Hanging in there
Things have gotten better since Thursday.
Thursday was rough. Our water heater went out Wednesday night and I had an important customer meeting on Thursday. Thursday morning I woke up and my legs were really bad already. Usually they are a lot better in the morning. I knew I would have limited movement during the day. I went to the local hotel and paid 60 bucks for a shower. There was no way I could tolerate a cold shower. Last time I washed my hair in cold water I got a migraine. Cold shower was not an option.
So that went ok. I made it home and planned every move as I dressed to minimize how many steps I needed to take. I had the girls put things in my car and fetch things from the basement. I was able to rest a little before leaving the house... But then I got foot cramps before I had even made it to the stop sign on our block. Back home, took magnesium, rubbed my foot. I thought the cramps alone might sink the day. But it was ok.
I got to work. I had my right hand guy set up the conference room. The customer arrived and the meeting went well. It was so hard to walk by the end of the day... But I made it. And then I worked from home on Friday.
I am changing my medications. I am getting off the anti-thyroid medicine. What I thought was full blown graves was not. I am using Bugleweed to block the antibodies to my thyroid which may also help my eyes. I am tapering again on the prednisone and hoping the Bugleweed will protect my eyes. The prednisone is hell on my body. I need to get off it. My FM Doctor is recommending even higher doses of fish oil as anti-infamatory treatment. I'm also taking large doses Vitamin D since my levels were super abnormally low and this contributes to autoimmune disease. And about 10 other supplements!
My functional medicine doctor has ordered genetic tests for me. This will help identify why I am having all these autoimmune issues. It may also help identify if and what kind of neurological/autoimmune disease I have. I am really impressed with my functional medicine Doctor. This isn't just about herbs and roots. He orders blood tests and we fix imbalances and deficiencies. The blood tests will also help diagnose the other autoimmune disease I have. Is it Lupus or Sjogrens? I feel like this guy is saving my life. I am beginning to feel a stong emotional attachment to him because he is a lifeline. I know this can be a normal thing for a patient and I'm trying to keep this emotion in check.
Something has fundamentally changed in my body for the better. My resting heart rate is almost back up to normal so I think the T3 conversion issue may be taken care of. Whatever pathway wasn't working may be back online now.
So now I just need to taper the prednisone and see what happens to my eyes. I have an ultrasound this week to see how much my muscles have enlarged. My eyelids still close so that's good. When the disease is really active they twitch and pull and they don't want to close as much. So I stretch them and that helps.
Does it sound like my life revolves around my disease? Right now it does. It makes me boring and uninteresting. But I will get through this and get back to normal sometime.
Thursday was rough. Our water heater went out Wednesday night and I had an important customer meeting on Thursday. Thursday morning I woke up and my legs were really bad already. Usually they are a lot better in the morning. I knew I would have limited movement during the day. I went to the local hotel and paid 60 bucks for a shower. There was no way I could tolerate a cold shower. Last time I washed my hair in cold water I got a migraine. Cold shower was not an option.
So that went ok. I made it home and planned every move as I dressed to minimize how many steps I needed to take. I had the girls put things in my car and fetch things from the basement. I was able to rest a little before leaving the house... But then I got foot cramps before I had even made it to the stop sign on our block. Back home, took magnesium, rubbed my foot. I thought the cramps alone might sink the day. But it was ok.
I got to work. I had my right hand guy set up the conference room. The customer arrived and the meeting went well. It was so hard to walk by the end of the day... But I made it. And then I worked from home on Friday.
I am changing my medications. I am getting off the anti-thyroid medicine. What I thought was full blown graves was not. I am using Bugleweed to block the antibodies to my thyroid which may also help my eyes. I am tapering again on the prednisone and hoping the Bugleweed will protect my eyes. The prednisone is hell on my body. I need to get off it. My FM Doctor is recommending even higher doses of fish oil as anti-infamatory treatment. I'm also taking large doses Vitamin D since my levels were super abnormally low and this contributes to autoimmune disease. And about 10 other supplements!
My functional medicine doctor has ordered genetic tests for me. This will help identify why I am having all these autoimmune issues. It may also help identify if and what kind of neurological/autoimmune disease I have. I am really impressed with my functional medicine Doctor. This isn't just about herbs and roots. He orders blood tests and we fix imbalances and deficiencies. The blood tests will also help diagnose the other autoimmune disease I have. Is it Lupus or Sjogrens? I feel like this guy is saving my life. I am beginning to feel a stong emotional attachment to him because he is a lifeline. I know this can be a normal thing for a patient and I'm trying to keep this emotion in check.
Something has fundamentally changed in my body for the better. My resting heart rate is almost back up to normal so I think the T3 conversion issue may be taken care of. Whatever pathway wasn't working may be back online now.
So now I just need to taper the prednisone and see what happens to my eyes. I have an ultrasound this week to see how much my muscles have enlarged. My eyelids still close so that's good. When the disease is really active they twitch and pull and they don't want to close as much. So I stretch them and that helps.
Does it sound like my life revolves around my disease? Right now it does. It makes me boring and uninteresting. But I will get through this and get back to normal sometime.