My success story!

Good morning,
I want to share my success story. I apologize if this ends up being long!
My symptoms began in February of 2017. It all started with a sprained ankle. As I walking down some steps at work one day I stepped wrong and sprained my ankle and fell. At first I wasn't too concerned as I have had a sprain before. I wrapped up my ankle and tried to stay off it. Of course I also limped around quite a bit. I made a report with workmans comp that day at the request of the school nurse (I am a teacher) but chose to try treating it at home. This happened on a Friday and by Monday I was noticing swelling in my knee as well so I chose to go into the clinic. This is where my story truly begins......

I went to the clinic on Monday afternoon. My knee was swollen and bothering me but I was in pretty good spirits. I saw the doctor and he ordered an X ray of my ankle and wasn't too concerned about my knee. When getting my X ray the tech asked me to turn my ankle a certain way and I wasn't able to. She walked over and turned my ankle and I felt a pop. That night my knee swelled even more and I was in significant pain. It was so bad I could barely move it. I went back to the clinic that morning and they X rayed my knee but didn't see anything (cause we all know X rays only show fractures). Only advice I was given was to stay off my feet. They were kind enough to give me some crutches. I took off the week at work because I was in a lot of pain and could barely get dressed. I still had to be a mom as I am a single mom but that was about all I could do. I would drop my daughter off at school and come home and lay on the couch all day and then go back and pick her up.

About 2 weeks before my injury I had a UTI that cleared up with a round of antibiotics (so I thought). Wouldn't you know that it would decide to come back when I could barely move. First time was just a day after the injury. I drank a ton of cranberry juice and it seemed to go away. But I would have times where I felt it was back but then after a couple of hours I would be fine again. Then about a month later it came back full force and I was miserable. And of course this happened in the middle of the night. I went to the doctor that day and was given another round of antibiotics. Again it would clear up, come back, clear up. This went on for the next few months. I did another round of antibiotics at one point so 3 times in 6 months. That is way too much in my opinion but I was pretty desperate.

So now my knee hurts and I can't walk right, I am having bladder issues and am pretty miserable. My anxiety decides to join in the fun. Now I start having trouble sleeping. By trouble I mean pretty much not sleeping at all. I spend hours googling the one diagnoses that I was given for my knee (chondromalacia patella) and stumble upon forums. That was a big mistake. Of course the doctors at the clinic told me this was a chronic condition. At first I didn't believe them because I had no knee pain prior to my injury but as the days and weeks went on and I was not getting better I started to believe them. I would read these forums and my anxiety would get worse. Many of the people on there have had pain for years. I was always very active in both my job (I teacher PE) and with my daughter so I was now becoming depressed. I tried not to show it at work or with my daughter so these emotions reared its ugly head at night. I should mention that my back started to bother me at this point because I was walking funny, stressed and not sleeping. That led me to my first visit with a chiropractor. This is where things get bad but then better.

Oh wait, I just remembered something that I forgot to add. I was starting to get better a month after my injury and walked into the clinic on a Thursday in good spirits again only to have the "doctor" hurt me and again I left the clinic in more pain then I entered. She pushed my knee in too far and again I heard and felt a pop. The swelling and pain increased that night and I didn't sleep at all. Back to the clinic I went the next day and finally got a PT referral. I went to PT for 6 sessions and it didn't help a ton but she did get me moving a little more and taught me some exercises I could do at home to hopefully reduce my swelling and slowly start gaining my strength again. My left leg was like mush at this point. After this I finally had an MRI on my knee and that is where the diagnosis came of chondromalacia patella. Of course the docs at workmans comp saw this as a great opportunity to say that I had a "chronic condition". When I tried to explain that I had no knee pain prior to my injury they just ignored and said that my injury caused a flare up of my "chronic condition" UGH!

Ok so now I have a chronic knee condition, my bladder is freaking out, I can't sleep and my back is hurting. Ironically my ankle which started this whole thing is totally fine. I go to my first chiropractor. She listens to me (FINALLY!). She is gentle with me and adjusts me and gives me great advice. I am totally OCD at this point and can't get over that I have a slight bump in my back (one of my vertebrea's sticks out slightly). She says for my piece of mind I should get an X ray. That was a BIG mistake. I get the images back and it says I have spina bfida occulta, a fracture of the L5 and spoldylesis (sp?). Now my anxiety is off the charts. I spend that whole night googling. All the sudden I think I am never going to be able to ride a rollercoaster again with my daughter. Thankfully I work with PT's in my department and that next morning I called one He told me to bring in my images and he told me these are absolutely nothing to be concerned about. That helped a little but I was still freaking out.

My sleep issues were really bad at this point so I decided to go see my PCP. Prior to having any issues I liked him. The only thing I have seen him for though is yearly physicals. The first visit I saw his PA and she prescribed an antihistamine which she said she help me calm down and be able to sleep. It worked the first night and then after that it had the opposite affect so I stopped taking it. After a few more weeks of very little sleep I went back and saw my actual doctor. He was a jerk and made me feel like I was wasting his time being there. I was miserable at this point and it was very hurtful. He gave me some sleep meds to try at home. I read on them and there was NO WAY I would take those! I am not one to take any medicine unless absolutely necessary. I didn't even take anything for my pain because I am allergic to aspirin and ibuprofen. This is where the story starts to change. I decided the doctors at workmans comp were no help so I started to find help on my own. Because insurance wouldn't help I had to go alternate routes (which I am SO grateful for now).

I went into my new chiropractor feeling very defeated and depressed. I am not a crier and I started bawling in her office. She listened and we talked. She didn't rush me out. She suggested I try taking magnesium to calm my nerves and sleep. I took her advice and it really worked. Not right away but it did. Then I found another chiropractor a few months later that did some active release techniques on me to help loosen some of my tight muscles that I developed because of my pain. He also listened and didn't rush me. He gave me some great exercises and stretches to do at home to help get me moving properly. During this time I also had prolotherapy 3 times by a great natural path doctor. If you don't know what this is, it is a natural treatment to produce healing.

So now it is September(ish) and I am feeling better (not great or even close to where I wanted to be but better). I am done with my prolotherapy treatments and feel like my knee is stronger in the sense it doesn't feel like it is going to "go out" every step I take. My new chiropractor (the one that does ART) goes over my X rays and assures me that my back is totally fine and it is normal to have "stuff" show up on an X ray. I am sleeping good again and everyday tasks are not that difficult anymore. I am still not walking my dog again yet, I am still doing just the safe exercises. I am still not running and am very careful when working with my students. I stumble upon Dr. Sarno's name in a google search. I get his book on my kindle and start reading. I was amazed. It explained everything to me. Why a simple sprain became this huge thing with me. I decided to stop everything I was doing at that point and get back to me. At first it was baby steps like slowly jogging with my students, then trying to jump rope a couple of times. When I realized I was no worse than before I increased what I did. I still had tight muscles and my knees let me know they were there but I realized it wasn't pain anymore. So I continued to push myself. In March I went to California with my daughter. We went to Knotts Berry Farm and I rode every rollercoaster with her. We walked around all day long every day and that was the first time I noticed I didn't "feel me knees". Now I am more active then I have been in awhile. I go to pretty intense classes at the gym that include running, going up and down stairs, tire flipping, etc. I have been to amusement parks with my daughter again since. I walk my dogs daily. I rollerblade and I water ski'd this past summer. All this with no fear! There are occasions when my tight muscles come back (around my knee and lower back) and when they don't fear them and just keep going.

All my symptoms are gone. No more bladder isssues, no more knee pain, no more back tightness, no more sleep issues. I even used mindbody techniques recently when my ear starting hurting. It was hurting really bad one morning and continued throughout the day. I rubbed a little tea tree oil in it (in case it was infected) and then just chose to ignore the pain and itchyness. I went to bed and the next morning it hurt less and then a couple of days later it is totally back to normal.

I did the pain recovery program on here and I journeled a little but what worked the best for me was to believe that I am healthy and to just get back to being me!

 

Congratulations on your healing!

 

Thank you for posting your story @Activemom it's a good one!

 

Bump great story

 

Thank you so much for sharing your story. So swelling in the knee can be TMS? This is so good to learn. I am struggling at the moment with a knee that locked and popped and got me into a lot of pain and swelling. And even though I successfully got rid of many TMS in the past (back, knees, migraines) it is hard for me now because the swelling makes me question the TMS diagnosis, so your story really helped me to recognize that the swelling can very well be, and is, TMS. Thank you!

 

It started off swollen from an injury but it wasn't an injury that should have taken that long to heal. It was interesting re-reading my success story because it has been over 5 years now since my injury. I am happy to report that my knee still feels great and I am active as ever. My knee likes to pop sometimes but there is no pain at all.

 

So good to hear, so reassuring, thank you!!