Finally... a Long Awaited Improvement
Near the end of our stay at the lake house this summer, my health took a major nosedive after a physically demanding incident on the water (can be read here). Pushing my body since developing Systemic Mastocytosis always results in failed and deteriorating health and this incident was no exception (even for a short spurt of only two minutes, like this time). For about four months, my health has been deteriorating more and more each day.
Breathing capacity was limited and breathing has been difficult, at best, due to inflammation in my lungs. Along with this inflammation was some fluid buildup. I felt as though I was drowning and suffocating.
My energy level plummeted. I don't have much energy to begin with so any loss of energy is significant. For example, even on the best of days since developing Systemic Mastocytosis, I am only about 40-50% of my physical self as I once was when I was healthy. Plus, for a more accurate assessment, we should add the intense chronic pain I have everyday to losing more than 50% of my physical self to get a truer picture of the level of my everyday health. And this is all on a rare "good" day.
On the days when my health is not "good", or less than usual, and approaching lousy and exceptionally poor, I am only about 10-15% of my physical self as I once was when healthy. Sometimes, although admittedly rarely, I can feel as though the end is near as my health dips lower than 10%.
As my health worsened since the lake this summer, my health entered into this sub-10% level. I couldn't breath... just walking twenty feet would require a break to catch my breath... I was coughing... I was wheezing and gurgling... my muscles were deteriorating and aching like never before especially in my legs and hips... just standing was extremely painful as my legs trembled in pain and lacked strength... my lumbar spine and hips were excruciatingly painful... my bones hurt... my joints hurt... my lymph nodes hurt... my health deteriorated like this, worse and worse with each passing day, over the course of more than three months.
Even attempting to do my daily physical therapy was wiping me out and the pain was only getting worse through the mild PT activity. PT is something I look forward to each day because it truly helps me and... well... I enjoy exercise and being the best I can be... and now I couldn't even do that to try to help myself as I watched my body deteriorate further with each passing day. Now the PT was compounding my problems.
I decided it was time to do some research in the hope of trying to figure out a way to improve my health a bit. I opened up my laptop from my new residence on the couch, surrounded by notebooks (to jot down ideas) and books, and I hit the internet and researched...
In the end, I think I found some info which could possibly help and, as a result, I changed up my ever-growing cocktail of medications. That was a week ago.
The excruciating, constant pain has been slowly but steadily subsiding closer to my "normal" level (my new chronic illness 'normal')... my breathing is slowly improving... less coughing and wheezing... my muscles are no longer aching terribly and trembling... I'm beginning to find some energy to accomplish a few little things each day... I truly feel as though my research has helped to pinpoint another insidious complication to my overall health and I'm now doing what I can to build up my strength again.
Although I have experienced a few minor dips in the past week, I'm excited that my overall health seems to be on a path of improvement... reaching upward again toward my old 'new normal' of four or five months ago...
I can breath easier... both literally and figuratively... the long awaited improvement from the depths of this dark place seems to have arrived...
Here's to hoping this improvement continues, steadily and surely...
I'd be ecstatic to get back to the 40-50% level.
Breathing capacity was limited and breathing has been difficult, at best, due to inflammation in my lungs. Along with this inflammation was some fluid buildup. I felt as though I was drowning and suffocating.
My energy level plummeted. I don't have much energy to begin with so any loss of energy is significant. For example, even on the best of days since developing Systemic Mastocytosis, I am only about 40-50% of my physical self as I once was when I was healthy. Plus, for a more accurate assessment, we should add the intense chronic pain I have everyday to losing more than 50% of my physical self to get a truer picture of the level of my everyday health. And this is all on a rare "good" day.
On the days when my health is not "good", or less than usual, and approaching lousy and exceptionally poor, I am only about 10-15% of my physical self as I once was when healthy. Sometimes, although admittedly rarely, I can feel as though the end is near as my health dips lower than 10%.
As my health worsened since the lake this summer, my health entered into this sub-10% level. I couldn't breath... just walking twenty feet would require a break to catch my breath... I was coughing... I was wheezing and gurgling... my muscles were deteriorating and aching like never before especially in my legs and hips... just standing was extremely painful as my legs trembled in pain and lacked strength... my lumbar spine and hips were excruciatingly painful... my bones hurt... my joints hurt... my lymph nodes hurt... my health deteriorated like this, worse and worse with each passing day, over the course of more than three months.
Even attempting to do my daily physical therapy was wiping me out and the pain was only getting worse through the mild PT activity. PT is something I look forward to each day because it truly helps me and... well... I enjoy exercise and being the best I can be... and now I couldn't even do that to try to help myself as I watched my body deteriorate further with each passing day. Now the PT was compounding my problems.
I decided it was time to do some research in the hope of trying to figure out a way to improve my health a bit. I opened up my laptop from my new residence on the couch, surrounded by notebooks (to jot down ideas) and books, and I hit the internet and researched...
In the end, I think I found some info which could possibly help and, as a result, I changed up my ever-growing cocktail of medications. That was a week ago.
The excruciating, constant pain has been slowly but steadily subsiding closer to my "normal" level (my new chronic illness 'normal')... my breathing is slowly improving... less coughing and wheezing... my muscles are no longer aching terribly and trembling... I'm beginning to find some energy to accomplish a few little things each day... I truly feel as though my research has helped to pinpoint another insidious complication to my overall health and I'm now doing what I can to build up my strength again.
Although I have experienced a few minor dips in the past week, I'm excited that my overall health seems to be on a path of improvement... reaching upward again toward my old 'new normal' of four or five months ago...
I can breath easier... both literally and figuratively... the long awaited improvement from the depths of this dark place seems to have arrived...
Here's to hoping this improvement continues, steadily and surely...
I'd be ecstatic to get back to the 40-50% level.
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