This weather has been absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Nothing worse than not being able to get out hiking when the sun is shining. But I know I’ve made the right decision this weekend!
All week I’ve been battling a painful flare-up with the wolf. It all started last Sunday when I overdid things. I knew at the time, it was not good, but I carried on pushing through the pain. I knew I was going to end up paying for it. Sadly, I was not wrong!
My Body Was Already In A Fragile State
My body was already in one fragile state. Fighting shingles, low iron levels, and stopping my Methotrexate, my body was already going through a lot of stress. If my body was in a stronger state, Sunday would have been fine. But because my body wasn’t, it was enough to tip it over the edge into a flare-up. A flare-up that has caused a week’s worth of pain in my whole body.
I’ve lived off so much codeine and caffeine this week, just to get me through each day. Not only that, I’ve had to increase my steroid dose from 7mg to 20mg. This something I really didn’t want to do but was left with no choice when my Lupus started to attack my eye again. I’m just hoping this flare-up hasn’t caused any more lasting damage to my eyes.
I’m 100% sure exactly what goes on with my eyes. It’s something along the lines, of lupus attacking the muscles in my eye and causing it to become weaker. Because the muscles are weaker in one of my eyes, it responds slower to the other eye, so they don’t work together. This then causes double vision to happen and hence shy I have prisms in my glasses. I think it’s just one eye it’s happening in. I’ve only got prisms on one lens and it’s only one eye I can feel my lupus is attacking.
My Rashes
So since I’ve had to increase my steroids, my rashes are now clearing up. Something I didn’t want to happen. I talked about it last week, as I tried increasing my steroid dose last week, but stopped after 2 days. I’m supposed to be having a skin biopsy on my face, to see what the rashes are. Well, that’s not going to happen at the minute, now they’re clearing up! But it’s ok, once I’ve reduced my steroids back to my normal dose and show my face to some UV rays, they will be back in no time!
My Stomach
My stomach has been so irritated this week. I mean, I’m not surprised with all the extra tablets I’ve been gulping down into my stomach. Luckily, I still had some Ranitidine in from last year. It’s really helping to heal my stomach. It’s great stuff! Not sure if you can still get it as I remember last year they had trouble getting me it. My Gastro consultant is looking at upping my Esomprezole from 20mg to 40mg, twice a day when I see her next, to help my stomach out. But I’m a bit worried about doing this, as it might stop me from absorbing as many nutrients. I already struggle as it is.
Shingles
I cannot wait till the day this has gone! Pain in a flare-up with lupus can be controlled with codeine. Pain with shingles, I have nothing. Both codeine and paracetamol do not seem to touch it. It constantly feels like my shoulder is burning. It reminds me of the days when I got 2nd degree burns all over my hands in Scotland after taking Doxycycline and going out in the sun. I remember putting my hands under hot water to wash the pots. The burning pain that caused, is like the pain I have now with my shingles. I want to put ice on it, but at the same time, I don’t dare touch it. The feeling of clothes rubbing against it is horrible. At night, I can’t lie on my back and the pain keeps me awake. It’s awful! It doesn’t feel like it’s improving.
I think I’m going to have to go get it checked out by the doctor next week. Check if it is healing correctly, and maybe see if they can give me something for the pain. I think it is healing ok, just slowly because I’m immunosuppressed. But I don’t know. I don’t have much experience with shingles.
The pain is getting me down. Nothing is worse than being in constant pain all day. I keep putting it off thinking, no it’s just pain, I can deal with it. I always think, the more pain you let yourself be in, the better your pain intolerance will be. I’m not really sure how true that is?
Anyways, that’s it from me this week. Hopefully, a better week next week. Got bloods next week. I’m hoping my iron levels have increased to a more healthier range. My left kidney has been a bit sore the last few days and my pee has been smelling not right. I’m hoping I don’t have another UTI. Quite often when my body has been through a lot of unwanted trauma, I seem to get a UTI. Not really sure why, but just seems to be the case.
Until next week,
Goodbye for now
Emma
xox
