I feel flu-ey. flooee, fluie? Fluey, I think. Yes. I smile as I write this, as tired and sick as I feel right now. I've invented a funny word that makes light of feeling ill. This makes me happy. This funny word helps me to allow this illness to be what it needs to be. I'm tired and sick, but I am in a pretty good mood considering. ;) The thing is, I feel aligned. Right now, this minute. I am listening to my body, and within every cell I hear the call to rest, to be, to relax, to let go of expectations and committments. I am exactly as I need to be right now. And for that, I am grateful.
I seem to be experiencing primarily immune system symptoms: sore throat, swollen cervical lymph nodes, a sneeze, and a weird dry cough though my lungs and airway are clear. My herbal throat spray seems to help it a little, but tylenol again seems to be the savior NSAID. Tired, yes...and so tired from pushing myself these last couple of days through work, especially after feeling ill while in California, I'm so tired I can't seem to sleep. Not good. Insomnia has kicked in. My eyes are burning, my body is sore, my head is propped up so I can see the screen as I type, but I can't seem to get much sleep. I'm concerned that I'm heading for a right old crash and burn. This happens when I push myself too much past my average daily efforts and I start to run on adrenaline.
I'm noticing this cluster of symptoms and separating them from others. Although the ubiquitous fatigue is present, it has been worse...and my mind seems relatively clear, vision is normal, I'm putting sentences together that, barring typos, seem coherent when I go back and reread them. So I think, mostly for my own records I'm going to classify my symptoms into a few categories, keeping in mind that there is much crossover, and that severity increases with exertion, mental or physical.
1-immune based. feeling fluey. swollen nodes, sore throat, cough, sneeze. body temp slightly elevated at 98.5. (I'm quite low when I'm feeling good, around 95.5-96.5 or so) mental functioning rather clear, although fatigue is obvious, because of adrenaline. edema.
2-neurological based- unsteadiness on feet, need to lie down at its worst, can't find the right words, mental processes slow, withdrawn socially, emotional lability, visual disturbances like words swimming, increased dyslexia symptoms,
3-spleenic- all of the neurological as above but with pain and fullness in ULQ, discomfort in positioning and sleeping, nausea, early saiety. neuro symtoms fade in a few days but swelling can persist for a few weeks.
4-musculoskeletal- severe joint pain, muscle pain that comes on within minutes of exertion and lasts for days, muscle aches, old injuries flare up, muscle weakness, the wobbles, mistrust that my legs will fully support me
5-hives and allergy-still sorta weird. seems to flare up over a long term, like for months at a time but with shorter term flares for other reasons. worse with exertion, fevers up to 101, chills and shakes, (fevers present with musculoskeletal too) high sensitivity to environment chemicals, fragrances, and mostly foods of all sorts.
6-general symptoms that worsen with exertion- facial rash and flushing, hives, eye bags, eyelids discoloring, unsteadiness, blood pressure drop upon standing after sitting or lying down, cognitive dysfunctions and all neuro symptoms get worse, edema, disorientation, slow reflexes
I'm sure there's more that I could list, but this gives me a better picture of different types of symptom flare ups. So far, other than increased environmental sensitivity leading to increased symptoms, I have been unable to specifically assign a symptom picture with a specific trigger...other than simply overexertion or not slowing down to rest when I need to.
Alright, I'm going to try to get a little more sleep. I'm off.
