I feel properly unwell. As a child when i was unwell (which was frequently) I was packed off to my grandmother's who had endless patience and kindness and small tempting meals made into smiley faces to try to get me too eat. She wouldn't nag or scold if I was tiresome, she would distract me... if it was summer or warm enough she would let me sleep in a lounger wrapped in a soft blanket whilst she did the gardening and she would chat. Each day she would insist that I was a little better and pleased that I had more energy - even if I wasn't better it would make me feel as though I was and this in turn would make me feel better. If it was winter she would bundle me up on the sofa and let me help her do the crossword. Making me feel like the cleverest person in the world.
She would rub my feet when they cramped and understand that placing them flat against a cool wall helped the endless cramping. She would change the sheets to soft flannelette when my skin hurt and bring warmed flannels if I had ear ache. When my children were little and they were ill I would remember the things she did and in turn would do them for mine. My daughters boyfriend has just had an operation and I am pleased to see that she is kind and thoughtful.
My dog is very pleased indeed that I am unwell because this means that he can 'pretend' to be sick too. For those of you who think dogs in a bed is revolting I am sorry but as soon as husband closes the front door he rushes up the stairs and joins me in my sick bed. We are an odd couple, he sighs when I do and I know he knows that I feel terrible. He helps me to feel less alone. I just wish he could change the bedlinen and run me a bath.
I know now that sometimes when I was sick as a child it was the ehlers danlos flaring because a bad flare is very much like the flu. I won't bore anyone with the details but if you have had the flu the symptoms that are like an EDS flare go like this -
severe joint & muscle pain
chronic irritable bowel with associated pain
feeling sick and dizzy/caused by low blood pressure
skin hurts (coz it does)
lack of appetite
bla bla bla
i also feel as though i probably have a chest infection
Now because of the swine flu I am not allowed to see the doctor if I have these symptoms and I think i need antibiotics for the chest infection. But I don't think I have swine flu and don't want to take the anti stuff. Perhaps the only way to see the GP is to lie to the receptionist, which by the way the surgery looks at present akin to a war zone, apparently to do with infection control which is joke.
Last week whilst picking up a prescription, the place was bare, and all were instructed to wash one's hands in the anti bug fluid which actually I am allergic to but never mind on entering and leaving the building. Most people seemed to be actively ignoring all instructions then going over to the touch screen to enter their details at the same time as cross infecting each other, no doubt. I know I could order the prescriptions over the Internet and then pick them up at the local chemist but that is a saga that requires a whole new thread! So anyway infection control is as i say a joke.
Family are bored with me feeling unwell now and despite the fact that I did not feel up to it I rose out of my pit and attempted to do some shopping. Not up to a supermarket I went to the local farm shop and came home with the following -
watercress, cheese twirls, chocolate cake, dog treats, chicken breasts, a geranium, a pretty ceramic holder to put my reading glasses in, chocolate ginger pieces, bacon, free range eggs carrots, runner beans, baking potatoes and a flyer about a car boot sale.
The things I should have got were not anywhere to be seen. Bizarrely I saw an ex-boyfriend's mother and his brother (very ex as I have been married 20 years) and I looked like complete shit, why that bothered me I don't know, I guess I would have liked both of them to say I saw S........ and she looked bloody fantastic. So not.
So anyway, if my temperature rises further and I start to get better in a few days then my guess is I have a touch of swine flu..... if my joints continue as bad as this with all other associated symptoms and my temperature remains lower than is normal for a person then its probably just the EDS. Lucky old me then....
4 comments:
I know how you feel. I had another bout of mastitis the other day and just ugh. I don't know how much of it was actual infection and how much was just plain EDS.
Your shopping sounds like things I would have come home with. It made me smile.
You need a smile at the minute Veronica. About the ugh stuff - just hope it all ughs right off asap.
If I could make you chicken soup I would. It is my cure for everything. Our dog Harry sleeps on my bed as well. Each time you write about your EDS I just find myself nodding along in agreement. Take care and pat your dog from me..
It made me laugh... "...a geranium..." right in the middle of your shopping.
I also have "flu-like symptoms" almost constantly. I get the fever from being in too much pain, and the body aches, and the lack of apetite, loss of sleep, etc. I also have an almost constant cough, because my stupid throat muscles don't like to comlpetely swallow the food I eat.
I've had people ask me if I'm infectious, because I look ill, but I tell them "nope, it's just my EDS" and they still keep a few feet away, because they have no idea what EDS is.
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