Back follow-up


Better. Much.

I heard from my mom yesterday because I didn't follow up on posting about my visit to the doctor. Whoops.

Boy, I had no clue just how badly I was doing until he ran the standard neurological tests comparing usage on the two sides of my body. It was kinda scary that he could easily break a grip on my dominant-hand side that I had no trouble maintaining on my non-dominant side. I had no trouble with range-of-motion, even given the pain in my back, but grip strength? Forget it. Then he got out his little reflex hammer and started whacking on my arms... I warned him that if he went for my right elbow, I'd just kick him before the hammer fell. He laughed.

He changed me over to a steady dose of Prednisone for 10 days, having me stop the decreasing-dose Medrol pack until the new 'scrip runs out and then use the rest of the Medrol to end the dose. There're only the last two days left in the pack; I hope that's enough to prevent withdrawal symptoms, which sound nasty. Nevermind, I just checked the meds -- the daily dose of Prednisone is only 10 mg and I'll get 8 mg of Medrol the next-to-last day and 4 mg the last day. Shouldn't be a problem, b/c the pack by itself would have taken me 12-8-4. Anyway, he said if I wasn't back to normal or nearly when I finished the Prednisone, he'd refer me to a neurologist. Doesn't look like that'll be necessary.

I don't know if it's because I am getting the full dose of Prednisone in one blast instead of 4 mg at a time or if it's placebo effect, but I really started feeling better after I switched doses. Yesterday I completely forgot to take my suppertime muscle relaxer, and I didn't hurt at all this morning despite sleeping longer than usual (yay, spring break!) so I didn't take it then, either. My grip feels almost normal, too. Hooray for getting my hand back!

Posted: Mon - March 16, 2009 at 10:19 AM   Home         | | View Technorati reactions

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