The 2013 Roller Coaster and Hope for 2014

Last year (2013) was a bit of a roller coaster.  It started and ended a bit rocky but had a fantastic middle.  The year began with my divorce.  I then enjoyed the healthiest several months of my entire adult life.  My strength and endurance improved so much that I was able to start exercising (in a limited fashion) again.  I was happy and healthy.  I could easily do things I hadn't done much of in years -- I went out with friends.  I took long walks.  I traveled.  I went dancing.  The most amazing part is that I did all these things without a major crash. 

Unfortunately, my good health decided to take a sabbatical around October.  It started with strep throat and a round of antibiotics.  Then I caught a nasty cold with a cough so bad it required codeine cough medicine (not as fun as you might think) just so I could sleep through the night.  I got another strep infection -- this time it was much worse with a higher fever and more swelling, pain, and puss on the tonsils (yum!) -- and went on another round of antibiotics.

At some point I managed to catch a case of bacterial pinkeye (which required antibiotic drops) and another strep infection (and more antibiotics), though I suspect it was the same strep infection all along that was not getting fully cured with the antibiotics.  Finally, I ended 2013 with not one but TWO urinary tract infections, each of which required a round of antibiotics.  To make these last few months even more enjoyable, I suffered from multiple cases of diarrhea and yeast infections due to all the antibiotics (despite taking high doses of probiotics).  Fun times.  

Whew! In case you weren't counting, I was on six different antibiotics from October through December. 

On the bright side, I have not lost too much of my strength and have still been able to keep active.  On the down side, I'm concerned about the toll the antibiotics have taken on my body, and I'm worried about my immune system and why it decided to fail me so much at the end of the year.  Was I just unlucky?  Was I doing too much and pushing my body too hard?  Or is there something else going on that I need to be concerned about?

I'll be making an appointment with my rheumatologist soon.

Looking back at 2013, I have to say that the great improvement in my health and quality of life thanks in large part to the CoQ10 and Plaquenil made it a good year overall.  The rocky patches were undoubtedly rough and extremely unpleasant, but I've come through relatively unscathed. 

I finished my last round of antibiotics a few days ago.  As of this moment, as far as I know, I don't have any infections (bacterial, yeast, or otherwise) and feel generally fine other than a headache.  I'll consider this a good start to 2014.  It's the little things, right?

I've got hope that 2014 will be a good year for me.  I hope it's a good one for you, too! 

I'm Angry

So I don't normally write more than one post in a day. I also don't write when I'm feeling sick, but this time I needed to write so that I could clear my mind and go to sleep.

I'm angry.

I went to the walk-in clinic today (see previous post) to try to get a throat culture, as my current symptoms are what I experience when I have a bacterial throat infection. I'm still running a low-grade fever and it feels like a knife is stabbing my throat when I swallow.

I chose this particular clinic because the online description said that it was equipped to diagnose for strep throat. Unfortunately, this claim is not entirely true. They are able to conduct the rapid strep test -- but not the true throat culture.

Of course, I didn't learn this little fact until after I had been checked in and paid my fee.

What's the difference? Well, thanks to my funky immune system, my body does not react to infections like most (read: textbook) cases.

When I have a bacterial throat infection, I do not run a high fever. In fact, there are times when my body temperature has remained normal despite confirmation of infection. My throat also does not always get white spots or streaks that are characteristic of bacterial infections, especially since getting my tonsillectomy (and, yes, you can still get strep throat after you've had a tonsillectomy). Additionally, my rapid strep test results have ALWAYS come back negative (that is, the test detected no trace of strep) even when it was later confirmed by throat culture that I did indeed have a bacterial infection.

That's why I need the full-blown throat culture when I have a very painful sore throat...just in case.

Now back to the point of my post of why I'm so angry. Here's why:

• The lack of the throat culture made me feel duped; the clinic's website was misleading.
• The healthcare worker I saw was not a doctor, and there was no doctor in sight. She was the only healthcare worker on call at the "clinic" (if you can really call it that).
• When taking my health history, the healthcare worker did not understand that CFS can affect the immune system. As far as I could tell, she didn't really even know what CFS was other than something that makes people tired.
• The healthcare worker did not believe me when I explained that my strep symptoms tend to be atypical. She merely told me that most sore throats in adults are caused by viruses. Well, duh.
• When the healthcare worker looked at my throat she said that she could see nothing wrong and told me: "My throat is redder than your throat." Seriously?! This person is telling me that her throat is redder than my throat?! Is that supposed to make my throat suddenly feel better? (My throat is red, for the record, but we didn't bother doing the rapid strep test.)

It's the last point that was the spoiled icing on the awful-tasting cake. I paid money to hear about my not-a-real-doctor healthcare worker's throat and to feel belittled. I'm angry because this entire farce was a complete waste of my time and energy, and my time and energy are precious. I'm angry because the healthcare worker didn't believe me. I'm angry because it shouldn't be this difficult to find a doctor to get a throat culture. I'm angry at the state of our healthcare system. I'm also angry because I'm still sick and am no closer to a diagnosis. (This last sentence can be taken on a number of levels.)

This experience reminded me how far we still need to go to educate everyone in the healthcare field...but that's too big a topic to address here.

I still have a fever; my throat still hurts; my body is still achy. But I'm a little less upset now that I've had the chance to vent.

It's time for bed.