MSA

Multiple System Atrophy.  Yeah.  Never heard of it either. 

It didn’t affect me until I was 50.  I was mowing my lawn.  I had just started the side of my house when I fell over.  Now I did have a dead switch on the electric mower so it did stop immediately.  Fortunately I landed on a soft spot instead of landing on the rock I dug up long ago from my yard.  I wasn’t paralyzed as I could feel all my limbs.  I didn’t lose consciousness as I could see the street.  My body just didn’t pay much attention to me even though I did try to rise.  This lasted 3-5 minutes.  When I could, I rose.  I thought weird and continued, putting what had just happened out of my mind.

As I said, put it out of my mind until about 2 weeks later I was in my garage, getting something off a shelf, when I fell over landing on my elbow (Ouch).  I decided to see my regular doctor and since he had no answers, referred me to a neurologist.  They said I had Nystagmus and proceeded to do several barrel rolls and said they could “cure” this.  I had to wear a soft neck brace for 2 days and not move my head.  Each appointment I made thereafter I made sure they were on a Friday.  I rented some DVDs.

I was “cured” when this was done, but it didn’t fix my falling, which was becoming more frequent.

I then went to a cardiologist and did the treadmill but that was fine.  What I did fail was the Tilt Table test.  I passed out when they raised it but not sure if my BP dropped.  I was not taking nor did they give me any drugs or require fasting.

The next doctor was a back/spine specialist.  She found nothing and made the final referral.

Dr. Pascuzzi gave me three tests and my final diagnosis.  He’s been great!

Hard to imagine there are people suffering from this.  Slow, insidious.  Having all my mental capabilities and slowly losing any physical capabilities makes it difficult.  It’s like watching a bad movie in slow motion.  I have dreams about needing to go somewhere and then I wake up and realize I’m not and can’t act on what I just dreamed.

I do malware research to stay mentally busy.  (If you need some, holler.  Windows only but they probably do Mac.  (Yes.  Macs suffer too.  Viruses as well.)) 

My biggest challenge now is going to the bathroom (almost 10+ minutes) and swallowing without choking.  I’m not sure how things will work out if I ever need a catheter or am unable to eat.