SO! Every week there is a new aspect to the adventure that we get to explore on our autoimmune journey...Here are are a few of the mountains I’ve been climbing lately.
GUESS WHAT?! I got shingles again. Second time in six months and the third time in my life. Funny … my former roommate and used to joke that I was an 80 year old woman because I could feel the change in the weather due to my nasty hip arthritis and I GOT SHINGLES at 12 years old and then again 24. HA HA HA…. very funny… *note the sarcasm*
Anyway, the shingles had been brought on by a difficult life situation I had to navigate. I had a couple of rough emotional days. Which included next to no sleep, a lot of time crying and running 3 miles in 30 minutes two days straight…. AND still not sleeping…. It was a mess!!! (for a reference my average mile when I am not an emotional train wreck is 11 minutes and 13 seconds)
That Saturday after the two days of crying and running I went for a walk with one of my friends, and my back itched like CRAZY the entire time. Later that night I asked my mom to check my back and, low and behold, there was a new shingles rash wrapped around the left side of my body.
I was pretty upset, spent much of Sunday crying and resting. I was able to get a hold of my doctor and get the medication that would stop the virus from getting worse, and now, two weeks later it’s almost completely gone.
**TIP: Stress brings on shingles. If you have the shingles virus in your body it will reappear if you are under intense stress. It is physical manifestation of what you are mentally going through. If you have any bowel or gut issues you will probably experience diarrhea (that's what happened to me during the 3 days of emotional fire I went through) or constipation. BE VERY AWARE OF WHAT YOUR BODY IS TRYING TO TELL YOU WHEN YOU ARE EMOTIONALLY STRESSED. It is so so so so so important that you take care of your body when going through a stressful time. Here are some basic things you can do to stay on track:
Get the medication you need (contact your doctor and have discussion about what’s going on in your body)
eat right (don’t binge on sensitivities or mass amounts of food to hide the pain of what you are going through)
And REST. (make sure you are getting enough sleep. I took 2 hour naps everyday when I had shingles and took sleeping pills at night. Rest is a magic cure, especially when your brain won’t shut down by itself due to your emotions. Sleep will allow your body to heal and your mind time to see clearly)
AND NOW BACK TO MY ORIGINAL TALE OF WOE…
The situation I was working through was finally resolved, with a very happy ending, especially since the shingles didn’t last long. But honestly, I was DRAINED from it. I was glad I had to go through it because if the journey of life was easy we would never BE SOMEONE. I choose to make life happen, not let it happen to me.
This last weekend my wonderful boyfriend was in town. We had to run to Walmart around 10:30pm. We had just finished seeing “Dunkirk” (go see it if you haven’t yet it was amazing). After getting in the car he says “french fries”...
I tried to resist insisting I didn’t need the fatty snack and I had just bought a pint of coconut milk ice cream I was going to eat when we got home. But he keeps pushing, probably because I complained about not being able to eat popcorn at the movies. Which was one of my favorite things and a normal cheat for me. Recently my corn sensitivity has started to get to me like it never has. So I quit corn cold turkey.
As a reward for my faithfulness to being healthy my sweet man bought me a fresh fried hot and salty medium french fry. And I ate them all. Why? Because I choose to live! Life is going to have it’s ups and down, and once in awhile you need let your hair down and enjoy a simple pleasure. I knew I would run off the calories the next day, so I partook.
Be balanced, enjoy living. You’re going to be drained, frustrated, heartbroken and sick. We all are each of these things as we live with an invisible and chronic illness. So as you endure your own week’s mountain, LIVE IT. LEARN FROM IT.
You’ve got this… I believe in you :)
