I cannot believe it’s Sunday again! Where do these weeks go?
It’s been an odd week this week. Not the best of weeks, but trying to keep positive. From dealing with a heatwave to stress to finding out I’m allergic to another one of my houseplants.
My Fern
It all started last weekend when I decided to bring my Fern into my house from my greenhouse. I brought this Fern back in early spring. Shortly after buying it, I read about how they are not good for allergy sufferers. So I decided to put it in a room I didn’t spend much time in, just in case, I was allergic to it. I then almost killed it, so decided to take it into my greenhouse for summer, to attempt to bring it back to life, which I did nicely. Last weekend, I decided to bring it back into my house and placed it on a shelf in my kitchen. I knew there was a chance I could be allergic to it, but I thought there’s only one way to find out.
As the week went on, my sinuses became more and more congested and more and more painful. I had completely forgotten about this Fern in my kitchen. I know I am allergic to Silver Birch and there’s one at work I sit near at lunch. Quite often if the windows are open, it has an effect on my sinuses, some days worse than others. This week my sinuses were a lot worse. I just thought maybe because of the heat and the sun, the tree was having a bigger effect on me.
By Friday afternoon, I was in a lot of pain with my sinuses. It had got to a point where no painkiller was helping. At work, I wear an FFP3 mask. They are the worse things to wear when you have sinus pain. The mask presses right on top of your sore sinuses.
That evening, I inhaled lots of steam, washed them out with a sinus rinse. It just felt as though I had an elephant sat on my face consistently. I haven’t been in this much pain with my sinuses for so long!
On Saturday morning, I woke up in pain. I thought to myself, something isn’t right, something is really affecting my sinuses, and it’s not the tree at work. Unless someone has gone and planted it in my house! It had to be something in the house that was making my sinuses become and more inflamed. Something I was exposing myself to every day. It was then I remembered about that Fern. So that was it, off it went back out in my greenhouse!
I spent yesterday inhaling steam all day long to try and reduce the inflammation. Today, they don’t feel any better. I’m not sure if they are infected. They hurt like they are. I just really hope not, as I really don’t want to have to go on antibiotics. Going to spend another day inhaling steam to try and get the inflammation down. Just hoping it works!
Lupus Flare
If suffering with my sinuses wasn’t enough, I was hit hard by the wolf on Thursday morning. The sun and heat often have an effect on the wolf. Often leave my illness flaring up. But this Thursday, he completely wiped me off my feet. I couldn’t do anything. I was so weak, I could hardly stand up. It was so weird! Considering I hadn’t really spent much time in the sun, other than walking to work and to the doctors. I know the heat definitely will have had an impact on my illness and I’ve also been under a bit of stress recently, so I guess that wouldn’t have helped either. It was just a rather odd flare-up!
On Wednesday, I wasn’t feeling great so I just rested. But nothing out of the ordinary. Thursday, completed defeated by the wolf. Then on Friday, I woke up feeling absolutely fine, other than my sinus trouble. It was like Thursday never happened! Never had it like that before! I mean, I’m not complaining. It would be great if all my flare-ups lasted that quickly. Just rather odd!
Why The Wolf Doesn’t Like The Sun
As I’m somebody who likes answers to everything. I decided to do some research into why my body just can’t deal with the sun and why it always makes me feel unwell. Basically, UV rays kill off cells in our bodies. In a healthy body, the immune system will get rid of the dead cells. In a body of a Lupus patient, the dead cells will trigger an immune reaction. But the problem is, it can’t tell the difference between the good and the bad cells. So instead of getting rid of the dead cells, like it’s supposed to, it just attacks anything it wants. So this is why I always end up feeling pretty rubbish! It all makes sense now!
My Raynauds
My Raynaud’s isn’t great at the minute. Any cuts I seem to get at the minute turns into an ucler. Then on Tuesday, I was walking home from work as I do. I noticed how cold and painful my hands were. Now for anyone who may be reading this from a different country, we’ve had a heatwave this week in England. That Tuesday night when I was working home from work at 4 pm, it was 26 degrees outside. This is a hot day in Britain! It doesn’t get much hotter than this! Absolutely crazy!
Anyways, that’s it from me this week. It’s been one weird week. We head to Scotland at the end of next week to celebrate Alex’s big 30. I cannot wait! Let’s hope I have another good trip like I did last time I was there. It’s normally colder and less sunny, so hopefully, I should be ok. Oh, and I won’t be packing any house plants with me either!
Until next week,
Stay safe
Goodbye for now
Emma
xox
