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Atlanta, GA, United States

Saturday, June 14, 2014

An illness someone else may be able to get over in a day can hit me so hard and leave me feeling ill and beaten for a much longer time.

This last week I have been sick.  It started on Monday night where my throat started getting a little sore then throughout the day Tuesday it got worse and worse.  I tried lozenges, gargling with saltwater, medicine.  Nothing was working.  I could barely sleep that night and when I woke up on Wednesday it was intolerable.  I was having trouble swallowing, both my tonsils were inflamed but the left one felt like there was a lump in it, my voice was getting raspy, and overall I felt like crap.  Time to go to the doctor.

I ended up seeing the doctor that tried to push me to go on fibromyalgia medication before, when I had a correct hunch I didn't need to, so I was a bit concerned at first.  She said my tonsils were inflamed, had puss coming out of them (yuck!), and decided to check for strep throat though I didn't have a fever.  I'm known for not getting fevers when I'm really sick.  Luckily that came back negative so it was determined I caught some sort of virus that infected my tonsils.  I was prescribed an antibiotic and told to rest and drink throat coat tea.  By Friday my throat felt better but overall I still felt like my body was a mess, and then the butt problems started.  I always thought I was ill more than most people because the doctors had constantly been prescribing me prednisone in the past, which I'm sure didn't help.  How could I really tell?  I can't and I'm in the hands of my doctors to help me.

Hypothyroid Mom has a post of 300+ symptoms of Hypothyroidism.  Just look at a few...

  • Frequent infections
  • Chronic illness
  • Low immune system
  • Frequent colds
  • Frequent flus
  • Susceptibility to bronchitis
  • Hard time recovering from infections
  • Recurrent sinus infections
  • Recurrent skin infections
  • Recurrent ear infections
  • Recurrent nose infections
  • Recurrent throat infections
  • Candida (yeast)
  • Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
  • Repeated urinary tract infections
  • Upper respiratory tract infections
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Sensation of lump in throat
  • Sensation of pressure on throat
  • Pain and tenderness in neck and/or thyroid area
  • Goitre (enlargement of the thyroid gland in neck)
  • Burning sensation in throat
  • Sore throats
  • Swollen tongue
  • Choking fits
  • Distorted sense of taste (Dysgeusia)
  • Salt cravings
  • Sweet cravings
  • Speech problems
  • Dry mouth
  • Halitosis (bad breath)
  • Propensity for cavities
  • Propensity for gum disease
  • Low, husky, hoarse voice
  • Bleeding gums
  • Receding gums
  • Irritated gums
  • Swollen gums
  • Persistent teeth clenching
  • TMJ

Yikes!  I've highlighted just a few that I am currently having trouble with.  I've also had persistent nausea and constant diarrhea since 2 nights ago.  Could be from the virus as I'm usually constipated and last week was the 1st time in ages I felt like I had normal poops.  Now I'm back to them being inconsistent again.  Grossed out yet?  Wondering why I am bringing it up?  Just look at the list of digestive issues that come with being hypothyroid...
  • Hard stools
  • Constipation
  • Hemorrhoids
  • Loss of appetite
  • Food allergy
  • Food sensitivity
  • Alcohol intolerance
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
  • Lactose intolerance
  • Celiac Disease
  • Gluten Sensitivity/Intolerance
  • Colitis
  • Abdominal distention
  • Weight gain in abdominal area
  • Protruding abdomen in children
  • Diverticulosis
  • Excess gas
  • Flatulence
  • Nausea
  • Ulcers
  • Acid Reflux
  • Excessive belching
  • GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)

That's just hypothyroidism, not factoring in hyperthyroidism!  Well, I found out today that most everyone at work was sick yesterday so I'm sure I could blame someone else on this illness.  It's unfortunate, due to my shot immune system, that an illness someone else may be able to get over in a day can hit me so hard and leave me feeling ill and beaten for a much longer time.

 ~

I got to thinking.  Before I had my downfall with my autoimmune disease I was insanely stressed at work for a multitude of reasons, even though I was still excelling at my job on the days that I could manage to drag myself into work.  Stress is a huge contributor and trigger of autoimmune diseased.  Just read this abstract! "Unfortunately, not only does stress cause disease, but the disease itself also causes significant stress in the patients, creating a vicious cycle."  Things have been much better at work since my return but I had a few major stressors the last week.

It probably started when I took my cat Milton to the vet on June 5th.  I expected it to just be another regular checkup for the year.  He would get his shots and we would talk about his arthritis.  It didn't turn out that way.  Within about a minute the vet mentions something about a lump in his mouth.  What lump?  She opens his mouth to reveal what looks like a huge cyst under the left side of his tongue.  Since he's around 13 years of age we just decided to opt for surgery the upcoming Monday to figure out what it was and to get it removed.  I decided to take that day off but all weekend I was worried for him.

Then when I came home from work on Saturday, we realized our home was incredibly hot inside and, though the central air unit was set for the air conditioning, the vents were blowing out hot air.  Considering it wasn't an emergency to have it fixed, I shut the breaker for the unit off and had to wait until Monday to call and see if I could get someone out here to fix it.  Also, our units are on the roofs of the buildings so there are not many people to choose from to call and have them come out and fix it.

So all day Monday, between my cat having surgery and waiting for someone to come & check out our central air unit, I was a mess of nerves.  Milton's surgery went well and it turns out he had something called a Salivary Mucocele.  When bringing him home he peed all over himself in the carrier so we had to immediately give min a bath but he was still a bit out of it so it made it easier for me to bathe him.  He spent the next few days in & out from under the bed hiding and he seems to be doing much better as of now.

Milton after his bath and still not really sure what just happened.

Milton and Chris asleep on the couch.  Feeling much better.
As far as the central air unit goes, there was a capacitor that had blown.  It was a quick diagnosis and a quick fix.  But between shelling out $1000 between the two and worrying about it all weekend, my stress and anxiety was through the roof, even though things had worked out well.

Now tie that in to the vicious cycle of autoimmune hell...

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