Over a year later after all the drama of the previous year, I am still here in this body on this earth learning a whole bunch of lessons I would rather not learn the hard way. Last summer my right hip froze up, both thighs continuously locked up and my knees and ankles were swollen with edema. Lots of specialists and tests--tested three times for Lupus--but no definitive diagnosis.
It was suggested that I had Frozen Hip and arthritis in my knees that seemed to have flared up. Another doctor thought I might have FAI Syndrome but couldn't confirm it without an MRI. I can't have an MRI because I have a pacemaker. Another doctor suggested it was venous insufficiency which caused the edema and then things basically just got backed up.
I was prescribed a couple of drugs and physical therapy. I also tried everything I could think of---my yoga practice to begin with, supplemented with Feldenkrais, Acupuncture, Cranial Sacral Therapy, Spiritual Healing, hydrotherapy, and I worked with a Health Coach. The positive results were frustratingly slow and sometimes it seemed like I was going backward instead of forward. The prognosis for frozen hip whether you do anything for it or not is that it can take up to 19 months for it to resolve.
Things were complicated by my heart doing some weird stuff which meant more tests without a concrete diagnosis. I stopped teaching for a month, my son Luke took over for me, and then I came back to classes---at first with a cane. At the present I still have pretty severe limitations with what I can demonstrate. I've gotten better at verbal cuing!
Some of what I've learned in the next post...
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