Not much has changed since I last blogged. I’ve still been suffering from a major lack of energy, yet writing has come pretty easily when I can get motivated enough to do it. I read in some phenphedrine reviews that it gives you lots of energy… maybe I should give that a try.
Hubby has been trying to talk me into going to the doctor over some feminine problems I’ve been having, but I’m trying to hold out a little longer. That could very well be a big part of the reason I have no energy, but if that’s the worst it does to me, I can’t see spending money we can’t afford to spend on yet another doctor visit. I’m at least going to give it until next week unless other problems develop.
Despite being tired all the time and having a bit of anxiety due to the health issues and other minor stuff, I’ve been in pretty good spirits. And that’s a good thing. Hopefully I’ll be able to fight through the fog and turn some of this creativity that’s dying to get out into dollars.
Anybody out there ever get painful bumps under their arms? If so, what caused them?
I’ve had a few such bumps in recent weeks. I asked the doctor about them during an appointment I had for some other reason, and he said they were probably from sweating. I accepted that, because that was back when it was hot out and I was sweating a lot. But now I’ve got a really bad one, and I haven’t been sweating very much lately.
There’s very little visual evidence of it. It feels like it’s way down deep under my skin, and it’s pretty sore. I suppose it could just be a great big zit. I’ve thought about using some body acne wash that I’ve got and seeing if that helps. But it could also be the new deodorant I’m using. I don’t recall getting such bumps until after I first used it.
Whatever I do, I’m keeping a close eye on it. My mom has had cysts in the same area that had to be drained, and while that doesn’t sound very pleasant, I’ll do what I must to get rid of it if it sticks around.
My sleep habits have become extremely erratic lately. For instance, this past Saturday night, I had severe insomnia. I couldn’t go to sleep, and finally got up and watched some TV at 2:30 AM. I went back to bed a couple of hours later, and it still took me over an hour to get to sleep. I kept waking up after that, and ended up getting up much earlier than usual for a Sunday because I finally gave up on getting a decent amount of sleep.
Sunday night I had trouble sleeping, but not quite as bad as Saturday night. Monday night I slept like a normal person. And last night, I slept like a baby. I got up this morning to put Pumpkin on the bus and went back to bed. I would wake up every couple of hours, decide that it was time to get up, and fall right back asleep. I finally forced myself to stay awake long enough to drag my carcass out of bed shortly after noon, but I’ve been sleepy ever since.
I don’t know what’s causing all this. It’s not like I’ve been experimenting to find weight loss pills that work and therefore having major swings in my energy level. I’m assuming that it has something to do with my prescription medications. I had sleep issues before I started with them, but back then it was mostly on the oversleeping end of the spectrum. I had occasional insomnia, but not these insane swings between the two.
It would be nice to be able to find a happy medium on this. Just like most of the rest of my life.
As you may have noticed, I haven’t blogged in some time. All I can say is life has been happening and I’ve been dealing with another severe bout of depression. Maybe I’ll feel up to writing about that in more detail later, but right now I don’t.
As if the whole depression thing weren’t enough, the whole family has been having to run to the doctor a lot again. Well, except for me. It’s not that I didn’t need to go, just that I didn’t feel like I could afford it. So I decided to tough it out.
Hubby has had MRSA yet again. I just don’t get it. I thought once you got rid of it, you didn’t get it again unless you were exposed to it again. But with him it keeps recurring, kind of like herpes simplex, only not in the same area. You’d think that if he was getting reinfected, that Pumpkin and I would be getting it too. But we haven’t been. Anyway, he’s on antibiotics and it appears to be resolving, so that’s a good thing.
As for Pumpkin, she has been having more headaches and stomach problems. But for the past couple of weeks, it’s been an everyday thing. She missed three or four whole days of school, and we’ve had to pick her up early twice. The doctor did some tests and they won’t be back until next week, and if those don’t find anything, they’re going to do blood tests. But he seemed to think she might have some sort of fungal infection, so he went ahead and gave her an antifungal, and it seems like it might be helping. Today is the first day she hasn’t complained about any kind of pain, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
As for me, I’m feeling somewhat better than I have been. I’ll feel even better when I know that Pumpkin is well and happy.
The past week or so has been pretty trying. Hubby’s back has been in worse shape than usual, and its usual shape is not good. He hasn’t been able to do much at all, and industrious guy that he is, it’s driving him nuts. And seeing him go stir crazy is, of course, putting more stress on me.
I’ve been trying to convince him to go to the doctor, but so far I haven’t been able to. He says there’s no point in going in, laying on the exam table and being poked and prodded, only to be told that he needs to go back to the chiropractor or get some other kind of treatment that there’s no way we can afford without insurance. And, as much as I hate to admit it, he does have a valid point.
We’re both trying desperately to keep it together. Now is not the time for us to be going ballistic. Pumpkin’s birthday is this week, and we want to make sure that she enjoys it as much as possible. Besides, focusing on that helps to keep our minds off of the negative stuff, which is certainly a good thing.
I woke up this morning to a headache and pain underneath my eye. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on. The headache was, of course, the result of that stupid sinus infection. The resulting swelling was widespread, and included my lower eyelid, which is where that zit I mentioned yesterday (also known as a sty) is located.
My eye was noticeably swollen. Well, noticeable to me, anyway. Hubby didn’t notice it until I mentioned it, and Pumpkin hasn’t said anything about it. So maybe I’m the only one to whom it sticks out like a sore thumb.
I just wish I could get rid of the thing. I know that my usual zit remedies, rubbing alcohol and tea tree oil, shouldn’t be used in the eye area. So basically I’m just trying to keep it clean and not put anything on it. No makeup, no under eye cream, no nothing until that sucker is gone. I hate to not even camouflage the redness, but I want it to disappear as quickly as possible. I don’t have any big plans for the next few days anyway, so I suppose I can live without makeup if I must.
If anyone has any tips for making a sty go away faster, do tell!
Acne is something that I’ve more or less learned to live with over the years. As a teenager, I tried various treatments, some of which worked and some of which did not. Most of them that didn’t involve antibiotics would work for a while, but then my skin would get accustomed to them and start breaking out again. And I didn’t like the idea of staying on antibiotics for long periods of time, especially for something that was more a nuisance than anything.
Lately I haven’t really been doing anything about my breakouts, except for dabbing a bit of rubbing alcohol or tea tree oil on the most annoying bumps. But over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting zits in places where I’d really rather not have them. Like my underarms, my hips, and certain, er, unmentionable areas. But the worst so far is one that’s coming up on my lower eyelid. Can you say painful?
I suppose I really should read up on some of the best acne products and try to find something that’s not too expensive to try. Constant breakouts are no fun, and when they start getting painful, it’s time to do something about them.
My doctor got back to the office yesterday, and not a moment too soon. I called yesterday morning and asked if he could call me in some stronger antibiotics to get rid of this blasted sinus infection. I had felt like total crap for nearly two weeks, and I was ready for relief. They finally broke down and called me in some zithromax today, but said I would have to come in if it didn’t do the trick.
I hope it does. Back before I had my sinus surgery, trying to get rid of an infection in my sinuses was only slightly less difficult than finding a cure for herpes. The doctor I was going to at the time always wanted to give me the weak stuff, and when that didn’t work the next stronger stuff, and on and on until I had been on a zillion different kinds of antibiotics. It finally got to the point where Levaquin was the only thing that would work, and that stuff is ridiculously expensive if you don’t have insurance.
Fortunately the sinus infections have been much less frequent since the surgery. And while I just found out that the weak stuff still won’t cut the mustard, zithromax has worked well on all of the ones I’ve had so far. I hope it gets rid of this one quickly, because laying in bed feeling miserable for the past couple of weeks has left me with mountains of stuff that needs to be done.
I wish my sleep habits would just straighten out already. For weeks, I was dealing with frequent insomnia. I finally got the doctor to increase the dosage on my anxiety medicine to help with that. But shortly after that, I started staying constantly sleepy. For the past week, sleeping is pretty much all I’ve felt like doing.
I’m hoping that it’s all because of my sinuses. I also got some antibiotics for a sinus infection when I went to the doc, but after a few days it became apparent that they weren’t going to do the job. In fact, they seem to be making things worse. Unfortunately, I’m screwed until Monday, because my doctor is on vacation this week, and when I called and asked if they could call me in something stronger, the receptionist said that he was the only one who could do it. Never mind the fact that there are two other doctors in the office, and they could easily take a look at my file and call something in. What a crock.
So I guess I’ll have to just deal with the headaches, stuffiness, and extreme somnolence until next week. At least I have my anxiety meds to keep me from going completely insane, because I tend to get all bent out of shape when I feel like this. Hopefully I’ll get some better antibiotics next week, and I can get back to enjoying life instead of sleeping it away.
I just realized that I haven’t posted here in just over a week. But this time it’s not because I’ve been particularly out of sorts. I haven’t been quite as cheerful as has been the norm lately, but I think it’s had a lot to do with the sinus infection I’ve been contending with. That, and not having learned that I have to stay completely away from alcohol if I want to be in the best possible mental state until this past weekend. Not just one or two drinks here and there, but no drinks, ever, period.
Anyway, I went back to the doctor for my follow-up today, and he was happy to hear that I was doing so much better. I had a few minor things to discuss with him, and the sinus infection, but other than that I could honestly say that I felt great. He upped the dose on my Ativan so it would be more effective against insomnia, gave me some antibiotics, and told me to come back in four months. It’s good to know that, barring any major episodes or other health problems, the monthly visits are over for now. I like my doctor and all, but I’ll be glad to see less of him!
So now I’ve just got to work on getting my life back to some resemblance of normal. I’ve made progress, but there’s lots left to do. I still have a ton of laundry to catch up on, and I hope to get that done this week since it’s supposed to be warm, dry and sunny. I also need to do some serious cleaning and organizing in my office. My document management system leaves a lot to be desired. Well, actually, it’s pretty much nonexistent, unless you consider a zillion piles of papers in no particular order a document management system. It’s going to be interesting trying to sort through it all and deciding what to file and what to trash.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print, for now anyway. But I’ll try not to let another week go by with no posts.
