Klamblog - January 26th, 2024 · 2:21am January 27th
Hi.
I have good news! We finally figured out what was wrong. I’m in the process of getting it treated. It requires two surgeries, one of which I had two weeks ago. It went very well, I’m recovering nicely. The second surgery is scheduled for March 5th.
If you want to know specifics, read on.
In order to explain what’s been going on, I need to establish some basic things about arteries, veins, and a specific pair of neck muscles. Oh, right, the problem has been my neck. Not sure how long it's been going on. I've been asked that question a lot, and even after a lot of introspection, the only confident answer I can give is "years."
Anyway, context. Arteries carry blood away from the heart to various parts of your body. Artery walls are thick, strong, and are designed to function under pressure. Veins carry blood back to the heart to be reoxygenated and redistributed. Vein walls are thinner and are not designed to operate under increased pressure. The sternocleidomastoids (SCM) are the largest pair of muscles in your neck. They go from your collarbone to just below your ear. You know those ropey muscles that stick out at the base of your throat when you straighten up? Those are your SCM.
Got that much? Cool. Here are the rest of the puzzle pieces.
- Frequently used muscles like the SCM often become “tight”. This means they no longer move correctly. Tight muscles often become shortened, stiff, and painful.
- Your SCM lies on TOP of your jugular veins.
- The jugular veins are the return path for the blood that’s been moving through your head back to the heart.
- Whether for environmental reasons, genetic ones, or both, tight muscles aren’t always easy to relax for some people. Sometimes things like physical therapy and botox work. Sometimes they don’t.
I’m going to show some x-ray images below. They were taken last November. I’ve spoilered them in case people are squeamish about skulls. Below is what’s called an angiogram (technically a fluoroscopic angiogram). They inject a special kind of dye into your circulatory system and take pictures of it as it moves through.
This is the dye moving through my left jugular vein returning to the heart. I’m lying down in a neutral position. I was told this rate of flow is relatively normal.
Here’s what happens when I turn my head.
This is called venous occlusion. Occlusion is just a fancy word for “narrowing”. My SCM muscle was so tight it was literally constricting my jugular vein and causing the blood in my head to be backed up. This caused increased pressure in my head at all times.
Below is my right jugular vein. Again, typically normally flow. Actually better than the left, though this might just be because of the image I selected. They actually take dozens of pictures so it winds up looking like a frame-by-frame animation.
As you can see, the problem exists on the right side, as well. Oddly enough, the right side has always felt more symptomatic despite the left being notably worse. Doc believes it’s because the right side occlusion is more localized and is affecting my inner ear.
Any activity that involves my neck, head, arms, or anything that increases my heart rate makes my symptoms worse. Attempting to concentrate also makes it worse. This is because when you concentrate, the brain requires more blood. The path for my blood to return to the heart is narrowed and gets ever more so as the day progresses, so you can imagine how I’ve felt at the end of the day, let alone a workday.
We tried many, many things. Too many. There were too many cooks in the kitchen, and that muddled things up. Over the last three years, I’ve seen over two dozen healthcare providers. Many tried to help, but didn’t know how. Countless suggestions were made that ultimately went nowhere. All conservative treatments failed. Thousands of dollars spent, years of time lost. I had to push and fight for this every step of the way, and ultimately, a very obnoxious doctor held the keys to the castle.
But I digress. I'm now I’m with a vascular surgeon who knows his shit. Two and a half weeks out from surgery on the left side, and I’m able to type this. I still have symptoms from the right side and I'm going to have to endure those for the next six weeks, but from there on I should be okay.
I'm optimistic about the future. I've gotten significant relief from having the left side done, so I have to think the right side will help me, too. Just have to wait another 39 days.
Hey cool! Hopefully this solves the issue!
Also turmeric really helps inflammation/brain fog caused by covid, in case that's helpful to folks here.
That is one very sloppy vampire bite.
Glad to hear that a solution has been found, and that it's working out for you.
You may also want to discuss the possibility that you're magnesium deficient with your doctor.
Deficiency in magnesium can cause muscle related issues, which may have contributed to the problem.
But either way, hopefully the problem will be solved, and you'll be feeling a lot better soon.
Hooray!
I hope this provides some relief for you, it sounds like a lot of frustrating years.
The American health care system- "If you get the wrong doctor first try and they decide that your untreatable then your fucked for who knows how long!"
Happy you found a actually COMPTENT doctor that could actually figure out what was happening and I hope you recover soon.
"GENTLE GLOMP"
You're in my prayers every night and I'll continue to pray into March for everything to run smoothly. Stay strong and talk to your doctors to ensure this doesn't happen again.
I'm so happy for you!
So how'd it go?
Also, the images no longer load.