A Writer's Life Interrupted #crohns #crohnsdisease #IBD

Boy, am I sick. It was a rough week. My friend died, I adopted her two dogs making my household a three dog house, and we had a fast run to the Bay Area for Halloween. I shouldn't have been surprised when a flare kicked in on Saturday, but I'd hoped that clean living and right eating would ease things somewhat.

Not.

My stress level is pretty high and I haven't been sleeping well. Watching someone pass is a difficult thing to do under the best of circumstances. Consequently, I haven't been this sick for at least five years and truthfully, I'd forgotten how really bad this shit can get. And it is bad. I haven't decided to go into the docs yet because he'll put me back on Humira or Prednisone or even both. I would really like to handle this symptom wise rather than through biologics and steroids. Of course, I have no idea how bad this flare might get. Already my clothes don't fit and I'm not in the mood for shopping.

Saturday night I tried pain pills. They are supposed to slow the digestive process and give a little relief. They worked through the night, but Sunday was rough. Real rough. Last night I tried Dicyclomine which is also supposed to slow down the digestive process so I can keep some water in my body. It worked for awhile, but let me tell you.....

Today I gave Loperamide a shot. I took two and low and behold, the diarrhea stopped and I'm keeping water down. Thank God because otherwise I would have had to visit the emergency room for fluids. So, pain pills work for pain, the other stuff works, but not very well. This stuff is great--as long as I don't end up with toxic mega-colon. My sister-in-law had that. Not good.

There is no improvement with the nausea. I could seriously dry heave all over myself but consider myself lucky that some fluids are staying in. Finally. (The perils of being honest.) Before I was diagnosed I would get like this and down an entire bottle of Pepto-Bismal. The stuff works, but you're not supposed to take too much. When you have no idea what's happening to you, you forget directions. That's not good either.

I'm tired, lethargic, and could fall asleep in my chair. Actually, I did that before I started writing. I feel one hundred years old and can't wait to crawl into bed. I often say Crohn's does not define me, but today it does. I did download the GI Monitor. It's this nifty little app that allows you to track your digestive issues. It contains a stress level, pain level, weight level, log, meals, questions for your doc, etc. And it goes on your phone so you have it with you all the time. Just go to your app store and search for GI Monitor. It will come right up. You can even socialize if you want, but I'm not in the mood.

On another note, I'm reading Harrowgate by Kate Maruyama. A warm bath, one pain pill, and a good book will go along way toward making me feel better. (I hope) Harrowgate has the same aura as Pet Cemetery by Stephen King. Yet, they are not alike by any stretch of the imagination. It is the darkness that surrounds both books that stays with you. Harrowgate gets a creepiness factor of 7.5. I'll do a review on it next week.

For my crohnie friends, here's a hat tip. Most people don't get what we go through. They don't know about the skin rashes, the ulcers, the vomiting, and the pain. They don't get the chronic diarrhea, the crohn's arthritis, the disgusting continuous nausea, the gastritis, duodenitis, etc. When we feel better, we even forget what we go through, though there are the reminders. Here's hoping tomorrow will bring a better day.

Happy Reading!

(((hugs)))

Louann

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