Hello!
It’s been a while! I have sooooo much to tell you, but I will try and keep it short and sweet.
I think the last we spoke was August, in the middle of my kitchen renovation. Good news: my kitchen is done and I love it. We just now have the dinning room side to do, as it’s all one big open plan. But that’s a job for the new year!
We then headed away for my birthday for the night in Manchester. We stayed in a lovely spa hotel and spent my birthday morning relaxing, followed by an afternoon of shopping.
We then went away to Latvia in September for a few days to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We did a lovely sunset cruise in Riga, and just had a lovely day exploring Riga Old Town. We then did a bit of road tripping outside of Riga, seeing a bit more of Latvia.
Our Big Trip
Since we’ve been home, we’ve been preparing for our big trip. Next week we fly out to Istanbul, then on to Mongolia, followed by South Korea, and ending the trip in Taiwan. We’re on the road for almost a month!
We are both sooooo excited!
But it’s been a busy few weeks planning everything. With 12-plus hotels, 6 flights, and 4 brand-new countries to us, a lot of planning was needed. We’ve had to get two different International Driving Licences, I’ve had to check customs laws in every country for my medication and what documents are needed. We’ve had to book things we’ve wanted to do in advance, like the Sky Capsule in Busan. And the list goes on.
One worry I do have though, is that I cannot take my Belimumab injections with me. I spoke to my specialist nurse, and I’ve been advised to leave it at home, as it is a fridge item, and I’m not able to keep it at a stable temperature. Instead, I’m carrying extra steroids. If my illness starts to flare, I have been advised to double my dose. She’s also arranged to see me straight after my trip to see how I am, which is nice.
On top of that, my doctors have prescribed me a course of antibiotics to take with me, in case of an infection while I’m travelling. Hopefully, I won’t need them, but it’s a bit of peace of mind. Trying to get medical help while travelling is never fun!
Low Iron
But as always, while I’ve been having fun getting away exploring, the wolf has kept me on my toes!
Throughout the summer, I noticed my energy levels were decreasing. Day by day, I was feeling more and more drained. My weekly bike adventures stopped, despite the weather being so nice. I wanted to go to bed earlier and earlier each night.
At first, I thought it was all the kitchen renovations draining me. Having to cook my meals on the living room, and wash the pots in the bath.
By My Birthday, I Was Feeling Drained
By the time my birthday arrived, I said I needed to get away. I was feeling so exhausted. I thought all the kitchen renovations had mentally and physically exhausted me. So Tuesday morning we booked a hotel for that night.
It was a lovely 24-hour getaway, but I still felt pretty exhausted. So I spoke to doctors and asked if they could check my ferritin levels on my next lot of bloods. I knew at this point it must be my iron levels.
My levels haven’t been checked since about this time last year, when my stores were low. But as I was on iron tablets, I wasn’t too worried about getting them checked. I thought my levels would be increasing.
I Was Wrong!
However, they haven’t! Instead, they have dropped further by quite a bit. So now my tablets have changed from Ferrous Fumarate to Ferrograd, to a stronger dose of iron. I’ve also got to take them on an empty stomach, away from my PPIs, coffee, calcium, and magnesium, to help to get a better absorption.
After completely burning out, I’m now just over two weeks in, and I am starting to feel like I have the energy to get through the day. I’m starting to feel a lot more like my normal self, which makes me happy! I have energy to get up in the morning and get through the day. The brain fog it was causing has more or less gone. The anxiety and low mood it was causing has almost gone. And on top of that, this is the first time in weeks that I’ve had the energy to sit down and write this blog.
I hope this means I am absorbing the iron, and my levels are slowly starting to improve. My ferritin levels are getting rechecked in 3 months’ time. Let’s hope it’s good news!
Iron Dificency
I have lived with an iron deficiency for many years now. I always feel the same when they drop too low. It’s a battle I never seem to win. It’s awful; I hate it. But normally, when I take the iron tablets, I get my ferritin stores up; it’s only when I stop taking the tablets my levels drop back down. This time, they’ve continued to drop despite taking the tablets.
In Other News
I had both my Covid and Flu vaccines last week. As always, the 2nd day I was wiped out. Everytime I have that Covid jab!
That’s it from me this week. I’ll be back after my travels, with no doubt a lot to tell you about!
One thing before I go, something I’ve made sure I’ve packed for my trip….
You probably heard me talking about this before. But incase you’re new here, or have forgotten, this spray for a dry nose is soooo good if you suffer with dry sinuses/have Sjogren’s disease. I suffer a lot with dry sinuses and used to get frequent sinus infections. I’ve now been using this for just over 3 years, and I’ve only had one sinus infection, and that was when I stopped using it.
It’s also great for when you’re spending a lot of time on a plane. The plane air is a nightmare for drying out your sinuses.
Here’s the link: https://link.amazon/B0aeLxptr
Until next time,
Goodbye for now
Emma
xox
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