It never fails the way that spring comes along with beautiful flowers blooming, the sun shining, and me laying in bed in pain. There are numerous studies out there that say that autoimmune disorders tend to flare at the change of seasons, but no one can ever tell you why.
I'd love to be positive and cheery, but the truth is that I got so exhausted trying to get ready this morning that I wound up taking a two hour nap and missing the appointment I was getting ready for. When you are dealing with pain like that it is hard to search for the answers to why you're hurting even though you desperately want them.
I trust my doctors and my advisers to tell me what is best for me, but sometimes it's just a matter of me figuring out for myself what is causing all the pain and fatigue. I'd love to tell you that I've had a great epiphany and discovered the reason, but the only thing I've been told is that it is the change of season.
We had our first day of spring last week, while here in Oregon that just meant more rain, in other places it means a big drop in barometer pressure and temperatures rising and the sun coming out more often. We're all aware that barometer changes can affect autoimmune disorders, but it still doesn't make it any easier now does it?
I have spent the last week in bed fighting fatigue and fevers with no explanation. My joints are swollen and aching so that every movement makes me want to cry in pain. The best explanation they have is that it's because the seasons are changing? Not good enough. Not good enough for me or all the other people out there like me who need better answers. Maybe someday we will get enough funding for research that we can actually discover things like what causes Lupus and how we can treat it, but until that day, I am going to continue to fight back and raise as much money and awareness as I can so someday I don't have to lay here and wonder why I am in so much pain.
I truly hope that your seasons change was better than mine and that this posting will find you in good health and you are pain free. Hang in there, we'll figure it out someday!!
"We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the course of history."
~Sonia Johnson
3 comments:
girl, i can't say i feel your pain, but I sure was feeling something awfully similar for the very same reasons. Makes me want to live in a mono-climate! Lord, let me win the lotto and move to Hawaii! :)
I had such a migraine last week, and it was totally barometric pressure doing it.
As to Spring, I think allergies plays into the autoimmune thing. And cold, wind, and damp do me no favors, which aren't too hard to imagine.
but why the barometric pressure affects us, that one's a mystery to me.
Hope you're feeling better soon.
Molly, I feel your pain. I live in the south and the sunlight has caused me to break out in hives and walk around with the weird mask. I told somebody I was allergic to the sun and they looked at me like I was crazy. Today I feel like you do---sick in bed.
You are right. Something has to be done to get information out about this. I can't believe we are living like this and it takes us years to get a diagnosis and when we do----well, good luck. You get to take the plaquenil, the pred and hope for the best.
Other diseases are so much more well known. People don't know what I'm talking about if I say "lupus". Look how much the fibromyalgia groups have done. they have suppport groups everywhere and I know some who got disability easily. People need to know what this is and what it does, and there should be some way to help us handle this besides some really old drug that basically makes your body think it has malaria so it will fight that instead.
I read a statistic that one in ten or 11 people will get an autoimmune disorder. They are exploding.
I'm with you... I hate Spring...hate hate hate...for 15 years now spring comes and the fog rolls in...my brain and my body get stupid and tired..it's like a light switch shut me off sometimes for a few weeks some years for a couple of months.
I moved from Detroit to Cancun 11 yaers ago...loved the tropics and life without snow...and i can sit behind a computer and work anywhere!...however spring follows you around the world...you can't hide from it...hits me a little later here but it still arrives....goes from hot to real hot...instead of cool to warm...the amonut of change dosn't seem to matter it's just the change.
I have a "Spring Survival" kit...I stock plenty of good books on my kindle, send my Chef husband to our restaurant to work on all those projects he has been putting off(in the spring he knows i will never complain that he's at work too much or ask when he is coming home...someone got to be productive because i sure as hell won't be!!), I stock up on my supply of Ginkgo...i'm a Springtime Ginko Junkie(a couple of hits kicks my brain fog a little), I make no promises or plans to or with anyone because who needs the guilt of letting people down... I go to Costco and buy Cat Food, Toliet Paper, Milk and Coffee in bulk so the cats and i have the really important stuff stocked (hubby can fin for himself)and lastly I buy a nice new set of 500 thread count sheets because whenn your laying in bed feeling like shit a nice set silky sheets makes it feel a little better...
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