The DANGERS of Epsom salts.

I was going to put the dangers of "bath salts" but that's a WHOLE other story. (Which seems to include real life zombies.)  This is particular to Epsom.  Just as I think I am cured or I know what's going on with me, yet another thing pops up & I go in a downward spiral yet again.  It all started around the last posts I had done in October.

For a while throughout the year I had terrible pain in the soles of my feet.  That's where it started.  Maybe for a week, or a day here or there, then nothing.  After I got sick in October my whole legs & shoulders started to ache.  It progressively got worse & so I had just blamed it on a new medication.  Off the medication I went and another thing I noticed was that I couldn't tolerate heat.  I was off most of the summer, the hot hot summer we apparently had, so that I didn't notice it much because I was inside in air conditioning all the time.  I don't even like air conditioning!  I'll have my windows open on a 90 degree day & take in that humidity! When I went back to work, & after I get sick, is when I really noticed it.  The heat would kick on in the building & other people would agree that it was hot, but no where near the extent I was getting it.  So much worse than hot flashes!

Because of my pain getting worse & now this heat intolerance I just had to go to the doctor, again, who ruled it out as musculoskeletal but did a few additional blood tests.  I was advised not to exercise, since I tried to do this thinking it may have helped with the pain but it always felt worse after.  On my way I went feeling awful & even crying a lot because the pain was so bad at times.  All sorts of problems started arising.  Chest pains, shoulder, muscles all aching, heart palpitations, asthma, terrible shakes in my arms, hands, legs, terrible anxiety with vomiting.  My body felt like it was burning up all the time and I was sweating terribly when I didn't even have a fever anymore!  I missed my period & thought I was pregnant.  My eating habits were the same & I started to drastically lose weight.  I would be all hyped up but completely exhausted all at the same time.  The smallest ounce of stress would put my body in a shut down mode of problems.  What was wrong with me!?

Now, before I went to the doctor, I had been taking Epsom salt baths due to my muscle pain.

Here's the scary thing.

After these baths, & sometimes with other products I would use that contained magnesium sulfate, I would be completely dizzy, out of breath, heart palpitations & sometimes it would be so bad I would even vomit.  Gross!  I thought nothing of it.  Just thought it was another thing having to do with my condition, whatever it was.

I could have killed myself.  It was a sign!  Per my doctor (per many doctors I saw over a few weeks) my blood pressure was already dangerously low (hypotension) & pulse was too (tachycardia) high .  Epsom salts lower your blood pressure!  Here I am thinking it will help my aches & pains & help me relax when it was actually making my situation worse.  Epsom, Magnesium Sulfate, is in a lot of products.  A lot of products I was using.  I found it in a lot of bath bombs, "sea" or regular bath salt mixes, I even have it in liquid form in some of my products!  It's also a main ingredient in Me! Bath Ice Cream products.

I left work in early December due to my doctors advise and also because I had so many appointments and testing, thinking I would be back by the end of the month & to start the new year.  I didn't have good news though.  Mid to end December we had an idea of what it was but, being optimistic, I thought I would still be better because we had an action plan if the tests results came back positive. They did.  I have an autoimmune disorder called Graves' Disease and was on the verge of a Thyroid Storm.

I am not better.  I have the majority of symptoms still and am a complete mess.  The course of action is medication.  That's it.  And if the medication doesn't work, the next step could be surgery.  The medication could take 6-8 weeks for it to even start making me feel better so it is estimated that I will be back to work in March.  I'm bored, unhappy, bored, & disability pays shit.  I want to be back at work but I don't want to end up with heart failure or to make my symptoms even more worse than they already are, nor do my doctors or family.  My endocrinologist said I have a very serious case of Graves' & I need to "take it easy."

I'm off caffeine & alcohol.  I'm also on a beta blocker that has helped my blood pressure & pulse even out, this has taken away the pain I was getting but I still ache in my joints & am having trouble with movement in my arms, shoulders & legs.  I have trouble getting up from seated or laying down positions.  I have to be monitored for type 1 diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and other conditions like Lupus and Addison's Disease.  They think I also may have Pernicious Anemia & so I am taking vitamin B-12 supplements.  They will be taking blood next week to see how my thyroid levels are changing.

Who thought one stupid organ could do so much damage!?  What's even stranger is I may have a combination of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hypothyroid) with this.  I have read it is possible.  I still have a lot to learn & deal with.  I still have a lot of questions.  It kind of makes me want this...

So, I know this is my bath product blog but I needed to get this out of my system.  It did have something to do with bathing though, the dangers of Epsom and a very obvious, & dangerous, sign that I didn't get.  I'm still scared about how my progress will be with this.

I received some Plum Hill cranberry orange oil & sugar scrub today.  Maybe I will try that.