Strange signs that something is afoot...

In my previous post I mentioned my quick google skillz after being dignosed with both Chiari and Basilar Invagination but I want to step back in time a bit so you can understand what got me there...I wonder if the journey of others is similar?

When I was 12 it began with excruciating headaches and the doctor said... migraines! Take two of these and call me in the morning...  (thanks doc!)  Even at 12 I knew pain being completely located in the back of my head did not fit a migraine. Popping noises like going way to deep in a swimming pool were constants during these headaches.  Turns out those popping noises were actually spinal fluid filling up in my brain squishing it to a point it squeezed down my spinal cord...(I'll go into more of that later though)  Mom took me to doctor number two who had all the answers.  Cluster headaches! Take two of these and call me in the morning..... (thanks doc!)

Between 12 and 19 my mother must have thought the only thing I was suffering from was severe  hypochondria and an allergy to school.

All in all no symptom seemed to be related....tachycardia (really fast heart rate),  headaches, an incredibly lazy digestive system, cold hands and feet, double vision, neck pain.....just to name a few.   Who woulda thunk they were all coming from one condition?   Never in a million years would I have guessed it.  

In 2010 I started having double vision which was a totally new symptom.   I saw three doctors and none of them could figure out why I was seeing everything twice....an ophthalmologist, neuro ophthalmologist, and a Dr. assistant.  I can not tell you how frustrating it is to have everyone look at you and say nothing is wrong when there is clearly something wrong!  Everyday I would drive to pick up my daughter from daycare and had to keep my hand over one eye so I didn't see two of everything while I was driving.  

Oh, oh! AND I almost forgot....have you ever been to the eye doctor and they have you put on those dorky 3d glasses and tell you to touch the 3d pictures?  Well, all my life I have seen these pictures and assumed I would this time too....they were gone!  I kept looking back thinking this has got to be a mistake because I always see these pictures.  Not anymore.... Even one more reason to know there was something very wrong with me.... The doctors said wait it out maybe my brain will somehow figure out how to see everything right again?.....it didn't sound logical to me either!

But I did wait almost a year.... it was a very long year!