Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I Need A Cocktail... Now!


Well, okay, not that kind of cocktail, although that might be helpful, too!

I’m talking about a medication cocktail. Just as I thought “we” had finally found the right combination, Doctor C thinks that my itching attacks may be from the CellCept.

And after being off of it for a few days – with a lot less itching – I’m inclined to think that (unfortunately) Doctor C might be right. Although I have come to finger sunscreen and chocolate as possible culprits, as well…

I guess that’s the risk you take in consuming medications that don’t start to work for several months. It takes that long to figure out if you’re allergic to them…

Plus, I’m back to feeling less than well. On the one hand, I feel surprisingly okay for being sans CellCept. On the other hand, all of my wonderful lupus symptoms are back, full force. The headache that is always there, nausea, dizziness, muscle pain, fatigue (which I never seemed to shake), the crushing of my organs by my bones when I lay down (at least, it feels that way), and the flipping sore throat that seems to have started all of this nasty business in the first place.

In the past few days, I’ve sent e-mails to myself that were supposed to be sent to other people. And I think, does lupus really work that fast? And my answer is yes, since it only took one day for me to go from “normal” to “sick.” Obviously, there was more “incubation” time than one day, but the time it took for my life to get flipped upside down in the first place was nothing, not even a minute. Or maybe it’s just my perception of my life without the CellCept.

So, what to do? I guess if I’m actually allergic to CellCept, I probably shouldn’t be taking it. On the other hand, if I really am allergic to it, wouldn’t my throat have closed up or something? It’s not like my skin was itching all the time. It’s just that when it did, it made me almost physically ill because it was so intense.

Considering I’m back to feeling plastered against the wall and kind of hung-over without having drunk any alcohol, I probably really don’t need “that” kind of cocktail. But what I do need is to find some medication that actually works and doesn’t make me crazy. While the CellCept succeeded in preventing me from rejecting my internal organs, I think it managed to cause me to start rejecting my skin. Kind of counterproductive, don’t you think?

1 comment:

  1. Ugh, med side effects can be really awful, especially if the med was actually helping. Sorry to hear that the CellCept was treating you badly. Hope you're feeling better by now.

    hugs,
    MJ

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