Living With Lupus. My Personal Struggle. Vol. 2

As I disclosed last week, I was recently diagnosed with a lifelong autoimmune disease called Lupus (If you aren't familiar with it you can read about it in Vol 1.). I decided to blog about it once a week to not only draw awareness to the disease but to also take ownership of it. After all, it's not going anywhere....might as well talk about it.

Well this week started off none too spectacular. Labor day weekend already came and gone (the year is going by so fast). However, today is a different story. I'm not going to lie, I'm in pain....lots and lots of pain. The most pain I've been in since I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days. Yeah, that shit. My legs hurt so bad today I almost didn't make it to work. But alas, here I am writing this for you fine people. I hate not being mobile....it bothers me to no end and when something like this happens I was told by my Rheumatologist to stay put and don't push yourself. Well, it's not like me to listen to Doctors (stubborn I know). But I'll be here doing my show and will continue to do so as long as there is a breath in me.

The medication I was prescribed is pretty high dosage. There is a steroid called Prednisone that will most likely make me gain weight (like I need a few extra pounds) and another called plaquenil which also, ironically enough, doubles as an anti-maleria medication so should I travel to Africa I should be OK. I also had a heart test late last week that didn't turn out as I hoped. Basically, I had to walk on a treadmill at an incline (and I mean INCLINE). Imagine trying to get out of a pool by walking up the side of the wall at the speed of a small cheetah. Anyway, to make a long story short, after the Jamaican sprinter test I had to have an ultrasound of my heart and was told "try not to breathe" after the marathon on the treadmill......fantastic right? Well after that I had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours. After all of that it was determined that I have an arrhythmia. Basically the top part of my heart beats faster than the bottom part not allowing it to fill completely with blood before emptying it out. So, I was referred by my Cardiologist to another heart specialist called a Cardiac Electrophysiologist (I didn't even know that was a thing) and I have to have another procedure done (not sure when) that involves catheters inserted into my legs and fed to my heart.....sounds just delightful. I'll ask if I can take video of it to post on my blog here.

Well that's all for this week. Started off great but not so much today. We shall see what tomorrow brings. Until then.....welcome to my struggle with Lupus.

Take care!