|
I confess when I woke up this a.m., I felt like death warmed over. I'm pretty sure I looked like it too. Sleep was not great last night and by the time I woke up, my temp was starting climb again to the tune of 100.5.
6 months after I moved out here in 2012, I went to visit some friends back on the East Coast in January of 2013. When I returned, I got sick. It was a quick 3 day cold. It didn't last too long and I attributed to travel. Not to mention, I partied hard with friends during my time away. 3 months later in April of 2013, I got sick again. This time it was for a good week and the cold hit me pretty hard. I had just started full time as a software technical support person and had taken on a 4:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. shift. Thankfully, that shift didn't last that long, but I remember distinctly it took me 2 full weeks before I felt like myself again after recovering from that cold. In July of 2013, I got sick again, only this time my throat was affected and I broke out with cold sores up and down the back of my throat. I won't go into avid detail about that, but it wasn't fun and I was thankful for pain killers. In September of 2013, I became sick AGAIN and I remember the guy I was dating at the time told me I was starting to look jaundiced. This now made 4 different times in a year I had been sick. In November of 2013, I was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection, and in the first week of January of 2014, I got sick again for the 5TH TIME!
That one was bad. My immune system was tired and the cold/flu had hit my throat once again. Even after all the other symptoms subsided, I was left with this horrible dry cough that kept me up at night for over a month. When I first got sick, I went to the doctors. He wasn't my own, but a doctor on call while mine was on vacation. He did the swab and a test for H1N1, but everything came up negative. Even though I told him this was the 5th TIME in a year I had been sick, he just told me I had to tough it out. 2 weeks later, I was back in and able to see my doctor and she looked at the back of my throat and stated I had the worse case of throat erosion she had ever seen.
She suspected GERD or Barrett's disease and I was quickly scheduled for a small procedure to check out my esophagus. That turned up negative and even the nurse at the time was not able to account for the throat issues and recommended a Ear, Nose, & Throat doctor. I went home and by that time the cough had subsided.
In March of 2014, on a Sunday I became sick again (this marked the 6th time in just a little over a year), and my body finally hit bottom and started pulling "friendly fire". My throat was hurting and my joints were starting to ache. By the afternoon, my temp hit 100.2 and began a steady climb that climaxed at 104.0. When a body's temp hits that high, some interesting things happen other than one's brain starts to literally fry. The cheeks will often swell up and the blood capillaries will break. At 40 years of age, my mother had to help me into a lukewarm tub of water in order to get the fever down. It was too late to hit urgent care, and if we took too much time, we ran the chance of me going into convulsions. It was excruciating to be sure, it felt like someone was ripping the skin off my body and I remember the water around me turning warm from the heat of my skin. Afterward, my temp finally relented and dropped to 102.8. My legs felt like lead and there was no way I had the strength to entertain an urgent care visit.
The next morning I woke up and every joint in my body ached, literally. And, my right hip hurt so bad I was unable to lay flat on my bed. In fact, I recall crying from the pain and finally falling asleep with my knees pulled up. 3 days after that fever, I finally made it to the urgent care. I noticed my urination seemed off and I was having pains in my back. I explained to the urgent care nurse my history. I looked at her and said, "in all of the LAST 7 TIMES I've been sick, not a single doctor has had the brilliant idea of doing a blood test. Not - a - single - one."
She ordered the blood test ASAP. And, the urine test indicated I had a kidney infection for which they prescribed antibiotics. The very next day, the lab called me and said they wanted to refer me to a rheumatologist immediately. My ESR & CRP levels indicated the inflammation in my body was so high, it was on par with that of someone whose appendics had just burst. My appendics were fine, but that is the degree of pain my inflamed joints were giving me. The long and short of it is I was experiencing many of the same symptoms of someone with Rheumatoid arthritis, otherwise known as RA. By the time more tests were taken in tandem with a few visits to the rheumatologist, it was determined I had fallen ill from rheumatic fever and poly-arthritis culminating from a strain of step that had been discovered in my blood. I was put on a 2 month course of anti-biotics. But, I can tell you this body and these joints were never the same afterward. In fact, a year later I came down with a bout of strep again in February of 2015. I remained "sick" free in 2016, but this is the 3rd time I've been sick since January of 2017.
It probably seems crazy I still workout, even when I'm sick. But, the point of doing it is just to move my body. I cannot begin to explain how much mobility was lost after being sick so much. By 2015, I had put back on all the weight I had lost in my 30's and working out (with the exception of swimming) was acutely painful, especially in my right hip. Here I was, a girl entering her 40's, and literally feeling disabled. What an introduction to mid-life!
Despite feeling like death warmed over, I got in a good workout this a.m. Today was originally set for increasing my reps. But, I made sure to use the easiest resistance level on the bike and simply keep all my reps the same as the last time I worked out. I had taken motrin and was already sweating out this morning's fever, but the workout really helped to finish the job and bring my temp back down to normal. And, I can't explain it but something about the lifting and movement really helps with the joint pain. Right now, it's my poor sinuses and throat that are taking the worst hit, but my body feels 75 % better than it did this morning pre-workout.
I'm also back down to 194.6. Just .4lbs aways from my last low! Yay! Hopefully, we can make some headway past 194. I'm ready to see a new number, lol!
|
1269 kcal
|
Fat: 42.45g | Prot: 46.20g | Carbs: 126.34g.
Breakfast: Coffee with Cream and Sugar, Barbecued Pork Spareribs with Sauce. Lunch: Kashi Chewy Granola Bars - Chocolate Almond & Sea Salt, Jams and Preserves, Ricotta Cheese (Part Skim Milk), Multigrain Bread. Dinner: Stir Fried Vegetables, Barbecued Pork Spareribs with Sauce. Snacks/Other: Almonds, Red Table Wine, Mucinex - fast max 4 hour cold and sinus. more...
|
|