Trading Health
I have one of those illnesses that is actually quite consistent. The symptoms are transient through time, space and frequency but the illness itself is quite consistent.
In order to get a few good days, I must pay the price with a few bad days. Unfortunately, it is not an even trade-off... I pay the price of a few good days by having to endure many, many days of bad days. I'm in that low part of the trade-off cycle now.
On the last two days of our cross country train journey (Monday and Tuesday), I had an annoying sore throat. I've had worse sore throats but it was consistent and wouldn't go away. I was hoping that I was just a bit dehydrated since I was avoiding an excess of fluids due to availability of bathrooms. Unfortunately, I would quickly realize that the sore throat was not due to slight dehydration. Although dehydration can bring on other problems, that would have been a more simple problem to resolve... pump fluids either orally or through IV.
On our first day back home, I developed a runny nose and a cough. The cough was one of those painful ones that causes a burning across your entire chest. This cough is still frequent and persistent today two days later.
Yesterday, our second day back home, Sheila noticed that I was hot as she said goodbye to me on her way out the door to go to work. I got up and took my temperature... it was only 99.4 so I wasn't all that concerned yet. About an hour later, my fever was up around 100 degrees. At this point I figured I had better go see one of our doctors. I can handle a feverless cold without medical intervention but once a fever presents itself... I need to get in to see a doctor as soon as possible.
The doctor examined me extensively... more like I get during an annual physical... she asked a lot of questions... then she ran some tests to check for a respiratory infection as well as check for the flu. If I test positive for the respiratory infection, then we'll do some more testing for pneumonia. That being said, right now, she says my lungs sound okay.
This is all pretty typical for my illness though. I wear myself down during a little vacation away from home and then I require months to recover. That is the trade-off. A fever, however, is something different... the coughing and burning in the chest while coughing is different. The bone and joint pain could go either way.
My mast cells become very overactive and wreak havoc on my body when I am active or when I wear myself down. Although this is not classified as an auto-immune deficiency, in its simplistic form, it sounds like one... my mast cells begin attacking healthy parts of my body and, in the process, release all sorts of mediators into my body that would typically help counter a cold or inflammation. Instead, my body is doing this for no known reason. the result is idiopathic anaphylaxis, significant lower gastro-intestinal problems, breathing difficulties, bone pain, joint pain, overwhelming fatigue, etc.
Generally speaking, when Sheila and I go away for a short weekend out of town, it takes my body about two to four weeks to settle down and get back to "normal". Those two to four weeks are miserable... weakness, overwhelming fatigue, an increase in the frequency of idiopathic anaphylaxis, difficulty breathing, lower gastro-intestinal problems, bone pain, joint pain,etc. I do a lot of sleeping during these recovery periods.
When we go away for longer periods such as a couple of weeks... my health normally requires about two to six months of rest and tons of extra medications to calm down the mast cells in my body.
This doesn't mean I have great health while we are away. I still experience intermittent problems that require attention. Overall, however, my health is a bit more stable during these periods due to all the extra medications I am pumping into my body. If I didn't pump the extra medications, we would not be able to go anywhere at any time. This pumping of extra medications is only a temporary crutch though. How long I can get away with using this crutch for any given event or trip is anyone's guess. I still have many triggers that I must avoid because no amount of extra medications are able to counter these triggers.
As I said previously, however, pumping extra medications is just a temporary solution to my health problems. There still ends up being a major trade-off. For two weeks of "relatively more stable" health, I trade for a number of months of "significantly more unstable and poor" health afterward. So, for some relatively good health, I trade for a lot of relatively poor health.
Sometimes my health crashes so hard that secondary problems arise. This could be one of those times. Or, it is my illness that is causing these symptoms. We'll know more when the test results come back. Hopefully, I'll hear from the doctor's office this afternoon.
Regardless, I'll be down for a while. The test results will simply determine if I need additional treatment and what additional medications will be needed.
It is a good thing it was a very enjoyable vacation!
UPDATE: The doctor called back this afternoon with the test results from yesterday. I tested positive for the flu and need to start on an anti-viral medication. There may be more updates coming...
In order to get a few good days, I must pay the price with a few bad days. Unfortunately, it is not an even trade-off... I pay the price of a few good days by having to endure many, many days of bad days. I'm in that low part of the trade-off cycle now.
On the last two days of our cross country train journey (Monday and Tuesday), I had an annoying sore throat. I've had worse sore throats but it was consistent and wouldn't go away. I was hoping that I was just a bit dehydrated since I was avoiding an excess of fluids due to availability of bathrooms. Unfortunately, I would quickly realize that the sore throat was not due to slight dehydration. Although dehydration can bring on other problems, that would have been a more simple problem to resolve... pump fluids either orally or through IV.
On our first day back home, I developed a runny nose and a cough. The cough was one of those painful ones that causes a burning across your entire chest. This cough is still frequent and persistent today two days later.
Yesterday, our second day back home, Sheila noticed that I was hot as she said goodbye to me on her way out the door to go to work. I got up and took my temperature... it was only 99.4 so I wasn't all that concerned yet. About an hour later, my fever was up around 100 degrees. At this point I figured I had better go see one of our doctors. I can handle a feverless cold without medical intervention but once a fever presents itself... I need to get in to see a doctor as soon as possible.
The doctor examined me extensively... more like I get during an annual physical... she asked a lot of questions... then she ran some tests to check for a respiratory infection as well as check for the flu. If I test positive for the respiratory infection, then we'll do some more testing for pneumonia. That being said, right now, she says my lungs sound okay.
This is all pretty typical for my illness though. I wear myself down during a little vacation away from home and then I require months to recover. That is the trade-off. A fever, however, is something different... the coughing and burning in the chest while coughing is different. The bone and joint pain could go either way.
My mast cells become very overactive and wreak havoc on my body when I am active or when I wear myself down. Although this is not classified as an auto-immune deficiency, in its simplistic form, it sounds like one... my mast cells begin attacking healthy parts of my body and, in the process, release all sorts of mediators into my body that would typically help counter a cold or inflammation. Instead, my body is doing this for no known reason. the result is idiopathic anaphylaxis, significant lower gastro-intestinal problems, breathing difficulties, bone pain, joint pain, overwhelming fatigue, etc.
Generally speaking, when Sheila and I go away for a short weekend out of town, it takes my body about two to four weeks to settle down and get back to "normal". Those two to four weeks are miserable... weakness, overwhelming fatigue, an increase in the frequency of idiopathic anaphylaxis, difficulty breathing, lower gastro-intestinal problems, bone pain, joint pain,etc. I do a lot of sleeping during these recovery periods.
When we go away for longer periods such as a couple of weeks... my health normally requires about two to six months of rest and tons of extra medications to calm down the mast cells in my body.
This doesn't mean I have great health while we are away. I still experience intermittent problems that require attention. Overall, however, my health is a bit more stable during these periods due to all the extra medications I am pumping into my body. If I didn't pump the extra medications, we would not be able to go anywhere at any time. This pumping of extra medications is only a temporary crutch though. How long I can get away with using this crutch for any given event or trip is anyone's guess. I still have many triggers that I must avoid because no amount of extra medications are able to counter these triggers.
As I said previously, however, pumping extra medications is just a temporary solution to my health problems. There still ends up being a major trade-off. For two weeks of "relatively more stable" health, I trade for a number of months of "significantly more unstable and poor" health afterward. So, for some relatively good health, I trade for a lot of relatively poor health.
Sometimes my health crashes so hard that secondary problems arise. This could be one of those times. Or, it is my illness that is causing these symptoms. We'll know more when the test results come back. Hopefully, I'll hear from the doctor's office this afternoon.
Regardless, I'll be down for a while. The test results will simply determine if I need additional treatment and what additional medications will be needed.
It is a good thing it was a very enjoyable vacation!
UPDATE: The doctor called back this afternoon with the test results from yesterday. I tested positive for the flu and need to start on an anti-viral medication. There may be more updates coming...
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