Post Christmas Poor Health... As Expected
I have been very fortunate this Christmas season! We have had an exceptionally busy, hectic and exhausting December and, for the most part, my health held up surprisingly well. Now, however, we are a few days past Christmas and my health has crashed... and it has crashed spectacularly.
I had a few bouts with anaphylaxis causing dizziness, palpitations, tachycardia, and breathing difficulties which all leads to exhaustion. Whenever my heart responds to anaphylaxis, my heart-rate jumps to the 120-180 beats per minute range and it can stay there for an hour or two. Having your heart-rate at this chest pounding level is similar to running for a couple of hours... or playing a basketball game for a couple of hours... or any other strenuous activity for hours. I am left feeling exhausted and my entire body aches for days.
The degranulation of mast cells which caused this anaphylaxia also causes nerve irritation and inflammation. Needless to say, in addition to the overwhelming fatigue, all my joints and bones ache and swell. Everything hurts. Walking across a room hurts... sitting hurts... trying to twist open a jar of sauce is excruciating.
When these overactive mast cells degranulate, in addition to all the direct symptoms from each of the mediators released into my body, my body also tries to flush these things out. This flushing can be in the form of diarrhea and peeing every ten minutes for hours upon hours... it can include nausea, stomach cramping and vomiting as well. This combination is always tons of fun. Believe it or not, this is all 'normal' for me. Anyway, this time around I only had to deal with the first two things every ten minutes for about six hours. That alone is exhausting.
Sometimes, my mast cells seem to attack an area of my body that causes neurological issues. This is what I am experiencing this time around. I am experiencing tremors in my hands as well as some relatively minor vision issues. Needless to say, my fatigue is so extreme that I can hardly keep my eyes open. I feel as though I could sleep for a month.
Quite often, when my health crashes causing this anaphylaxis and resulting problems, I also suffer from violent shivering and shaking for an hour or so. This shaking and shivering can be so violent that I end up with pulled, sore muscles for days. Fortunately, I didn't experience any episodes this severe this time around.
There is no doubt that I overdid everything for the past month. I know from experience that I will need a few weeks to recover. I'll also need to more carefully plan three things... 1) I need to carefully plan my diet for every meal. 2) I need to carefully administer my medications as well as find that fine line of using extra medications to keep my body stable yet be careful not to over-medicate. 3) I need to carefully plan each moment of each day paying attention to a very tight energy management plan.
A close friend who is also suffering from this same illness recently referred to "spoons" when talking about the trials and tribulations we all seem to share. I didn't have a clue what she was referring to until she sent me a link to a blog written by another patient suffering from overwhelming fatigue due to another incurable illness. I will be writing another blog post specifically about this "spoon" analogy, but here is the link for those who would like to take a look at it now (below in next paragraph).
I have always struggled in explaining how I manage my energy. I have always found it extremely difficult making people understand how even taking a shower can wipe me out for the day. If I must go shopping, I must eliminate other things from my day just to store up energy. If I plan to go out for a few hours of socializing, I must eliminate other things from my daily routine. And, when I overdo it... I must pay the consequences which always promises to take weeks. This "spoon" theory explains this very well. Here is the link... The Spoon Theory.
While I recover from our active December, I hope to do some writing, some artwork, and some small photography projects (when my hand tremors disappear). So, I should be fairly active here in my blog over the next couple of weeks...
I had a few bouts with anaphylaxis causing dizziness, palpitations, tachycardia, and breathing difficulties which all leads to exhaustion. Whenever my heart responds to anaphylaxis, my heart-rate jumps to the 120-180 beats per minute range and it can stay there for an hour or two. Having your heart-rate at this chest pounding level is similar to running for a couple of hours... or playing a basketball game for a couple of hours... or any other strenuous activity for hours. I am left feeling exhausted and my entire body aches for days.
The degranulation of mast cells which caused this anaphylaxia also causes nerve irritation and inflammation. Needless to say, in addition to the overwhelming fatigue, all my joints and bones ache and swell. Everything hurts. Walking across a room hurts... sitting hurts... trying to twist open a jar of sauce is excruciating.
When these overactive mast cells degranulate, in addition to all the direct symptoms from each of the mediators released into my body, my body also tries to flush these things out. This flushing can be in the form of diarrhea and peeing every ten minutes for hours upon hours... it can include nausea, stomach cramping and vomiting as well. This combination is always tons of fun. Believe it or not, this is all 'normal' for me. Anyway, this time around I only had to deal with the first two things every ten minutes for about six hours. That alone is exhausting.
Sometimes, my mast cells seem to attack an area of my body that causes neurological issues. This is what I am experiencing this time around. I am experiencing tremors in my hands as well as some relatively minor vision issues. Needless to say, my fatigue is so extreme that I can hardly keep my eyes open. I feel as though I could sleep for a month.
Quite often, when my health crashes causing this anaphylaxis and resulting problems, I also suffer from violent shivering and shaking for an hour or so. This shaking and shivering can be so violent that I end up with pulled, sore muscles for days. Fortunately, I didn't experience any episodes this severe this time around.
There is no doubt that I overdid everything for the past month. I know from experience that I will need a few weeks to recover. I'll also need to more carefully plan three things... 1) I need to carefully plan my diet for every meal. 2) I need to carefully administer my medications as well as find that fine line of using extra medications to keep my body stable yet be careful not to over-medicate. 3) I need to carefully plan each moment of each day paying attention to a very tight energy management plan.
A close friend who is also suffering from this same illness recently referred to "spoons" when talking about the trials and tribulations we all seem to share. I didn't have a clue what she was referring to until she sent me a link to a blog written by another patient suffering from overwhelming fatigue due to another incurable illness. I will be writing another blog post specifically about this "spoon" analogy, but here is the link for those who would like to take a look at it now (below in next paragraph).
I have always struggled in explaining how I manage my energy. I have always found it extremely difficult making people understand how even taking a shower can wipe me out for the day. If I must go shopping, I must eliminate other things from my day just to store up energy. If I plan to go out for a few hours of socializing, I must eliminate other things from my daily routine. And, when I overdo it... I must pay the consequences which always promises to take weeks. This "spoon" theory explains this very well. Here is the link... The Spoon Theory.
While I recover from our active December, I hope to do some writing, some artwork, and some small photography projects (when my hand tremors disappear). So, I should be fairly active here in my blog over the next couple of weeks...
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