Tag Archives: flu

by

Caregiver, caregiver, give me some care, take me somewhere, help wash my hair!*

*Sing to the tune of Matchmaker. Yes, this is how I pass the time. I have multiple verses. 😉

This is day 8 of my husband’s cold. You might remember how paranoid I am of catching a cold or, god forbid, the flu. It has been exactly 2 years and 4 months since I had a cold and bronchitis (colds never stayed in my head ~ they always went to my chest) and I find myself grateful and, also, sad, knowing that a few months after that last cold my immune system turned on permanently. I read about other people with ME/CFS suffering with viruses and I knock on wood, cross my fingers, spit over my shoulder, pull on my earlobes and say toba toba to protect myself (yes, really. That’s not excessive, is it?)… But I also feel a stab of jealousy because that probably means their immune systems are healthier than mine ~ that they have calmed down enough to allow a virus to infiltrate the fortress.

That’s not to say I want to get sick. I don’t even want to test it. When my husband gets too close, I shoo him away. When I have to walk past him, I pull my shirt up over my nose. It’s comical, as if he horribly reeks. And I am an utter nag:

“Can you PLEASE cover your mouth when you cough?”
“Have you washed your hands?”
“Please don’t breathe near me. Just stop breathing.”

At least I say please.

He hasn’t taken a day off of work and, even on the weekend, he was in the garden, raking leaves and doing winter clean-up. I find myself fretting about him – not wanting him to push himself when he’s sick. This has probably been the most stressful year of his life because of my illness, plus he has had more landscaping work than many recent years and his job is all physical labour, out in the elements. I know I can’t implore him to spend a day on the couch, sipping Lemsip and chicken soup. It’s not in his nature. I’ve never seen him have a day like that. On Sunday, as he was in and out of the house doing chores, I said, “I really wish you’d rest.” He said, “This is resting.”

My husband could never get ME, though. That’s not in his nature, either. He sleeps well, never takes even a painkiller, he can eat and drink anything, can handle extreme weather… I’ve always had the sensitive system ~ I would love to have skiied in the winter, but hated the thought of cold and snow. I would have loved to lie on a beach all day in the summer, but have always wilted in the sun or become faint and headachy.

I’m convinced the main difference between us, though, is that he doesn’t care – in a good way. He isn’t a perfectionist, he doesn’t worry, he doesn’t feel guilty. I’ve always been an over-achiever. I want to do everything and I want to be the best at all of it. I’m turned into knots because there are tumbleweeds of dog hair all over the house and I haven’t sent thank you cards for the birthday gifts I received 6 months ago. I am guilty about my dog’s anxiety and sad that I don’t feel attractive anymore. I beat myself up about the sugar I can’t seem to kick and the money wasted on supplements that I couldn’t tolerate. I worry that I’m a bad friend and I’ll be forgotten and I haven’t made my mark on the world yet. My husband is happy to never socialise and doesn’t think twice about what people think of him and seems to always be perfectly content (not counting the last few years).

Yesterday, after he had worked, gone grocery shopping, gone to the pet store, picked up my prescriptions and cleaned the kitchen, I tentatively reminded him that the dogs need baths and my bedding needs to be washed and I’d really love help making my granola and detox soup (more on that later) and… if it is at all possible… we really need to hoover sometime…. I whispered this last one as I slunk out of the room and around the corner, out of eyesight (notice I still say “we” because I can’t bring myself to say, “You need to clean the house.”)

All this on top of his cold. Caregiving sucks. But I am lucky and very thankful to have one of the best caregivers and husbands out there.

Caretaker, caretaker, take care of me, stay by my side, help fight M.E.!

by

Cold War

I’m tempting fate talking about this, but it has been exactly two years since I have had bronchitis and/or a cold (they usually went together for me). I would say, in my old life, on average, I used to get a cold about once a year. I never paid much attention, though. As I’ve said before, it was never a big deal to get a cold and most restaurant employees would have to be on death’s door to miss a shift. I would joke that I might faint or go into anaphylactic shock or grow thyroid goiters, but I wouldn’t catch a cold.

Once I got sick with ME/CFS, I went through my medical records with a fine-toothed comb, hoping to find some clue to solve the mystery of my illness ~ that’s why I know the exact dates of my last cold. I had returned from Ireland a few weeks before (I think now, will that be the last time I am there?) and made an appointment with an allergist to ask about my eye and tongue swelling which had been going on during my visit home, plus a bad episode of pre-syncope. He had diagnosed me with autoimmune angioedema and urticaria by injecting my own plasma under my skin and watching a HUGE welt emerge. Great, I love being allergic to my own blood.

I then worked 11 days in a row and, as the weekend arrived, the bronchitis hit. It lasted two weeks and, although I finally went to the doctor, I didn’t take the antibiotics or steroids she gave me and I didn’t take any days off work. My father visited over the weekend that the infection was tapering off ~ we had a lovely time ~ and then I worked a few more weeks before flying to Virginia and getting sick with viral gastroenteritis that landed me in the ER, getting fluids. A few months later, the flu shot triggered this new life. No wonder that vaccination was the straw to break my immune system’s back! This is the message I want to get out: PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BODY! HEED THE WARNINGS!

Anyway, there are very thin, very pale silver linings to my situation and I search for them daily, in an endless quest for gratitude and acceptance. This week I think, Two whole years without a cough or congestion or phlegm or wheezing! I try not to think, Yeah, but who cares when I’ve had endless flu for 21 of those months? I would prefer to be sick with bronchitis every day of the year than live with a disease that does not allow you TO EXPEND ENERGY. But I don’t go there. I know one day I will have to contend with a cold on top of ME and, until that day comes, I am going to be very, very grateful that my lungs and nasal cavities are clear.

by

Update: Symptoms and Doctor Appointments

Where to start? I am so behind on chronicling my life. You’d think it would be a one-liner (“Stayed home this month again, felt crappy, tried to keep spirits up.”), but there are so many subtleties to symptoms that I keep meaning to mention and so many tiny tweaks to treatments. There are so many interesting articles and blog posts that I want to comment on here and so many reasons to be hopeful and frustrated at current medical endeavors. I’ve written 100 blogs in my head this year that I thought were important and interesting ~ maybe even entertaining ~ but they never made it to the page and I’ve forgotten much of what I wanted to say. So, today, just an update.

Symptoms

First, the good news: my throat hasn’t been very sore in a while (if I don’t talk too much); my pain (below the neck) is minimal (if I don’t move too much); my dizziness is better (if I don’t stand up too much); my mood is ok (if I don’t think too much); 🙂  Haha, writing that was actually cracking me up! But, seriously, the underlying perma-symptoms of ME are stable and predictable if I don’t change my life up too much: exhaustion, achiness, tremors, horrid skin, blurry vision, stiffness, and fluishness are all manageable and (my) normal. The reality is, I feel unwell all day every day. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m okay, I’m going to be fine and sometimes it makes me feel like I don’t want to die, I’m scared, I can’t do this anymore. My most pressing concerns lately have been, of course, the headache, terrible sleep, horrific bloating and constipation, and my free fall into less and less mobility and activity with higher and higher heart rate. Also, my brain torpor frightens me to the point that I can’t talk about it.

Thankfully, my brain pain train morphed from the high-speed TGV** to a kiddy carnival choo-choo. It still comes chugging through my skull in the afternoons and after I stare at a screen for too long, but, for the past 4 days or so, it is not torturing me. I stopped taking my Chinese herbs for a week; I don’t know if that is what caused or helped my headache, but I started them again yesterday (back down to 1/day) and we’ll see what happens.

3 weeks ago, in a place of desperation and panic about my disappearing sleep and unrelenting headache, I rummaged in my “Drugs I Don’t Take Drawer” and found gabapentin. The first night I took about 50mg (half a pill) and immediately my sleep was better. I still woke up a lot and it was unrefreshing as ever, but I slept for 8-9 hours rather than 6. That slice of heaven lasted a little over a week and now I’m back to the same terrible sleep, exacerbated by a very rare Seattle heat wave with no air conditioning. I added melatonin and went up to 150mg of gabapentin, but no relief (unless the gabapentin is the reason my headache is a better). I was prescribed trazodone for sleep, but haven’t gotten the nerve up to take it yet. I had planned to increase my dose of gabapentin first and then add doxylamine succinate and then swap the doxylamine for trazodone, if needed. Maybe I should just swap the gabapentin for trazodone since, just like last year, the gabapentin has caused awful constipation.

Let’s talk about that a bit. Within 48 hours of my first dose, things just stopped moving. It’s reached critical mass. I take a stool softener, I put soluble fiber in my tea, I drink raspberry leaf tea (thanks to a tip from Jess over at My Journey Thru ME, who wrote a great post on IBS), I take 400mg of magnesium before bed and I have been taking Miralax every single night. I’m still in bad shape, very uncomfortable, and worried that this is more dangerous than it would be in a healthy person because of my gut dysbiosis. The Good Doctor said, “You have to keep things moving because your bowels are in bad shape.” I think I’ll actually have to stop gabapentin to get back to normal.

My scariest symptom lately is my inability to do any activity without my heart rate skyrocketing. I’ve been sitting on the bathroom floor, washing my cpap equipment every week for the last 8 months. It’s never been an issue. Yesterday, my heart rate kept revving up to 110+ bpm while I sat in that same position, doing the same slow, careful scrubbing I’ve always done. This keeps happening. Taking pictures in the garden, reaching up to pick berries, talking a little too animatedly, putting sun cream on, adjusting a blanket, petting the dogs… Normally, if I were sitting down, these activities wouldn’t cause problems. Now, even sitting or lying, I feel that telltale sign (which initially registers as breathlessness, not as tachycardia), look at my HR monitor and am surprised every time: Oh, what was I thinking jiggling my foot while talking at the same time? How dare I wash my hands so vigorously. I should know better!

I can’t help thinking it is a direct result of deconditioning. It could be a direct result of illness ~ I know this is common is so many of us ~ but, the less I move, the less I’m able to move and that scares the shit out of me. So, every day I wonder: Should I push myself to “exercise” more so my body maintains some strength and life force? Or is that exactly what got me here and I should do less, less, less? This is one of the many contradictory evils of this disease: The less activity you are able to do, the more you panic and want to try doing more.

Medical professionals

I’ve had a some new appointments in the past few months:

1. An amazingly wonderful physical therapist whom I have been seeing each week. He is not really a PT; I don’t know the name for what he does. I lie on his plinth (I learned this name when I said to him, “That pain made me come off the bed. Sorry ~ ‘table’.” And he said, “Actually, ‘plinth’.”) and he finds the rotten-apple spots in my muscles and then eliminates them by restoring the circulation with magic fingers. I don’t have to move and there is very little energy expenditure (besides our tendency to talk nonstop about music, movies, books, and food. We never talk about my illness except for the initial update on my current problem areas. I probably chat more “normally” to him than anyone else in my life and always leave smiling ~ that, in itself, is worth every penny and drop of ATP). This treatment is the number one first time I have had a very obvious FIX to a problem. He worked on my lower spine pain and coccyx burning and, that evening, IT WAS GONE. And it stayed gone! He’s a magic man.

2. Stupidly, obtusely, naively, I went to see a cardiologist about my BP and HR issues, plus the fact that bowel rumbling triggers a sort of vasovagal heart flutter and lung tightening. I’m sure most of you people with ME know what’s coming. This doctor said, “I see a lot of you girls with low blood pressure and syncope problems and you all have one thing in common: low body weight. You need to gain some weight. Eat more protein and salt. I know everyone is concerned about being thin and looking good, but it’ll help. Start walking more and lifting 5 or 10lb weights and come back in 6 months.”

As carefully and stoically and graciously as I could, I said, “I am 5 foot tall. This is the heaviest I have been since college. [Here he interjected: “Right. And I bet you feel better.”] No, I don’t feel better, you moron. If I gain weight, it’ll just be fat because I can’t move very much. I don’t care what I look like because I’m just trying not to die I don’t ever get dressed or leave the house, you condescending bastard. I can’t imagine using 10lb weights because I wouldn’t be able to leave the bed for weeks can barely lift my arms, but I’ll try increasing my steps. See you never.” He’d be happy to know that I have since gained another 5lbs from the gabapentin and, shockingly, I don’t feel any different except I am even more uncomfortable in my body than I was last month (and, no, Dr. Iseealotofyougirls, I don’t mean uncomfortable with how I look, I mean it is not comfortable to lose most of your muscle tone and gain 12lbs of fat in its place!)

3. The saga of the oral appliance (OA) for sleep apnea. Here’s the wrap up: I saw the orthodontist in April, waited over a month before being told I had to see a sleep specialist again for insurance to approve the OA, and then waited over ANOTHER month before being called in to fit the OA (a 2 hour appointment!). I slept with it in for 5 hours and woke up in extreme pain. Yes, it had the obvious repercussions, such as temporarily changing my bite and making my TMJ sore, but the big problem was pain stabbing into my top and bottom right canines. It felt like they had been drilled into without anesthetic. So, back to the orthodontist for another fitting, which ended in a decision to send the appliance back to the lab for tweaking. Milo’s Law: if it can go wrong, it will go wrong for me. It’ll be another 3 weeks before it comes back from the lab.

4. On a good note, after I saw my GP, she sent me a letter saying she was shocked by my decline and panicked to find something to help me and sorry the medical community is failing me and honored that I allowed her to take this journey with me. I wish I could reprint the letter here because it could restore some faith in medical professionals, but I want to be respectful of her privacy. She is leaving for her annual 2-month break, but is seeing me next week on her last day and is willing to run some new tests (finally!). I’ve researched nonstop for the last month, trying to decide what tests to request, but I’ve ended up more confused than when I started. I need to email her tomorrow with my list. If anyone has any advice, please let me know. I can always talk to her about additional tests at the appointment. Here are my thoughts:

  • Mycoplasma tests
  • Cytokine profile
  • NK cell function test
  • Hormones (ACTH, LH, HGH, testosterone, insulin like growth factor(?))
  • RNase L Panel
  • Immunoglobulin
  • Lactic acid
  • folate
  • DHEA sulphate
  • Heavy metals
  • Amino Acid
  • IgG (?)
  • potassium, copper and …?

For disability (but really don’t want to do):

  • Neuropsychological Testing
  • VO2 Max (although it would be a 1-day stress test done by somebody who doesn’t know about ME)
  • tilt table test

 

Daily gratitude:
I am grateful for the few friends I have.
I am grateful for the few hours I sleep.
I am grateful for the little energy I have.
I am grateful for the still life I lead.

** I’m sure there are faster trains now, but, back in the 90s, I took the TGV all over Europe and its speed made a lasting impression. I still say “tay gjay vay”, pronouncing the letters in French, which is how I learned it.

by

All Aboard the Brain Pain Train!

It’s been about a month since I wrote a decent update. I’ve been trying to keep my readers entertained with short posts, NY Times articles, and reblogs of others’ writing because I have been in a sorry state ~ mostly because of crippling headaches. I think I’ve said it before: bad headaches are, to me, the number one most evil and debilitating symptom of this disease. I’ve written about them before here and here and here. Don’t get me wrong, PEM is by far the most disabling and cruel aspect of ME (I will write a rant about this one day), but, it is somewhat controllable… Muscle pain can be beyond everything you’ve ever imagined… I’m sure vertigo, if bad enough, would be as incapacitating as these headaches… The complete loss of life force when your mitochondria simply can’t keep up with the energy needs of your organs is more handicapping and terrifying… But, none of those, in my experience, blot out existence like the headaches.

Not only do the headaches affect me, but my family has to tip-toe around, talking softly, closing doors carefully, opening soda cans outside, watching tv with headphones, jumping up to distract the dogs when they bark. One of my neighbours had their hardwood floors sanded and varnished during the last few weeks and I stayed inside with doors and windows closed, griping about the fumes tearing at my brain. Another neighbour seems to have purchased the loudest weed-whacker available and insists on using it on the patch of grass closest to wherever I happen to be sitting, whether it’s in the front or the back of our garden. I texted my husband (who was nearby, but I can’t yell out with this headache and I always try not to get up needlessly because of ME): “There is a $100 bill in my bag. Please, please go give it to whathisname and bribe him to stop that noise. When I get better, I’ll do his yard work for the rest of my life. Can you die from noise?” My husband reminded me that we have the loudest dog on the planet and, so far, nobody has given us any grief. So, I kept the $100 (a birthday gift) and turned my attention to being grateful I don’t live next to the airport or a nightclub or a war.

headache

The headaches alternate between throbbing aches and all-encompassing migraines with blinding auras. They are always accompanied by extreme noise and light sensitivity and never able to be touched by medications. On a day like today, I am able to function, but, as the hours progress, I become more and more grumpy, silent, and still. My body tenses, brow furrows, and I stop being able to communicate. On middling days, I move very carefully, I can try to interact wearing earplugs and sunglasses, staying well away from phone and computer screens. And, on the worst days, I can’t leave bed, I can’t speak or see very well, I have ice packs on my neck and eyes, I pant, I sweat, I moan.

This current journey into headache hell started 22 days ago. The worst of it was a few weeks ago and caused me to stop taking all drugs and supplements in an effort to abort the pain. The multicolored, zigzag aura disappeared and the headache lifted enough to function, but, even today, it’s still a doozy. It is the first thing I noticed before opening my eyes this morning. Ugh, headache is still here.

I had quite a few theories. It started with my period, so I thought it was hormonal, but has continued too long. I started Nasonex about a week before the headache came, so I stopped that (and won’t try it again now that it is “tainted” in my mind), but I’m still suffering 2 weeks later. I thought it was from stopping Pantanase nasal spray after using it daily for a year, so I started that again. I thought it was from the new bottle of Chinese herbs (which looked and smelled vastly different from the previous bottle), but I stopped taking them for 4 days with no respite from the pain. I thought it was from overdoing it in general, so I rested a bit more ~ to no effect. I thought it was due to my chronically messed-up neck, so I used my traction device, my tens unit, tiger balm, hot pads, cold packs etc. Nothing. From sitting in the sun? No, it’s still here on cold days. From being on the computer? No, it’s still here on days that I’ve mostly avoided the computer. All the strawberries I’ve been eating lately? No, I haven’t eaten any in over a week. I refuse to believe there is no reason. I don’t want to take prophylactic migraine drugs. I just want it to go away. So I can continue to enjoy my exhausted, stiff, achy, fluey, brain-fog-filled summer days.

I have a lot of other stuff to report on, but it’ll have to wait. Apparently, it was far more important for me to get some company on this brain pain train. Thanks for joining me!

by

DO IT NOW.

This weekend I found out a friend of mine passed away. He was my age, I’d known him for almost 20 years. We met in college and then we both wound up living here, in Seattle, 2,000 miles from that campus. We’ve lived in the same neighbourhood for years, but managed never to see each other except through Facebook. I adored him. You know how you have that handful of friends that don’t know each other, but you know if you put them in the same room they would appreciate one another and you could just relax and enjoy watching connections being made? He was one of those friends. I assumed it was just a matter of time before we’d see each other and we would pick up where we left off with no problems. Through Facebook and random emails, I knew what was going on in his life and vice versa. I assumed one of these days life would calm down and we’d get together for a (fake) beer and a long catch up. Then maybe it would be a regular thing. Because he was someone with whom I could be completely comfortable… I think he’d like my husband… I’d probably love his wife…

We have no mutual friends so I have no one to talk to about this. I have been reeling for days from the news of his death and I am astonished by how shocked I am that we’ll never get to have that chat. What was I thinking the past ten years? Did I think everyone would be around forever? Did I really think I could have NO life outside of my job and classes, make no time for friends, and that everyone would be waiting when I was finally available? And did I really think that, without an M.E.-intervention, I would learn to curb my workaholism and find some way to make a comfortable living while simultaneously relaxing and enjoying downtime with loved ones? Yes, I did. I thought one day I would be less busy, less exhausted, less of a hermit and I would enjoy hiking in the mountains and lazy summer BBQs in my garden and shopping at the Sunday market and playing with friends’ kids and road trips down the coast and dinner parties with laughter and music.

This is what I want you all to hear, loud and clear: DO IT NOW. There is no better time. This is it. You may wake up tomorrow with a flu that never goes away. You may wake up tomorrow and someone is missing from your life permanently. I don’t mean this to sound sad or scary; I very much mean this as a celebration of life. This is a trumpet call, an alarm bell, a shaking of the shoulders, a cold bucket of water, LASIK surgery. I want to shout it from the rooftops: Wake up! Focus! Maybe you always wanted to take dance lessons or write a book or learn how to play the piano or visit Italy with your daughter or run a marathon or tell your Dad how much you love him or tell your college roommate what a lifeline she was or meet that old friend for a beer because he was one of the good ones and those connections are few and far between… DO IT NOW.

Maybe you’ll realise that taking these steps will enrich other people’s lives, too.

Live life now.

Love life now.