I've always been what some people might call a "lazy" person. I've had a relatively low energy level when I compared myself to my friends. I've described myself as more of "an indoor girl". And honestly, there is a fair amount of shame that went along with that part of me. I thought that this was just a part of who I am, never thinking that the "laziness" was a symptom instead of a character flaw.
After I had my first baby, Garrett, 4 years ago, I started getting these weird spikes in fevers. They would only last about 20-60 minutes, then go away until later again that day or the next day. Unable to explain why they were happening, I checked in with my doctor who attributed it to hormal fluctuations due to recent childbirth and nursing. Seemed legit.
Then I started noticing a serious and persistent pain in my parotid glands. When checking in with a doctor again, he told me I have a stone in my gland. When I responded with: "But...it's bilateral", he responded with: "Well, you have two stones, then". Nice.
This stuff is going on for about 2 years.
Then, my dad is diagnosed with lupus after a very long and painful summer of trying to figure out why the guy was so sick. When that diagnosis came about, it started me to looking down the autoimmune path.
I finally found information about Sjogren's Syndrome after after I ended up in urgent care on a particularly painful parotid gland day. The doc on duty asked me whether I'd heard of Sjogren's Syndrome (which I hadn't) and told me to get some blood testing.
Long story short: Blood tests confirmed the presence of the SSA Antibodies at high levels.
As sickening as it was to learn about a chronic illness, there was a lot of relief. There was finally an answer to all this pain, fatigue, temperature imbalance, and my terrible dental problems.
THE ROAD TO RECOVERY:
I set up an appointment with a rheumatologist and we discussed starting meds (namely Plaquenil). Within a couple of weeks, I felt an amazing difference! I was getting up at 5:30am to work out or dig in my garden. I was playing soccer in the yard with my son. I took a Zumba class! It was amazing!
All was super until...it wasn't anymore. I found out I was pregnant in February 2011 and was thrilled. However, my plaquenil didn't seem to work anymore while I was pregnant and all my symptoms returned. Unfortunately, my pregnancy was ectopic and ruptured in April of that year. Immediately after the recovery and hormonal rebalancing, I got all my energy back and felt the plaquenil was working again.
We decided to try again for another baby and I got pregnant in June 2011. After many tests to check that the pregnancy was where it was supposed to be and that the baby's heart was healthy, we welcomed our darling daughter, Helen, in March 2012.
That was four months ago. I'm still battling the fatigue that has been the biggest hallmark of this illness for me. My eyes, mouth, nose, skin, and joints still suffer. I keep waiting for that energy level to return and keep my thoughts positive that when all my hormal stuff comes back into alignment, I will get it back.
Until that time, I keep myself "in the game" by trying various health and wellness approaches. This blog is my attempt at tracking what I'm doing, documenting what works and what doesn't. And if someone can learn something that helps them, boy, that's great.
Come along with me. Let's see what happens....
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