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Now that I am feeling better, I have slowly been able to see friends and to start writing this blog. It is an exciting change and nice to be able to do small things again. I have the desire to do everything that I can and to make up for the time that I have lost. But I need to pace myself and not over do it so that I can continue to feel good. For me, part of the struggle of living with autoimmune disease is figuring out my limits and knowing when to stop. Accepting what I can and cannot do.
The reality is that I cannot make up for the time that I lost, but I can make the most of the days when I feel good. And even though I am feeling better, I have to remind myself it is a still OK to ask for help from family and friends. I don’t want to take on too much and end up fatigued. I must admit that I had been known to try to take on too much even before I became ill. So I guess of all of this self-regulation is character building--right?
we appear on the same wave -length today! I just posted on this same issue of knowing when to pull back on the reins of life.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear you are making it back to the land of the living !
I'm sorry to hear that you were suffering for so long, but I'm glad you're feeling better! You're so right about pacing yourself--it's one of the biggest challenges of adjusting to life with AI disease (I'm still working on it), but it's so important.
ReplyDeleteSo many of your symptoms sound like Fibromyalgia, multiple allergies including food, CFIDS or ME, IBS, and IC. Do you think so much of these symptoms we never heard before are from our environment, sprays for grasses, and food preservatives ? Oh yes, and brain fog ??? Growing up I just don't remember so many people with all these "invisible" syndrome's and fatigue.
ReplyDeleteJust curious what your thoughts were.
Thanks very much for your comment. In my case, I have been diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Sjogren's. Luckily, I am getting treatment for Sjogren's and many of my symptoms have been improving. If you are interested, here is a link from the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation with a great overview of some of the symptoms: http://www.sjogrens.org/home/about-sjogrens-syndrome/symptoms. Some of them include dry mouth, dry eyes, arthralgias, joint pain, and peripheral neuropathy. I am not sure the role food preservatives and pesticides play in the development of autoimmune disease. Many scientists have attributed a combination of genetic and environmental factors to developing autoimmune disease. In Sjogren's, scientists think that the trigger could be a bacterial or viral infection. The prevalence of autoimmune disease is increasing and some experts attribute it to the hygiene hypothesis that I mentioned in my last post if you're interested.
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