As some people have asked....
So, here’s what’s been going on with my health - as a few people have asked.
Starting at the beginning of the year, I began getting aches and pains in joints. This got progressively worse and worse to the point where I was in such pain that it I was unable to function at all -walking, doing things with my hands - often not an option. On occasion the pain was so bad that thinking was often off the cards as well (think of how much a broken limb hurts and treble it). No painkillers - including morphine, naproxen, tramadol or dihydrocodine would touch it. Not cool.
After a few attempts at a diagnosis over several months, we have a winner - a rare immune system disorder called Hench Rosenberg Syndrome.
As an aside, at this point, I wanted to say that the treatment and professionalism that I received at the NHS Treatment Centre as Queens Med was phenomenal.
In the short term I was given steroids and pain killers, until the real drug kicked in. I’m still taking steroids, although in a much lower dose. I’ve put on some weight from these, but nothing too alarming. I’ve been taking Methotrexate for five months now. It’s an immuno-suppressant, which had done wonders in the last couple of months in keeping the HRS under control. Flare ups are much rarer, last less long, and hurt much, much less.
There are, unfortunately, side effects of taking such a strong drug. I have blood tests every four weeks - and after the first few months, things seem to have settled down with my blood work. I was, for the first couple of months on MTX, very sick indeed. After that, the side effects settled down pretty well. In the last month of so I’ve started having other issues. The MTX makes me very tired a lot of the time. I can normally Red Bull my way through it, but when it gets bad, I get sleepy, grumpy and emotional, and just have to stop what I’m doing. At this point, my amazing wife (still a novel phrase after 5 weeks) is more help than she gives herself credit.
Of late, it’s also started to affect my eyesight. This is pretty depressing, I confess - focussing on objects can be tough, with almost a feeling of being cross eyed when trying to do so. This is caused by exhaustion of the eye muscles (the ones that do the pointing, rather than the ones that do the focussing), and is a known side effect.
Interestingly, I’m pretty nervous about the Viper event, and I’m doubting whether I should attempt it at all, as running these is very hard work both physically and emotionally. I honestly don’t know how much I have in me for the event, but I’ll do my best, and make a decision as to whether I am capable of staying on plot after the event.
Other than all of that, I'm happy as hell, love my life, and feel blessed to have an awesome wife, great friends and family, and two amazing gaming consoles.
Starting at the beginning of the year, I began getting aches and pains in joints. This got progressively worse and worse to the point where I was in such pain that it I was unable to function at all -walking, doing things with my hands - often not an option. On occasion the pain was so bad that thinking was often off the cards as well (think of how much a broken limb hurts and treble it). No painkillers - including morphine, naproxen, tramadol or dihydrocodine would touch it. Not cool.
After a few attempts at a diagnosis over several months, we have a winner - a rare immune system disorder called Hench Rosenberg Syndrome.
As an aside, at this point, I wanted to say that the treatment and professionalism that I received at the NHS Treatment Centre as Queens Med was phenomenal.
In the short term I was given steroids and pain killers, until the real drug kicked in. I’m still taking steroids, although in a much lower dose. I’ve put on some weight from these, but nothing too alarming. I’ve been taking Methotrexate for five months now. It’s an immuno-suppressant, which had done wonders in the last couple of months in keeping the HRS under control. Flare ups are much rarer, last less long, and hurt much, much less.
There are, unfortunately, side effects of taking such a strong drug. I have blood tests every four weeks - and after the first few months, things seem to have settled down with my blood work. I was, for the first couple of months on MTX, very sick indeed. After that, the side effects settled down pretty well. In the last month of so I’ve started having other issues. The MTX makes me very tired a lot of the time. I can normally Red Bull my way through it, but when it gets bad, I get sleepy, grumpy and emotional, and just have to stop what I’m doing. At this point, my amazing wife (still a novel phrase after 5 weeks) is more help than she gives herself credit.
Of late, it’s also started to affect my eyesight. This is pretty depressing, I confess - focussing on objects can be tough, with almost a feeling of being cross eyed when trying to do so. This is caused by exhaustion of the eye muscles (the ones that do the pointing, rather than the ones that do the focussing), and is a known side effect.
Interestingly, I’m pretty nervous about the Viper event, and I’m doubting whether I should attempt it at all, as running these is very hard work both physically and emotionally. I honestly don’t know how much I have in me for the event, but I’ll do my best, and make a decision as to whether I am capable of staying on plot after the event.
Other than all of that, I'm happy as hell, love my life, and feel blessed to have an awesome wife, great friends and family, and two amazing gaming consoles.