Bronchitis Blues

My bronchitis has come back. UGH! I never really thought much of it until I had it. I thought I was having heart failure when it first worked its agony. I had my cousin drive me to the emergency room. It didn't take long to get me back since it made my breathing short and my chest hurt. That is one thing I found out about Emergency rooms. If you are having any kind of chest pains or breathing trouble, you go straight to the front of the line. They don't want anyone dying of a heart attack on their waiting room floor. So after a hour or so wait, I had x-rays and confirmed I had my first case of Bronchitis. It hurt like the dickens.

The doctor gave me antibiotics to take. They of course made me sick to my stomach, but I forced them down each day. Only to find out later it was pointless. I did some research on the we. Bronchitis goes away on its own. Antibiotics and pain killers are useless. You just have suffer. Hence, why I'm up in the middle of the night typing on my blog. The doctors give their patients this stuff basically like a placebo. It won't help but otherwise they would be angry that their pain is not relieved and they're leaving empty handed. It's just something to quiet our complaints.

Aleve is not working. And this surprised me, because it usually knocks out my worst pain with ease. The only relief I get is staying in an upright position. Not the best way to hold your body when you're trying to sleep, let me tell you. But it's the only way I can get even a little shut eye. When it went away I was ecstatic. Pain free sleep at last! And now it's back. I have no clue as to what I did to make it return. If I knew I would certainly rectify it. So here I sit, breathing shallowly to lessen the pain and wondering how long I will have to endure.

Fever Subsides, Nasua comes on

I did run fever one more night, but that wasn't so bad. I'm always thankful when I make a quick recovery or if it doesn't keep me out of commission for longer than a day or two. I feel okay except for an occasional bout of nausea and dizziness. The last time I was in the hospital it was for low blood pressure. It was way to low and couldn't even stand up for a few minutes without almost blacking out. I have no idea why or how it was so low. The doctors never did/could give me an answer. I don't want to repeat that. I will do my on research and find out what are some possible reasons for your blood pressure being low.

Contacts to be colored

I got a call from my eye doctor. They just wanted to check in and see how the contact they gave me were doing. Without the contact I'm mostly blind in my left eye. Everything looks like colorful blobs and blurs. To top it off I've lost the color also. I now have one brown eye and one light blue eye. It is very noticeable and makes me self-conscious. This is all thanks to Lupus. Saying it's been tough losing my eyesight is the understatement of the year. Anyway they called to say it was time to have the contact colored to match the eye since I was doing well with it. And now I will no longer be this baby's twin. Adios.

Restrictions

Job hunting can be a bit of a chalenge with Lupus and the various thing associated with it. Anything that requires prolonged standing is pretty much out. A lot of repetitive motion or heavy lifting is also out. Any kind of extreme temperatures, especially the cold, is out. This narrows the field down considerably. And that doesn't even take into account all my restrictions.

Working a full-time job is hard for me. I can do it, but not much anything else that constitutes a life. Working part-time does not provide enough income to make ends meet. And not working is not an option. What's a girl to do? Right now, I am exploring work at home possibilities to supplement my income. I'll keep you posted on the development.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Yesterday I went out job hunting. I just moved to Texas and wanted to find a summer job to earn some extra cash. The searching lasted maybe 4-5 hours tops. When I got back home out of the heat, I was exhausted. A person in their twenties should be able to go a full day without needing rest, but that's not the case with me. So, I took a nap, only intending on it being and hour or so. It ended up being almost four. This is the main reason my sleep patterns are so out of whack. Some days I have the energy of a normal (non-lupus person) and other days it's almost non-existent. Chronic fatigue is no fun.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells.

There are four types of lupus: discoid, systemic, drug-induced and neonatal lupus. I have been diagnosed with Systemic Lupus. This type lupus is usually more severe and can affect almost any organ of the body. So far the main issues that I have to deal with are Arthritis, Raynaud's Phenomenon and fatigue. Lupus also attacked my left eye and left me mostly blind in it. I struggle with the symptoms from day to day. Some days are better than others. But I keep on keeping on.

http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_aboutintroduction.aspx?articleid=310&zoneid=9

Introduction

Hi, I'm Nia. I'm a 27 year old woman in Texas living with Lupus. This blog is not only to be a journal of my day to day struggles and successes, but also an insight into life with Lupus. Join me as I learn more about my own disease, what helps, what doesn't and how to cope with it. I hope to see you back often and I welcome your thoughts and comments.