Hi blogger buds!!!!
I hope to some day be an inspiration to some one! I hope to someday manage this thing called LUPUS so well that it makes my blog worth reading, because I WANT to contribute something back! To that end, I keep trying to learn my illnesses better and better. Honestly, this may be BORING to some, but for me...it is an attempt to NOT focus on my health as much which is something lupus almost forces you to do on a daily basis if you are flaring or sick or want to be in the sun or heat.
Today my topic is WHEN do I take this hurting head, stuffed up nose, hurting eye sockets, cheek bones, hurting neck, and incredible fatigue to the doctor? How to do I know when it is a sinus infection versus a cold versus allergies? In the last 8 years, I have seen the doctor so many times for horrid migraines, pneumonia, strep throat, sinus infections, flu, pleurisy, colitis, bronchitis, stomach flu, UTIs, URIs...I have been sick with so many things, I just get tired of calling and making that appointment and being put on, yet again, on more antibiotic. So many days wasted getting well, you know? My husband, in spite of having Chrohn's disease and being on Imuran as well as me, rarely goes to the doctor if he gets sick. His answer would be..."see if your body will fight it off". I found that so incredibly amusing!!! But does he have a point? Does this body of mine that fights against itself all the time have the ability to fight off the common cold or a sinus infection?
I honestly don't know, so I have come up with a few criteria. I desire to try not to get on too many antibiotics, and also not just jump at the first sign of illness, because I really DON'T want my body to become immune to antibiotics!
1) Determine level of fatigue...is it my normal lupus fatigue or something more.
2) Is the elephant sitting on my chest yet (for those of us with lung issues, I start having shortness of breath when I am getting pretty sick...sort of like a huge rubber band squeezing your chest).
3) Fever (for me this is subjective...I have always normally run a low fever in the 97s, so 99. whatever is a fever)...
4) How many days has it been? I have begin to allow my body 3 days to fight something unless I go downhill super fast....
5) What else is hurting? Am I showing signs of a flare? Finger joints, low back, etc or are my symptoms more illness related......muscle aches and pains, headaches, nausea and vomiting, and so forth.
6) Add vitamin C and garlic tabs (NEVER echinachea) DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and am not offering medical advice. Ask your doctor before you add any nutritional supplement or anything at all to your diet!!!!
I will say, it is SO much easier to go to the doctor and just let him slap the antibiotics on me and just get over it so much quicker, because we need more rest with lupus anyway and I WANT OUT OF BED!!! Hence almost seems like a catch 22...to go or not to go, because I do run the risk of getting sicker then I might have otherwise. It is the risk of waiting it out.
I will honestly say, it is SO much easier to go to the doctor and let him slap the antibiotics and just help jumpstart my immune system, because I WANT OUT OF BED! There is the catch; the proverbial fly in the ointment as they say....if I DON'T go, I do run the risk of getting sicker with more days in bed. Well, wish me luck on this new way or being...my new normal! Lets hope that my body is a stronger fighter then it has been with the aid of these medications!
Keep smiling! Keep fighting! Don't give up and most all, don't become lupus!
Only by His GRACE!
Lupie Mama