Hello and welcome! You will find an interesting mix here and hopefully something will catch your interest. If you find a topic intriguing let me know and I'll put together a special piece on it. You'll find that I talk about a little of everything but my main topics will be Writing, the Rottweiler and German Shepard dog breeds, Sarcoidosis and Neurosarcoidosis as well as living with the symptoms of these two diseases and the lack of doctor knowledge. The topics of living with autoimmune diseases and chronic pain may also pop up now and again and as a recent college graduate you may find that I still reminisce about the about life of a college student after the age of 30. And you can't talk about the Rottweiler or (nowadays) the German Shepard dog breeds and not talk about some of the laws that people try to pass on a group of dogs that have come to be call dangerous breeds or dumb owners who are irresponsible with these breeds. Lastly you may occassionally find the topic of owner trained service dogs and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) which are laws that the government put together to help assure that the disabled are not discriminated against.
I may write about learning to write or the struggle to become a writer. The art of writing fantasy fiction. You may find one of my short stories or one of my poems here on occasion.
Let's get started with a difinition of Sarcoidosis and Neurosarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease that cause inflammation to occur in your lymph nodes, lungs, liver, eyes, skin and other tissue or organs. The symptoms run the gamut from nothing - not a sign or symptom to finding yourself on death's door. When symptoms do occur they can involve any part of your body or any organ system. Many will find it has affect at least one of these listed below:
Most patients will have some chest or lung symptom:
- Dry cough
- Discomfort behind the breast bone
- Abnormal breathing sounds
- Shortness of breath
Some will present with symptoms of general discomfort:
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Malaise (fancy for ill feeling)
- Weight loss
- Pain and/or aching joints (arthralgia)
Skin involvement usually presents with symptoms like:
- Old scar become more raised
- Skin rashes
- Erythema nodosum, raised, red skin sores; often on the front, lower part of the legs
- Skin lesions
- Hair loss
Other symptoms that sarcoidosis can cause are:
- Enlargement of your spleen, kidneys, and liver
- Enlargement of your lymph glands
- Lumps in the armpits
- Dry mouth
- Nose bleeds
- Enlargement of your lymph nodes within organs
- Headaches
- Eye irritation, burning, itching and discharge and uveitis which is the swelling of the middle layer of the eye or uvea
When Sarcoidosis attacks your nervous systems it is called Neurosarcoidosis and the symptoms can include:
Involvement of the pituitary gland can cause:
- Changes in menstrual periods
- Excessive tiredness (fatigue)
- High urination output
- Excessive thirst
Involvement of the brain or cranial nerves can cause:
- Confusion and disorientation
- Speech impairments
- Seizures
- Weakness and paralysis
- Palsy
- Bell's palsy (facial palsy causing weakness or drooping)
- Decrease in ability to hear
- Dizziness or vertigo (abnormal movement sensations)
- Headaches
- Psychiatric disturbances
- Loss of smell or taste or abnormal tastes
- Double vision or other visual problems such as blindness
- Dementia or delirium
Involvement of one or more peripheral nerves causes:
- Weakness in a body part
- Loss of sensation in a body part
- Abnormal sensations in a body part
- Loss of movement or stiffness in the joints of any body part
In Sarcoidosis and Neurosarcoidosis clusters of abnormal immune cells called granulomas form in affected organs of the body. These granulomas can affect any organ of the body, but with sarcoidosis it most often affects the lungs and with neurosarcoidosis it most often affects the nervous system but can affect the brain, spinal fluid, or bone marrow.
The cause of this disease is unknown. There is no cure and the only treatment available is to suppress the immune system with corticosteroids like methylprednisolone and prednisone or immunosuppressive medications such as azathioprine, cyclophosphamide and methotrexate maybe used with corticosteroids.
Between 30% and 50% of those affect will get better with no treatment in 3 years (so doctors claim) but 20 % of these will be left with permanent lung damage. The death rate for Sarcoid is less than 5%. With most deaths resulting from scarring on lung tissue (known as pulmonary fibrosis), bleeding of the lung tissue or involvement of the heart. But the greatest problem is the number of patients left with chronic symptoms and complications caused by the damage the disease cause to the body and organs.
I have Neurosarcoidosis. I was diagnosed in 1999 and it has been rough going to say the least. I had a wonderful Rottweiler named Dutchess for 8+ years. She was my service dog for 5+ years before she lose her battle with cancer in the fall of 2010. I now own a silly German Shepard boy named Sampson who is still in-training. I don't know where I'd be if it were not for Dutchess. It is only because of her that I was able to beginning this blog or going to college. Hell I probably would not be here at all if not for the help that my dogs have given me. The Neurosarcoidosis makes all my joints painful and stiff. My spinal fluid fills like a heavy syrup coursing through my spinal cord, my hands don't want to work often and my knee are so painful that walking is nearly impossible some days. And just so that I don't get bored if my knee do allow me to walk I sometime suddenly find myself out taking a much desired walk when will suddenly find myself blind and dizzy. One of Dutchess' gifts was her ability to sense when these attacks were going to occur and get me someplace safe--like a seizure alert dog. She was my best friend and losing her broke my heart. But I have been blessed with Sampson and though he can never replace her, he is learning to help me in his specail ways.
Again welcome and hope you enjoy what you find here.
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