It’s so frustrating! Those of us with a PID, or probably any other severe health condition, such as cancer, dialysis, MS, RA, etc, find that the balancing act within our bodies is, shall we say, extremely complicated. And that’s putting it mildly.
Example: I am prone to extreme edema, and need to balance it with diarrhetic. But then my sodium levels get dangerously low, so my doctors start to freak out. I mean, really freak out since extremely low sodium can result in seizers and death. I can’t just eat more salt, since too much of that causes my edema to get worse. And I can’t just double my water intake, since too much water dilutes my sodium levels. So I try to judge the diarrhetic dosage, depending on what my body is doing that day. High temperatures make my edema worse, so after I start to puff up, I have to take more hydrochlorothiazide for a few days. But oh, wait. I had a cold with a cough for a few days, so I took some cough medicine. Which had a decongest in it, which means it also acted as a diarrhetic. So, whoops! Too much diarrhetic. So now I’m whizzened, slightly dizzy and look like a prune.
And, well…… it never seems to end. Sometimes I feel like all my time is spent trying to balance medication, stay healthy, and get necessary rest. Most people can do that in the background of their days. Those of us with critical health issues often seem to spend most of our day trying to stay on top of those issues. Or at least it sometimes it feels that way.
Sigh. I think I’ll go walk the dog. I almost always feel better after I’ve walked the dog. And since it’s already dark, at least I won’t notice that I look like a prune.
Zebra's Child 