I thought I would share this story with you. Not particularly interesting but, I felt important. I’ve never known anyone who had West Nile and didn’t have a clue about the symptoms.
In the spring our lawn service called, asking if we want mosquito control and I said no, because we had to add on critter control to that ever evolving bill!
It’s summer, I’m happily playing with my garden, planting, dead heading and rearranging things. I’m going to be having a small event to honor the mom’s before my granddaughter’s wedding so I want the yard to look it’s best. One thing I’m noticing are the mosquitoes. Doesn’t seem to matter what time of day. The mosquitoes are thick. I can’t go into the back 40 without being bitten. I’m always careful about making sure the breeding ground is clear. No water in bird baths etc.
I would go out with my cup of coffee for my morning deck read, and lo and behold mosquitoes. I find this mildly odd because they’re not usually out during the day time. I swat and ignore. Use a Benadryl stick when I do get bit, and I carry on. In the early evening if I didn’t get to the watering in the morning, I go around and give everything a squirt, attracting mosquitoes with every step. I would spray with yard guard ahead of time but still got bit. I tried watering in the afternoon, and that made no difference. With each bite in the back of my mind I’m thinking this is not a good thing.
September rolls around and the wedding is quickly approaching and I am knee deep into table decorations, showers, prep for house guests, and I think my fatigue is due to everything I am doing. I carry on. All of a sudden I get up one morning and I am so stiff. Morning back ache. Ok I just need to stretch this out. But, I can’t I’m just really stuck. I carry on as best I can. It is taking so much effort to move from point a-b.
On about day 4 I am at a clients house and I walk in the door, I apologize and tell her I’m very gimpy. A former nurse, she asked me where it hurts. I showed her my lower back and said it feels like morning back ache, that I just can’t stretch out. She said I needed a chiropractor, and that she had a great one. I’de had a very minor experience years ago, and wasn’t too impressed but, I was desperate. I just didn’t feel like this was worth a trip to the doctor. I didn’t want to be put on meds or just do physical therapy.
I have had balance issues for years and spoken to my doctor done the physical therapy but nothing seems to help with the balance. At 70 it was time to get to the underlying cause and I had hope that if we straighten out my back maybe my balance will return.
I decided to give this chiropractor a try. It took several days to get in and in that time my symptoms never improved. When I finally got in, we had a long conversation about all my issues, and she took X-rays. No one had ever done that before.
On our next visit we discussed the X-rays and put together a plan. She immediately started to adjust my back and I was gradually getting better. She got me through the wedding where I was able to almost stand up straight and do what was required. The exhaustion I felt, I chalked up to all the things I wanted to do for my granddaughter. The day after the wedding I slept almost the entire day.
Fast forward a few more days on Sunday, the husband was in MN fishing and I was having a very lazy day. Not doing much of anything and by 9:00 that night I noticed I had cramps and when I got up my back was really stiff again. So stiff I couldn’t really walk well at all or straighten up.
The next morning I put an SOS out to my chiropractor to get me in right away. She did and she was stumped. She said you were doing so well. She gave me a treatment, and we bumped the treatments back to 3 times a week. I had dropped down to 2. On subsequent visits that week I really wasn’t getting any better and I still had cramps. Like menstrual cramps but not as severe, as when I was young. But the cramps and the back ache were right there together the whole time never subsiding.
After a couple of days of this I went to the walk in clinic, because I thought I might have a UTI and the back was still hurting. Nope those tests came back negative.
Last Thursday I got in to see my doctor. We had a long conversation and she asked me if I had had any bites over the summer. I jokingly said are you kidding. At one time I had 16 bites. She said this sounds like a bite born symptom. She told me she had 3 patients with West Nile. I went right over to the hospital where they did a CT scan on my back and full bloodwork. A Quick Look and they sent me home with a prescription for high dosage of Prednisone for the pain.
Feeling substantially better and able to straighten up, cramps gone, my phone rings at 8:00 am sharp. I think who is calling me so early on Monday morning. It was my doctor and she said yes, you tested positive for West Nile. Ok what do we do. She said keep doing what we’re doing and stay on the Prednisone until it’s gone. West Nile just has to run its course but I am probably on the down hill side.
This morning I got up and am pain free. I slept for 5 straight hours which is a record for me. I feel ready to concur the world. Well for today we’ll just concur the sewing project I have going on down stairs.
Thanks for stopping
Shelley
