God please give me strength!

I've been struggling a lot with my health this past week. All I can do is pray for strength.

Last Monday, I started taking sulfasalazine. Then on Wednesday I started feeling sick. It felt like just a cold with a really sore throat. Thursday came and I started feeling nauseated, feverish, sore, and even threw up a couple times so I thought that maybe it was the flu. On Friday my left ear started feeling plugged. Then it started ringing. And by the evening I heard just about everything echo in my left ear, but especially my own voice and higher pitches. Then I remembered that it might be a reaction to the new drug and checked the symptoms listed. I had almost all of them listed on the 'contact your GP' list but not the 'get help ASAP' list.

Since my GP and rheumatologist were closed until Monday, I went to the walk in clinic on Saturday. The nurse working said that she really couldn't tell if it was a flu or a reaction to my new medication. She suggested that every once in a while I hold my nose and blow out my ears to help with the fluid causing the ringing and echoing.

I felt alright at the time, so Rohan and I went mini golfing with our Bible study. I felt super drained after and went home to take a long nap. Then I felt better and went to book club. I also got to see the puppy that I watched a week or so ago. He was so happy to see me!

I woke up Sunday to discover that I had lost my voice! It happens to me a lot. I never lost my voice until I got a cold about a month after my brain tumour surgery and since then I've lost it at least once a year, probably more. It's just really frustrating on Sundays because I love singing in church! (my voice is coming back today it's just a lot lower for now!)

I finally could call the rheumatologist on Monday morning. I left a message with reception and they called me back this morning. They said that my rheumatologist is about to go on holiday for the next two weeks and I should go to my GP and they should be able to tell me if it's the drug or not.

My usual GP didn't have any appointments until Friday, so I went to the female one that I go to sometimes. She had an appointment at noon today. She said that she's pretty sure that what I have is just a cold. But sometimes people get these symptoms in the first week or so which is why they start out with one pill a day and increase to two twice a day over the course of a month.

So basically I just have to push through it. She also told me that my new medication is an immunosuppressant. Somehow I missed that in all of my reading about it! So my request to anyone that I see regularly is that they are especially careful around me when they might be sick.

She also tried to give me medication for my nausea but luckily the computer caught that it was the medication that I'm really allergic to! As I was leaving, she also told me to come back when I am feeling better because I can get a flu shot. It'll be covered by medicare which I think is because I'm on an immunosuppressant.

I also asked her about the MRI that said I have a polycystic ovary. She said it's nothing to worry about now. I'm already on birth control which is a common treatment. They can only treat the symptoms so I don't have anything else to do. It can impact fertility, but some women are still able to conceive or they have treatments. Either way that's a problem to deal with in the future. For now I just want the ringing in my ears to stop!

The flu.

I'm pretty sure that what I thought was a cold the other day is actually the flu. Ugh. I should have gotten the vaccine but I wasn't working so there was no free one like last year and I didn't qualify for a free one from the government so I just didn't think to actually get one. I've learned my lesson. Both Rohan and I need to get them in the future.

Although I never actually got the flu until last year, so it must be an Australia thing, even though I did get a flu shot last year.

Thank you, God, for paracetamol!

On Monday, I called the rheumy office to see if my doctor answer my questions. She said that I should continue with my other drugs since the new one takes time to start working. Also my blood tests will need to be every month.

I picked up my pills that morning but was told to start taking them at night. They have a complicated dosing where I add a pill every week until I take 2 in the morning and 2 at night. (Then continue with that dose.) The chemist told me to start at night because the medicine often has the effect of making you spacey. She said it shouldn't make you drowsy, though. So far that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe it's just because of my sleeping issues, but it knocks me out and it's been messing with my sleeping even more. Hopefully my body will get used to the drug and that will stop.

But reading the handout that the chemist gave me about the drugs, I've discovered that I can't take aspirin. I already also can't take ibuprofen because that's an anti-inflammatory and I'm taking anti-inflammatory meds already. So I'm thanking God that paracetamol exists. I never heard of it until I came to Australia (although wikipedia tells me that's what's in Tylenol but it has a different name in the US) but it's sort of the default pain killer here. I'm so glad because I think I'm coming down with a cold so I'll be wanting my cold medications!

New Medication

After a few calls, I finally got a response back from my rheumatologist about my x-ray results. The receptionist said that my rheumatologist said that there were some changes and to start taking sulfasalazine if I haven't already. She gave me the prescription last time so I won't have to go back for a few months to follow up.

I realised that I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep taking my previous medicine or when I was supposed to start getting the blood tests. So I asked the receptionist to put it in my rheumy's notes and have her get back to me. I have to get blood tests every month or so when I'm on this drug to make sure I don't have any adverse effects.

Hopefully this medicine will help! It takes 6-12 weeks to take effect and only works in 50-70% of people. Not to mention no one knows why it works. But I guess all I can do is keep praying!

X-ray

Today I had my X-ray at Calvary Hospital. It wasn't very eventful. Although it was my first x-ray laying down. The other two that I've had are chest x-rays from when I was in the hospital for breathing problems and to get my partner visa. It was pretty cool to see the machine on the ceiling since it's different than the MRI/CT scanning machines

They said my results should be at my doctor this afternoon, so I called to let her know that I had it done. I didn't get a call back yet about what path I'm supposed to take for my medication. I'll have to follow up next week until I get a response.

On a side note, I really managed to hurt my right leg on Monday evening when I missed some stairs outside of our friends' house because it was dark. Rohan said I fell like 60cm. It still hurts to put weight on my leg for almost any length of time. I asked my father-in-law about it over the phone yesterday when we called for Rohan's sister's birthday. He said that I probably corked it. Rohan and I looked that up and it's generally an injury from contact sports. Oh my life!