Jason,
I think its been clarified that Wright and Laurel, like many others on this forum, are here to offer you support. I just wanted to give a quick personal example of why it's hard to take medical information (or misinformation as unfortunately the case too often is) and apply it without medical training.
Early on in my diagnosed process I read about the plantar reflex, or Babinski's sign. I knew a little about it from being a father, and tormenting the heck out of three sets of infant feet. I even watched a couple of exam demonstration videos on the web. It seemed pretty simple. Stroke the foot, watch which way the toes go.
I tried it with a finger. I tried it with a pencil. I used the back of a butter knife (because that's more like the back of a medical instrument
) My toes wouldn't curl. I read about all about what that could mean. They didn't shoot upward, but then they didn't curl downward either. I tried not to stress out, but it did bother me.
Then I went to my neuro consult at an academic medical center. After testing my reflexes and checking my feet, the doctor whipped the end of the instrument up my foot. Before I knew what was happening, my toes curled downward, and I nearly giggled like a girl.
What was different? I wasn't trying to do it to myself with any preconcieved notions of what would happen, I was caught off guard, and the person that performed the test had done it hundreds of times with med school and residency to back it up.
I'm a self depricating kind of guy, so I don't mind letting you in on how I've tormented myself in the past. We don't have the medical background. We haven't stared at thousands of tongues (and heaven knows what else), poked a dozen fingers everyday, or wacked a plethra a shins with a reflex hammer.
Our frame of reference is limited to our own bodies, and whatever poor friends and family we corner.
Best of luck as you work through your health concerns,
Robert