It’s been a while since I’ve shared any information about my health. However I saw my Neurologist on Monday and for the first time in months the news was good!
So here’s an IIH health update for you.
If you’re new to Kirsten and co, this post will give you all the background information you need about my symptoms, IIH diagnosis and progress so far.
The Not So Good News
The not so good news is that my left eye is still not playing nice. It looks as though there has been some permanent damage done to that eye but we won’t know until all of the swelling/excess fluid that has decided to settle in my head has gone.
The Good News
The good news is that the vision in my right eye is almost back to normal. Hooray!
I’ve also stopped getting daily headaches, which is SUCH a relief. The headaches are a result of the excess fluid sitting inside my head and they are truly hideous.
I’ve learned to power through them and if you follow me on Instagram, you’d probably never guess I suffered from such painful headaches everyday. But I refuse to let this IIH thing stop me from doing all the things I want to do, so I just do my best to ignore the thumping and get on with my day.
The Great News
The great news is that my Neurologist said that the headaches disappearing was a good sign. Such a good sign in fact that he’s letting me come off the migraine medication he’s been making me take for the past 12 months.
I was so happy with this news that it took everything within me not to burst into tears on the spot!
The side effects of that medication are awful. Hearing the news that I could finally stop taking it has been a goal I have been working towards pretty much as soon as I started taking it. Monday was a very good day.
What’s Next?
Well I’m not in the clear yet, that’s for sure. I still have that pesky left eye to deal with and I’m continuing to swallow Diamox and avoid cake in an effort to get my IIH well and truly into remission.
When I was first diagnosed with IIH in May 2015, the Neuro told me that weight loss can help reduce the excess fluid situation. Nobody really seemed to know why and to be honest, I wasn’t really that interested in finding out. All I knew was that for some unknown reason my body was producing too much spinal fluid and as a result I was in very real danger of losing my eye sight.
If losing a few kilos was going to halt that process somehow, I was going to put the cake down.
So now it’s November 2016 – 18 months since I was first diagnosed. I’m 25 kilos lighter and although we’re still doing the IIH Cha Cha (as my Neuro likes to call it), I finally feel like I’m taking more steps forward than I am backwards.
How are things with you? Are you doing a health Cha Cha at the moment too?
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