Gastric flu

I am now over the worse of gastric flu.

It knocked me for six, I started feeling a bit of on Wednesday but thought it was the chip shop food I had eaten as I am now not used to such greasy and huge positions of food.

Friday night saw me being constantly sick, I had sweats, shakes, massive temperature and felt in a lot of pain. I spent Saturday and Sunday being sick, I couldn’t even hold water down. I was bringing my meds back up which caused my pain and conditions symptoms to rev up. I felt better by Sunday night, my sickness calmed down and I managed to drink a cup of tea without feeling my body rejecting it. Ohhh that cup of tea, ’twas like drinking paradise! 😉

While I still feel sick, shaky and weak I am much better, touchwood! My sister was also unwell, and seeing as we hadn’t been in contact I guessed it was a bug going around. I’ve been warned that any bug or illness going around impacts on you much more when you have chronic conditions and I certainly believe it now!
But there’s always a silver lining, not being able to eat for days has caused some more weight loss. I’m happy about that! The bug wasn’t worth the rapid loss but hey, at least I got something from it 🙂

My Mum is due to visit me today which will be nice. She’s been rather unwell herself recently, getting adjusted to her rheumatoid treatment and symptoms. We chat at least twice a day though, and do have a close relationship. It’s become even more so since she’s become unwell, we both have similar joint problems and can completely understand what the other is feeling and going through.
She’s had to give up work because of it which is difficult for her as she’s always been pretty independent. She’s keeping as active as possible though and there has been some improvement in here hands becoming less swollen which is great.
We will gossip and drink tea today, and I guarentee she will bring some kind of food to eat! Bang goes my weight loss.. 😉

I also have a phone appointment with my doctor today when I plan to talk about a few things. One is what I can do about the muscle swelling my blood tests showed are still off the charts. I want to discuss what I can do to try and help this. I have tried all the different natural foods to help it but to no avail. My thinking is the swelling must be causing me and my body a lot more pain and symptom escalation than normal. I can’t take ibobrufen or aspirin as I react badly to them but there must be something I can do. She’s usually pretty good so hopefully she can come up with a helpful solution 🙂

Huggy huggy

The joy of rib and upper body squeezing is back. Feeling as though I am in a constant bear hug and my breathing feels restricted. There is

no point in phoning the doctor for help, they have no idea what it is and are waiting for all my tests to be done and my results to come through before they can do anymore. I completely understand this, and have agreed no furthur action can be made until all the facts are known. Plus the word MS will be thrown about again, the hug being an MS hug, and yes if I do have it then I will deal with it but I am not going to get into a tizz about anything or any name until I know the truth. As I said to my partner, I think the real problem is my brain has become so big through all of my intelligence that there’s no room left in my skull to keep it in. So my brain is bruised due to the pressure.. I am sure that is where the problem lies… 😉

My mobile phone is nearly at the end of it’s life which is both sad and annoying at the same time. Sad because I will miss it in a funny sort of way, it is so easy to use, and has so many pictures etc on it I need to get them off before it totally dies. Annoying because it is constantly turning itself off, not charging or texting or calling properly anymore. I have placed an order for a new one, my first ever contract phone as I have always used pay as go due to my sim deal being so great. But alas I cannot afford to buy a new phone at the moment so I opted to go on a contract one as the phone is free. I need a mobile to be able to phone/text people when I am unwell, or at hospital/appointments. To keep in contact with my nearest and dearest so in a way it has become a necessity for me, a thought which I am not keen on but know it’s true so I may as well just admit it to myself and move on with my new mobile and the relief I can contact someone if I am unwell.

What with my huggy pain, body pain and neck seize which started coming on last night and has decided to show itself too and is slowly working its way across my shoulders I think today is going to be a long one. Thankfully my neuro aspects have calmed down in the last few week and my ‘fits’ are only four times a day now and my headaches not so constant. This is a huge improvement, and if it wasn’t for the pain I would be able to walk a lil better as my legs are not cramping as much. 

I know from past experience my body will eventually calm down and not be as bad as it is at the moment. At least these days I know so much more about how my body is, how to help it and know the signs. Not like when I first became unwell, I used to worry about everything that was going on and I had no idea how to help myself. That was a bad time, because instead of pacing myself and resting up I used to try to push through it then spend the next week in agony, laid in bed with only codeine and paracetamol to help. I had no idea what was wrong with me and as the symptoms escalated so did my confusion and sleepless nights trying to figure out what was wrong. Those days are long gone thankfully and I now know exactly what to do when my weird and wonderful symptoms rear their terribly ugly heads. How the pain is going to spread and to where, to completely rest when my legs are spasming and not try to walk around on legs that will simply not work. Knowing helps so much, not just me but the people around me. If I say today is a bad day, or my neck is seizing they know it’s all just part of my conditions and don’t worry so much. That to me is the most important thing of all, not worrying or making things worse for other people. The knowledge helps them to deal with it in their own way and not be scared by it.

It’s strange how illness can come into your life and you eventually accept it, just plodding along and dealing with it as you do everything else. It becomes part of you, part of not only your life but others. And the word ‘part’ is the key word, I no longer let my conditions rule my life or anyone elses. Yes, they control my body and now even mind, but I won’t let it become me, the only thing about me and my life. I will work with it, live with it, accept it but will not let it be my main 24/7 thought, I still have a life, reasons to wake up in the morning, to be thankful I wake,appreciate the life around me and look forward to the day ahead. Even if it is one of huggy, pain, seizing, I am still here, still alive, and that is the main thing, until I no longer breathe I aim to enjoy life as much as possible and be thankful that I am still part of it regardless of my conditions.