Another "Down Day"
The past two days were relatively productive days for me for a much needed change. I still ran out of energy within a few hours each day but I managed to get a few things accomplished. I feel as though I have not been 'productive' since I built our fireplace in December so this was a much appreciated and refreshing change to have a couple of productive mornings this week!
The weather was nice so I was able to pull the table saw out of the shed so I could cut some wood. I have to admit, however, that just collecting tools was almost enough of an energy drain that I needed to call it a day. I managed to slow down enough to keep up enough energy to make it until lunchtime. After that, I was so spent that just the simple act of putting tools away was impossible.
Yesterday morning I did a little bit of staining... typically, this doesn't affect me too badly but yesterday was an exception. While I was cleaning my brush, my tongue started tingling and then, within a few moments, I started noticing a little bit of swelling of my tongue and throat. Obviously, this is not good news for anyone but, it is even worse news for someone struggling with systemic mastocytosis.
Sometimes I have only relatively minor problems with solvents... sometimes I have major problems. Even when I was healthy and strong, oil-based paints caused some common allergy issues... ie, runny nose, headache, cold-like symptoms. Now that I struggle with systemic mastocytosis on a daily basis, my sensitivity to oil-based paints is heightened to the point of severe allergy-like requiring epinephrine and tons of anti-histamines.
I assume that the times when the mast cell burden within my body is high, I have major problems. When my mast cell burden is higher than its usual high, I have problems with many, many triggers. Lack of proper ventilation is also a major problem and that was indeed a problem yesterday because I was working in our windowless bathroom. I did open all the windows in the house and used fans to help ventilate the bathroom but, with no windows in the bathroom, my attempts at proper ventilation were futile... apparently.
When my body has a relatively low mast cell burden (mind you, this low mast cell burden is still immensely higher than in a healthy person because that is precisely how systemic mastocytosis is defined) and there is proper ventilation, I assume these are the times when I don't experience any adverse effects. Yesterday my mast cell burden must have been high even before exposing myself to the fumes of solvents. Fortunately, this was a very small project which only required about 10 minutes of staining. That, however, was enough to trigger some moderate life-threatening symptoms.
As the day progressed, my overall health declined even after taking a bunch of extra emergency medications. By the time we ate dinner, my head felt like it would explode! I had a headache, but I think a better description of what I felt would be "pressure". A very high histamine burden in the body (as a result of mast cell degranulation) can cause a "histamine headache" and I think that was part of what I was experiencing. As the headache worsened, it felt as though pressure was building up within my head. It felt as though everything within my head was swelling and could no longer fit within the confines of my head!
As a result of yesterday's health problems, I have decided that today should be a day of recovery... a "down day". It looks as though it could rain at any moment anyway so I wouldn't be able to pull any tools out of the shed without the threat of getting them all wet.
So, a down day it is!
The weather was nice so I was able to pull the table saw out of the shed so I could cut some wood. I have to admit, however, that just collecting tools was almost enough of an energy drain that I needed to call it a day. I managed to slow down enough to keep up enough energy to make it until lunchtime. After that, I was so spent that just the simple act of putting tools away was impossible.
Yesterday morning I did a little bit of staining... typically, this doesn't affect me too badly but yesterday was an exception. While I was cleaning my brush, my tongue started tingling and then, within a few moments, I started noticing a little bit of swelling of my tongue and throat. Obviously, this is not good news for anyone but, it is even worse news for someone struggling with systemic mastocytosis.
Sometimes I have only relatively minor problems with solvents... sometimes I have major problems. Even when I was healthy and strong, oil-based paints caused some common allergy issues... ie, runny nose, headache, cold-like symptoms. Now that I struggle with systemic mastocytosis on a daily basis, my sensitivity to oil-based paints is heightened to the point of severe allergy-like requiring epinephrine and tons of anti-histamines.
I assume that the times when the mast cell burden within my body is high, I have major problems. When my mast cell burden is higher than its usual high, I have problems with many, many triggers. Lack of proper ventilation is also a major problem and that was indeed a problem yesterday because I was working in our windowless bathroom. I did open all the windows in the house and used fans to help ventilate the bathroom but, with no windows in the bathroom, my attempts at proper ventilation were futile... apparently.
When my body has a relatively low mast cell burden (mind you, this low mast cell burden is still immensely higher than in a healthy person because that is precisely how systemic mastocytosis is defined) and there is proper ventilation, I assume these are the times when I don't experience any adverse effects. Yesterday my mast cell burden must have been high even before exposing myself to the fumes of solvents. Fortunately, this was a very small project which only required about 10 minutes of staining. That, however, was enough to trigger some moderate life-threatening symptoms.
As the day progressed, my overall health declined even after taking a bunch of extra emergency medications. By the time we ate dinner, my head felt like it would explode! I had a headache, but I think a better description of what I felt would be "pressure". A very high histamine burden in the body (as a result of mast cell degranulation) can cause a "histamine headache" and I think that was part of what I was experiencing. As the headache worsened, it felt as though pressure was building up within my head. It felt as though everything within my head was swelling and could no longer fit within the confines of my head!
As a result of yesterday's health problems, I have decided that today should be a day of recovery... a "down day". It looks as though it could rain at any moment anyway so I wouldn't be able to pull any tools out of the shed without the threat of getting them all wet.
So, a down day it is!
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