A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Hello all. I have been an MT for 20 plus years, yet not being a doctor, I can't seem to put a finger on what may be going on with me, but I do have some ideas. Ten years ago I had a bowel resection for an obstruction and have since developed 4 massive incisional hernia in my abdomen. They don't hurt, but occasionally flareup and change and it sends me to the ER everytime because Im afraid they may have gotten incarcerated. Over the past 6 months I have noticed that I have started having a lot of pain all over my body and its accompanied by severe itching and I do mean severe. I scratch in my sleep, sometimes to the point of bleeding and the bleeding seems very profuse. This itching is not localized..it is all over my body. Also, I have been getting these terrible spasms and they are located in the inner thighs. When I get them, they are extremely painful and it feels like someburn is burning and twisting my femoral artery. They are not charlie horses...they are spasms and never last less than 30 minutes...and if I move they get worse. They hurt so bad I cannot talk, walk, move, or anything else until they subside. Also during the spasm episode, my feet tend to turn really bright red and the color can change in my legs as well. You can actually see the muscles tighten under the skin. My legs feel constantly cold, although the docs say I have good pulses in them. Poor circulation does run in my family. Also, I cannot ever seem to get my legs comfortable and this happens a lot during sleep, but also during movement walking, etc. The spasms have gotten really bad over the past month and I have been to the ER twice for these. They treated me with Fentanyl because its the only analgesic that does not make me itch and also muscle relaxers, which causes the spasms to subside. The docs have done CAT scans on the legs and my abdomen and have been unable to find anything. I have a history of DVT also. The doctors checked my potassium level and said it was low, but not low enough to cause this type of leg spasm. I was sent home with pain medication and muscle relaxers, which did help, however, nothing seems to help with the itching. I have a long history of anxiety and the itching seems worse when my nerves are bad. I did some research on peripheral vascular disease and peripheral artery disease as well as fibromyalgia. I seem to have the symptoms of all of them. It says that anatomic structures such as my hernias could be affecting the blood supply to my extremities, heart, and brain, therefore causing these symptoms. I don't know much about fibromyalgia, but it has been suggested to me that I may have this as well. So far I have not received a diagnosis, just symptom treatment, which does seem to work with the medication they give me. I do have an appoinment Monday with a doctor who will more than likely refer me to a specialist. Any thoughts or experiences with these types of symptoms anyone? I would appreciate any feedback you can give me. Being an MT we did sit a lot and I am also wondering if that has anything to do with this pain and spasm or lack of blood flow, but yet exercise and movement causes it to be worse. Im baffled.
;