attack. Also I find it
odd that I suddenly have all these
inflammatory things going on in the last 6
months: the arthritis, the physical
urticaria, and now asthma? I never even
had allergies while growing up except 3-4
years ago I discovered i'd developed a
kind of allergy to cat dander.
Also, is there any way to confirm that I
did/do have asthma? I haven't had any
respiratory infections or anything like
that. The doc put me on foradil
(formoterol), and it feels weird to me to
have to take a prophylactic inhaler twice
a day based on a single attack.
I dunno, I just find it weird and kind of
distressing to have all these things
pretty much happen at once. I'd love some
insight. I can't get all the testing done
that i'd like because i'm without health
insurance, but I think I might get a
referral for the neurologist.
