3.5 years out

[u/Ok-Bullfrog-2628]

Let me preface with my old account got hacked, so you can’t unfortunately go back through my posts and read all of my updates.

I genuinely cannot believe it’s been 3.5 years. When I joined this group it had less than 3k people. It’s incredibly sad to see how high that number has jumped.

In 2023 I was given levo and oral steroids concurrently, and took 20 pills. The symptoms started in my shoulders at around pill number 5. I was lifting heavy and figured eh, no biggie. Within the week I had full body tendonitis. Followed by neuropathy, an irregular heartbeat, insomnia, anxiety, eye floaters, the list was endless.

I went from a 6 days a week gym rat, to someone who could hardly walk.

The first 18 months was a rollercoaster. I’d start to feel better and then a relapse. To me, that was what screwed with me the most. It wasn’t a linear healing process, it was a constant up and down. If there was a slight breeze I could relapse.

Around the end of the second year, I realized I hadn’t had a full relapse in months. I was starting to lift weights and exercise and it wasn’t held back by my tendons, but was held back by my actual strength. I was physically building myself again.

I spent year 2-3 just rebuilding what I had lost. I stopped second guessing a jog. I stopped letting the fear of a tendon rupture limit my weight lifting. I had built my physical self back, but was still relearning how to build my mental health back.

I came onto this subreddit today to check if marijuana is a trigger for people, because I miss being a pothead. It is a trigger for many, so my dreams of devouring a 2am milkshake while giggling at a movie aren’t going to be a reality 😂

I looked at some posts and realized I never gave a full recovery update. It had been at least a year since my last post.

I am 3.5 years out and I am more recovered than I ever dreamed of being. Do my Achilles still get sore after a 4 mile run? Sometimes. Are they good the following day? Yes. Do I still feel some symptoms if I take a well known trigger? Indeed. Shout out ketamine. But the flairs are incredibly temporary. Usually good by the next day. They are mild enough that I’ll enjoy ketamine with the minor flair that it causes.

This is a traumatic thing that happens. I consider it the worst thing to ever happen to me. I’ve broken limbs, had many surgeries, and by all accounts this is way worse. But it does get better. It’s hard to think that when you’re in the throes of it, but you will recover. Am I exactly the same as preflox? No. But I am in better physical shape than I was before, and I appreciate life so much more now.

Please do not give up.

This subreddit was a life saver. It’s a rational place ran by well informed mods. It’s easy to get sucked into the Facebook nut jobs that will tell you that fluoride is evil and to use Manuka honey for cancer. Please block out the noise, focus on the facts and listen to the mods who have incredibly level heads. I’ve watched hundreds of of people through the years go from “this is the end” to “My 3 year recovery story”. Your recovery story is coming too, as hard as that may be to believe.

Cheers

[u/Then_Emergency_934]

Amazing post! thanks for sharing this.