Diagnosis Unsolved | Physical Therapy

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Am I Asking My Doctor the Right Questions?

By swollenmystery On September 10, 2010 · 2 Comments

After making the trip to see my rheumatologist this week for a 3 month return visit, I kept asking myself whether I asked all the right questions. Maybe it’s because my doctor is 2 hours away and it’s more difficult to make a last minute appointment. Or it could be that I tend to worry more than I should. Regardless of either, I choose to take autoimmune problems seriously. Especially when it comes to medicine. Over the past few months my knee swelling has slightly elevated while the pain has not. I went to my last appointment thinking overall my inflammatory arthritis has improved. But has it? My legs feel stronger. I can literally see more muscle growth in my upper legs and my workouts have progressed. But the flare ups continue with significant effusions above both knees. At the same time I continue to taper my dosage of Prednisone 1mg each month. While talking with my doctor, he mentioned the possibility that my inflammatory spondyloarthropy may still progress and if the current medicines do not work he will consider stronger methods like TNF blockers. I fear biologics like the plague. And I’ll admit, I’m pretty skeptical of any medicine when there may be potentially harmful, long term side effects. Since I still have no hard evidence of exactly what my condition is yet, it’s difficult to feel like I’ve made much progress in finding a correct diagnosis. Furthermore, each time I visit my rheumatologist I wonder whether [...]

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Healthy Returns

By swollenmystery On July 15, 2010 · Add Comment

It’s been awhile since the last post. Because it’s summer? Because I’ve been out of town almost every weekend for the past few months? Or maybe I’m just tired. Excuses aside, there is one big reason. My recurring knee inflammation has improved significantly. Sure they do still swell up from time to time, but I’ve finally found some relief. Last week I finally finished 6 months of physical and aqua therapy with the reassurance that I’ve gained strength in my legs for every test. I couldn’t be more excited. While I still can’t run or fully flex my legs (sitting on the floor cross-legged is completely out of the question), I can move around more freely, get outside and wash the car, walk up and down stairs normally, and though it may sound crazy, get up out of a chair or off the sofa without using my arms. Indeed, it has been a tough journey getting to this point. I feel much more energy and have gained a few much need pounds again. My rheumatologist in Iowa City has been extremely helpful, courteous and caring. While I continue my search for a complete diagnosis, all the docs will say at this point is “inflammatory arthritis”. Could it be early signs of ankylosing spondylitis or something more serious? It’s possible. At least I now know that with a little help from some medication with less side effects I can exercise enough to gain some strength once again. For now [...]

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Aqua Therapy

By swollenmystery On February 16, 2010 · Add Comment

Last week I began a program at the the new local YMCA Healthy Living Center in Clive, Iowa. I thought it was time to do something about my leg atrophy and overall lower body muscle weakness from the past year and a half of not working out due to chronic knee inflammation. After meeting with a physical therapist, I decided to start the recovery program for 3 days each week. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice, helpful and concerned the therapists were and the facilities at the new Y are quite nice. Each session I work with the physical therapist in the aqua therapy pool, doing various exercises to re-strengthen my legs. We usually start with leg raises, step-ups and bicycle kicking and move to walking and even full jogging on the underwater treadmill. At first it was difficult getting used to balancing my semi-buoyant body weight under water, but after a few minutes it felt just like old times! Jogging under water is quite an experience and felt so great since I could feel like running without the heavy impact of my own weight under normal gravity. In my last session I was able to do a sort of sprinting technique against a heavy current. It felt so good to actually feel my leg muscles working instead of my joints. I’m looking forward to continuing the therapy sessions for at least several weeks. I’m hopeful that I will regain the strength I once lost without [...]

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Hooray! It’s Only Superficial

By swollenmystery On August 24, 2009 · 1 Comment

Several weeks before my physical therapy ever began, I noticed a bump on my leg. On my upper calf, near the inside of my left leg there lied a a hard spot just beneath the skin about the size of a quarter. In no way did it protrude from my leg and there was no discoloration. Therefore no one would notice anything was odd. I found this by massaging the painful area around my knee each day. It didn’t hurt, so I figured there was nothing to worry about. Once again, I was wrong. Well, sort of. After a couple weeks of contemplation, I went back to see my family doctor to get this pesky little guy checked out. I had no idea why he was there and what he wanted with my leg! So I unwillingly dragged myself back to the doctor’s office, explained my worries and was sent on my way. Stumped again, eh doc? Not too long after returning to work that day I got a call from my doctor’s nurse, in an urgent voice telling me I have to go to the hospital now. My first thought was, “this is odd”. Secondly, I wondered, “why all of a sudden panic?” She explained that I needed to go to the hospital immediately and check in for a venus doplar scan of my leg to make sure I did not have a blood clot. At the time I had no idea what a venus doplar scan was for [...]

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Physical Therapy

By swollenmystery On August 24, 2009 · Add Comment

Usually an injury doesn’t get me too excited, but when I got the go ahead to try physical therapy for my stubborn leg a small bit of happiness lifted my spirits. I thought, “physical therapy, well that’s like exercise, right? Maybe this is my chance to get back to a semi-habitual workout routine. All I need are the ‘right’ kind of exercises”. So I thought a physical therapist would be perfect for this. As soon as I have the right types of exercises, all I need to do is work on those until my flexibility is back to normal. With the help from my knowledgeable and athletic therapist who happened to be a friend from church, I was on my way to the next step. I was so glad at this point to finally get help from someone who cared about my condition and had a true passion for figuring out the solution to my problem. I started off doing daily stretches, ultrasound therapy, range of motion tests and a few leg muscle strengthening exercises. Because of my history, anything involving working out muscle did not include less than 20lb of weight. Especially when it came to leg days. This had a real impact on my daily activity and gave me a new sense of humbleness in the gym. No longer was I loading up 45lb plates. Instead I replaced squats and lunges with rubber bands, cable machines, or just my own body weight. In addition to strengthening at the [...]

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About Me

I'm a freelance web designer with a background in graphic design. I'm also a part-time nutrition student. When I'm not creating or designing, I'm studying nutrition. When I'm not doing either of those I'm usually eating or talking about food. I've been interested in health and fitness for a long time but it wasn't until I became seriously ill with a mysterious chronic autoimmune condition in my early 30s that I realized how intricate and complex the human body is.

Along my journey to healing from chronic illness and Lyme disease, I discovered that eating healthier has improved my life the most. This blog is not just a journal of my progress but is also intended to help anyone that might be suffering from an autoimmune illness. My goal is to learn how to support the body's natural healing process holistically so that it has the resources to fight off illness the way it was designed. As I learn more every day, I write about my journey here at Diagnosis Unsolved. Read more about how all this started and my story here.
-Brad Linberg-
Now Reading
Planned books:
- The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food by Kaayla T. Daniel
- Recipes for Repair: A Lyme Disease Cookbook by Gail Piazza, Laura Piazza
Current books:
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
- Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World by Joel Salatin
- The Salt/C Plus Protocol for Lyme Infection by M. Fett
- Seamus Mullen’s Hero Food: How Cooking with Delicious Things Can Make Us Feel Better by Seamus Mullen
- The Candida Cure: Yeast, Fungus by Ann Boroch
Recent books:
- The World’s Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating by George Mateljan
- Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dict by Sally Fallon, Mary Enig
- Accidental Cure: Extraordinary Medicine for Extraordinary Patients by Simon Yu
- Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic by Pamela Weintraub
- The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments: Defeat Lyme Disease with the Best of Conventional and Alternativ by Bryan Rosner
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Am I Asking My Doctor the Right Questions?

Healthy Returns

Aqua Therapy

Hooray! It’s Only Superficial

Physical Therapy

Categories

Archives

Good Sites about Health, Lyme and Living

About Me

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

Recent books:

Lime Disease – Story of Recovery

Am I Asking My Doctor the Right Questions?

Healthy Returns

Aqua Therapy

Hooray! It’s Only Superficial

Physical Therapy

Tags

Categories

Archives

Good Sites about Health, Lyme and Living

About Me

Now Reading

Planned books:

Current books:

Recent books:

Lime Disease – Story of Recovery