Wednesday 6 June 2012

Recent life savers

Nothing glam happening here folks but a little shout out to some products that have made the last 3 weeks bearable for me.

You probably know that I have rheumatoid arthritis, I am fairly lucky in that its pretty well controlled most of the time and I tend just to ignore it.  I have been taking Sulfasalazine for the last ten years which is supposed to help prevent things from escalating and to help with the pain, basically wherever I have a joint I have pain and some places where I don't most notably my sternum, every morning I wake up and feel like my ribs are going to crack so it takes me a while to creak myself out of bed!!  

Anyhoo, when I was down in Cornwall I developed a rash on my wrist and arms, that spread to my neck and then developed red splotches on my hands and feet that itched like buggery.  When my lips became red, blotchy and itchy I took myself off to the Dr's only to find that I was having a reaction to the sulfasalzine and it had affected my blood. Couple of calls from Dr to hospital confirmed that I needed to stop taking them right away.  So I came home and endured a very unpleasant week of incredibly itchy hands and feet.  I had thought that once the itching stopped my problems were over.  I was so wrong.  The skin began to peel off of my hands in sheets, literally all of the skin came off my thumbs and index fingers and all over the palms of my hands leaving red, raw, painful skin underneath that was incredibly dry, sensitive to heat and that cracked.  My poor hands looked ghastly and hurt so much and the only thing that gave me any relief was this:
At the same time my lips did pretty much the same thing, they were so dry that a couple of times when I smiled they cracked.  I have any number of lip balms and the one I use least is Carmex, I am not a fan of menthol smell and taste but of all of the ones I have the only one to give me any relief was my little pot of Carmex, which has been in my pocket and by my bed continually for the last 3 weeks.
 It was fairly inevitable really but I had hoped it wouldn't be the case but the next thing that happened was that the skin on my feet thickened, became incredibly dry and then split and peeled off quite literally in sheets.   I have taken photos to show to the consultant when I go to hospital later in the month, but they are too grim to share on here.  E45 was once again a life saver.  As Em has pointed out I should really be grateful - the new skin that is being left behind by the extreme foot peeling is baby soft and pink, just in time for sandal wearing!  She is such a half full sort of girl!  

As if all this wasn't enough to be going on with I am also going through another phase of hot flushes!  Seriously I am gorgeous; skin hanging off, sweat running down my face, damp, frizzy hair, if I was a horse they'd shoot me - as my husband likes to say.  Bastard.  I did laugh the other night though, woke up mid night sweat and put on my glasses and they steamed up!!  Who says I'm not hot stuff?!  So, on the advice of a friend these are my next non-glam little life saver:
There would have been a photo of a bottle of Bombay Sapphire here at this point but for the fact when I am going through a menopausal phase I can not drink any more than a couple of glasses of wine, any more than this and I feel beyond ghastly and of course the dehydration flares up my recurrent corneal erosion.  Oh, had I not mentioned that?  Its where my cornea doesn't attach properly so my eyes dry out whilst I sleep, my cornea sticks to my eye lid and when I move my eye in my sleep it rips off part of the cornea leaving the nerves beneath exposed.  Its a little how I imagine it would feel if someone took some crushed glass and rubbed it into your eyeball.  Hmmm, my husband might just have a point you know!

4 comments:

  1. Omg Debs I'm shocked at all that, you poor love - sending huge cuddles & raspberry ruffles your way. Xx

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  2. It hasn't been the best couple of weeks thats for sure!! Cuddles and raspberry ruffles gratefully accepted! xxx

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  3. That is grim Debbie, my thoughts are with you x

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Jan, I am very lucky compared to many with RA so I am always grateful for that and when things do go a bit pear-shaped its a stark reminder of just how bloody lucky I am tbh! xxx

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Would love to hear from you, I always read comments and reply and I love not feeling like I am talking to myself! dx

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