Sunday, April 5

Be gone, dystonia; I smite you

The neurologist who diagnosed my hand and finger issue as being handwriting dystonia had a couple different options for treating it. One option was injections of a Botox-adjacent muscle relaxer, which I decided would be the first thing I would try. So I got three injections in my right forearm. The treatment did not go as expected. It totally deadened the ring finger and pinky, and mostly killed my middle finger. So I basically had a claw for three straight months, because I couldn't move or lift those fingers. I did not enjoy that experience, and decided that I wouldn't do that again.
Today, I started option two of the treatment: muscle relaxing pills. The downside is, of course, all the side effects of the drug, so the doctor asked that I start them on a weekend so I could figure out how they would affect me in a safe space. No safer space than at home during a quarantine, I say! He prescribed me three pills a day, but told me to start with one pill a day, and I could increase them as I chose. So this morning, I took one pill. Tonight, I feel a little bit better movement in my hand, and I'm actually looking forward to progressing this week to see how this goes over the course of several days. I'm going to be beyond giddy if this little pill makes it easier to type and write.
I don't remember much of what the doctor said were the side effects, so I'll take a picture of the bottle in the morning and google the side effects tomorrow at work. Believe it or not, I'm super excited to get to my computer in the morning and see if this is working for real.

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