Wednesday, August 3, 2011

One Year Anniversary!! & Medical Mysteries Finally Solved

Tomorrow is my One Year Anniversary of my first surgery, Left Hip Arthroscopy.
It has been a long road but I'm happy to say this year has been MUCH easier than last! Phew, no more living in chronic pain! I am able to do yoga, biking, elliptical, pilates and the occasional jog and next week plan on starting high impact water aerobics again. YAY!

Also since it has been just over THREE years since my injuries occurred and this whole mystery began, it is fitting that a rheumatologist of all specialists finally solves all my medical mysteries! Turns out I am hypermobile. This means the connective tissues that hold me together are lax and move more or too easily, putting me in a position to both move easier but also get injured more easily. Flexibility over stability. It's great to finally have answers, of course that DOES mean I can still be injured. But we can't stop living so I will cross that bridge if I encounter it.
For now I'm just trying to get back into a workout routine and be thankful that my surgeries were a success.

I am possibly a mild case of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or Marfan syndrome, although from what I hear that are only four places in the US that can diagnose the latter. The Marfan possibility I found particularly intriguing because it explains several other maladies I have including:

-being the tallest in my family
-Degenerative disk disease
-Deviated septum
-Hypermobility of the joints
-Myopia (near sightedness)
-Mitral valve prolapse
-Retinal detachment (not yet but I have multiple floaters & flashes)
-Stretch marks not from pregnancy or obesity
-Teeth crowded
-Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD)

Being that its hereditary it would explain why my father had sleep apnea and a fatal cataclysmic heart anuerism when he was 47.