Diseases Galore - How I'm coping

It was in 2017 that I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA). Those suffering from this disease call themselves RA warriors on Twitter.Along with RA, I had cervical radiculopathy and frozen shoulder in both arms.

Seriously! They say 40 is a landmark year. In my case, I was just suddenly diagnosed with a bunch of new diseases. Yeah! Like the ones I had weren't enough.

Living with RA is a bitch! Now I'm being treated for it. I'm not on steroids, but the weight gain has been significant, anyway - all of 20kg. I've lost 1.5 kg out of it so far.

It's only from the start of 2018 that I have been able to wake up at 7 am. I often wake up feeling like someone has used a hammer to bash my fingers all night. So to remedy that, I wear gloves at night after applying aromatherapy oils on them( frankincense oil/rumalaya). I also apply these oils by turn on my knees, hands, and shoulders. I wear a sweater even though the temperature here at night is only about 15 degrees C, sometimes higher.

When I wake up at 7 am, I find it difficult to get out of bed. I used to need assistance, but now I manage on my own. After my morning ablutions, I sometimes feel sleepy again so I go back to sleep for a bit.

I work from home between 10 am and 6 pm. I work as an editor.

At lunchtime, my maid applies heat therapy to my affected joints. She collects a herb called 'nochhi' and wraps it in a thin towel, heats the towel on the 'tawa' and applies the heat to my joints.

Today, I asked her to apply a red medicinal mud preparation( which I bought at a store). She mixed it with warm water and applied it to the affected joints. I kept it for 45 minutes, then washed it off with hot water. It certainly got the house messy! As for any improvement in my joints, that remains to be seen. I plan to do this only once a week and do the 'nocchi' treatment on other days.

Of course, I'm on allopathy drugs, not steroids. The doctor is renowned, although we met him after several bad doctors who I had to meet ( 4-5 of them in the suburbs)

I'm also seeing a dentist. You see, way back in 2007 I had an implant done in Hyderabad. The guy who did it only drove in a screw and capped it with the abutment. He referred me to a dentist in Chennai who would place the crown.

The screw/abutment was fine, but the guy in Chennai who did the cap in 2008 messed it up despite charging a bomb. He placed a loose crown on the screw + abutment and led me to believe that that's the way it works.

In 2016 September or so, my crown came off. I tried fixing it in Bangalore( coz I lived there then) but I had too many allergies, so I couldn't attend to it.

2017, was, of course, my invalid year.

Now, in 2018, I'm finally getting my tooth fixed. For this, they are giving me a root canal on the upper tooth( although there is nothing wrong with the upper tooth). They say it is to make way for the implant crown below. After my tooth was drilled, I was on painkillers for 3 days. They totally knocked me out. Now I'm off them. Yeah yeah. NSAIDS. Not good for health. Whatever Man! I live in the suburbs and this place is as good as it gets. Let's hope they don't mess up like the previous guy. I have told them about my history of bad dentists.

Now for a few days, I have despised coffee. It makes me vomit. Milk itself makes me want to vomit. So in a way that's good. That's how I lost the 1.5 kg, by skipping coffees.

Last night a bug crawled into my left ear. I woke up and could hear its wings fluttering inside my ear. Scary and sickening. This morning, my maid poured some salt water into my ear and said if the bug was still in my ear, it would crawl out or die and then I could take it out. Nothing came out. I'm hoping it just decided to crawl far away from me last night.

Planning to start slow yoga poses once I stop feeling like death. Oh yeah, at night I face breathing issues, so the pulmonologist has asked me to take a bronchodilator for a month. 11 days up so far.

So that's me. And it's not like I'm married to a loving husband( or any husband) so no question of "in sickness and in health".

In sickness, it's only my parents, my maid and cook who help. I'm blessed to have them and to work with my office remotely.

So yeah, that's how I'm coping. And I will turn 41 in a couple of months.






Comments

Popular Posts