Hello!
Hope you’ve managed to stay well this week with the crazy temperatures we’ve been having here in the UK. I was somewhat coping until yesterday, when my body decided it couldn’t cope anymore. I felt drained and fatigued, I ended up sleeping a lot of yesterday afternoon. Today, I’m still feeling pretty drained, and honestly, I could go back to bed.
Thankfully, it is cooler today!
My Trip
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve come on here and talked. Since we last spoke, I’ve had an incredible road trip around the Pyrenees in the campervan. I biked part of this year’s Tour de France route from Gerdre to Gavarnie in the French Pyrenees (on an e-bike). I enjoyed some beautiful walks in France, Spain, and Andorra. I nearly heart attack on a chair lift (not a fan of being hung by a wire so many metres above the ground). Oh, and I enjoyed such a lovely spa day in Andorra.
Healthwise, the wolf behaved really well on the trip, which I couldn’t be happier about. I was well to do everything I had planned. I did struggle a bit on some of the walks when I decided to leave my walking poles in the van, with fatigue and weakness in my legs. But that was my own fault for thinking I would be ok without my poles. And I coped pretty well in the sun and in the heat, well, kind of. By the second week of the holiday, my arms and legs were covered in rashes, and I came home straight into some kind of lupus flare, which I will talk more about shortly.
But first, here’s a little photo dump of some my best memories from the trip:
Since I’ve been back, things haven’t been great! I came home and went straight into a flare-up, and developed a sinus infection on top. It’s been a rough couple of weeks!
I’m not sure what the main trigger was. At first I thought it must of been the sun. But the more I thought about it, I think it was just a combination of things.
Halfway through the trip, I noticed rashes starting to appear on my arms and thighs. This, I know was definitely caused by the sun, but at this point, I still felt fine. I then went on developing a bit of poorly stomach. I get this often when I’m travelling. Sometimes it’s the change of food that triggers it, or just the heat.
We Need Aircon!
Then on the travel days through France to get back up to Calais from the Pyrenees, they were long and roasting. Our van has no air conditioning. Temperatures inside while driving were getting well into the 30s. We had the blowers on full, which then dried my sinuses out and triggered them to become inflamed. I was struggling to keep cool at times, which was also making me feel unwell.
By the time I got home, I was not feeling well. I was so fatigued, my sinuses were sore, my stomach was upset, my joints were sore, and I just felt generally unwell.
And two weeks on, my sinus infection has cleared, thanks to my antibiotics. Stomach is now a lot better too. However, I’m still not feeling 100%. I was really improving, but the high temperatures we’ve had the last couple of days have really knocked me back and left me struggling a lot with fatigue again.
I honestly feel like the heat is worse for me than the actual sun!
That’s it from me this week. Hopefully, next time we speak, I’ll be back to my strong self again like I was before my trip. I was having such a good, strong spell, and I soooo despersatly want that back.
Until next time,
Goodbye for now.
Emma
xox
If you would like to be notified each week when my blog goes live, straight to your inbox, please subscribe here:
(don’t forget to check your junkbox for the confirmation e-mail!)
My book, How I Tamed the Wolf, Living with Lupus is available on Amazon via this link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09M73X2JQ/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_MWAF58981F0VVMNRV1WN
Want to catch up on my previous blogs, head to: My Weekly Lupus Diary
