Angry Mast Cells and the Common Cold
An everyday, 'normal' daily life with mast cell disease in any of its forms is kind of lousy even without any complications. When you add in something as mundane and common as the common cold... the cold seriously angers my mast cells... and it is felt all through my body and deep to the core of my bones.
I suddenly developed a head cold on Thursday last week. My nose was running like a waterfall for two days. Cold medications didn't help much. Adding extra Mastocytosis medications didn't seem to make a dent in the cold either. Regardless, I needed to add the extra medications anyway to keep my body as stable as possible.
After two days of a constant, neverending waterfall flowing out of my nose, the pathway moved to down the back of my throat in a post-nasal drip... well, post-nasal flow. Now it is Monday night and I don't have much of a voice and swallowing is difficult because my throat is covered in a layer of gunk. Fun times.
Needless to say, with all this gunk running down my throat to my stomach, my stomach hasn't been feeling all that well either. I go from extreme nausea to hunger... and no energy to cook anyway.
Throughout this entire cold since this past Thursday, I've been struggling with breathing issues as well. My hope is to keep this cold from developing into pneumonia.
The biggest problem is that when my body is fighting off anything, this causes my mast cells to become even more active. As it is, even on a normal 'good' day, I have too many mast cells dumping too many mediators into my body. This extreme abundance of mast cells are overactive for no known reason also which is what causes all these dangerous episodes I experience a few times each week.
When my mast cells are overactive due to fighting even something as mundane as the common cold, my mast cells become even more active which, in turn, causes more detrimental effects such as difficulty breathing, dizziness, light-headedness, difficulty walking, cognitive issues, gastro-intestinal problems, increased bone pain, increased joint pain, and getting closer and closer to another episode of anaphylaxis. To counter this, I pump a lot of extra medications into my body.
The bone and joint pain has been pretty brutal for the past few weeks but even worse in the past week since having this cold. The best remedy for this bone and joint pain is my usual daily physical therapy but that is on hold because of this cold and the subsequent mast cell problems. It is tough doing anything when you are struggling with breathing problems and this cold has triggered some major breathing problems. The pain is relentless though. I can't even get comfortable to sleep. Of course, I do eventually sleep but it is slow getting there and even then it is not a very restful sleep... the pain is relentless.
I'm tired and weak. I have only enough energy for a short spurt... like washing some dishes... then I am done and need to sit. I get up in the morning and I am ready to lie down again within an hour. My schedule has been... rest... try to do something... medications... rest... try to do something... medications... rest... try to do something... medications... etc.
Anyway, something as simple and common as the common cold wreaks havoc on mast cells and especially for the Systemic Mastocytosis patient. Suddenly the common cold becomes life threatening.
I've been trying to accomplish any single thing each day regardless... a small photography project... a short blog post... researching something I always wanted to know about... anything. Most of the days this past week, however, have been spent camped out on the couch in the living room... trying to breath... blowing my nose... and hoping to get comfortable enough to get some much needed rest.
Let's hope I feel a bit better tomorrow...
I suddenly developed a head cold on Thursday last week. My nose was running like a waterfall for two days. Cold medications didn't help much. Adding extra Mastocytosis medications didn't seem to make a dent in the cold either. Regardless, I needed to add the extra medications anyway to keep my body as stable as possible.
After two days of a constant, neverending waterfall flowing out of my nose, the pathway moved to down the back of my throat in a post-nasal drip... well, post-nasal flow. Now it is Monday night and I don't have much of a voice and swallowing is difficult because my throat is covered in a layer of gunk. Fun times.
Needless to say, with all this gunk running down my throat to my stomach, my stomach hasn't been feeling all that well either. I go from extreme nausea to hunger... and no energy to cook anyway.
Throughout this entire cold since this past Thursday, I've been struggling with breathing issues as well. My hope is to keep this cold from developing into pneumonia.
The biggest problem is that when my body is fighting off anything, this causes my mast cells to become even more active. As it is, even on a normal 'good' day, I have too many mast cells dumping too many mediators into my body. This extreme abundance of mast cells are overactive for no known reason also which is what causes all these dangerous episodes I experience a few times each week.
When my mast cells are overactive due to fighting even something as mundane as the common cold, my mast cells become even more active which, in turn, causes more detrimental effects such as difficulty breathing, dizziness, light-headedness, difficulty walking, cognitive issues, gastro-intestinal problems, increased bone pain, increased joint pain, and getting closer and closer to another episode of anaphylaxis. To counter this, I pump a lot of extra medications into my body.
The bone and joint pain has been pretty brutal for the past few weeks but even worse in the past week since having this cold. The best remedy for this bone and joint pain is my usual daily physical therapy but that is on hold because of this cold and the subsequent mast cell problems. It is tough doing anything when you are struggling with breathing problems and this cold has triggered some major breathing problems. The pain is relentless though. I can't even get comfortable to sleep. Of course, I do eventually sleep but it is slow getting there and even then it is not a very restful sleep... the pain is relentless.
I'm tired and weak. I have only enough energy for a short spurt... like washing some dishes... then I am done and need to sit. I get up in the morning and I am ready to lie down again within an hour. My schedule has been... rest... try to do something... medications... rest... try to do something... medications... rest... try to do something... medications... etc.
Anyway, something as simple and common as the common cold wreaks havoc on mast cells and especially for the Systemic Mastocytosis patient. Suddenly the common cold becomes life threatening.
I've been trying to accomplish any single thing each day regardless... a small photography project... a short blog post... researching something I always wanted to know about... anything. Most of the days this past week, however, have been spent camped out on the couch in the living room... trying to breath... blowing my nose... and hoping to get comfortable enough to get some much needed rest.
Let's hope I feel a bit better tomorrow...
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