Spring allergy season and the warm-weather cold season are
raging, and multiple sclerosis warriors are slugging it out against extra
symptoms. Some face added frustrations, as any illness can make living with MS
increasingly challenging.
For me, it started with seasonal allergies. Heck, I never
even had seasonal allergies till my mid-30s. Now they are a pretty predictable
harbinger of spring.
Warm winds blew, as I planted my garden and patio pots with
bright spring flowers. Dust and pollen whirled (most unseen) around me, while I
trotted my dog out for daily jaunts in quiet neighborhoods and woodsy trails.
Then the sneezing started. We’re not talking about a few dainty
little sniffles. These were non-stop manly snorts that took my breath away and
could have cleared crowded amphitheaters.
Before long, simple allergies led to head congestion,
followed by sinusitis and then a full-blown sinus infection. Meanwhile, fluid
began building up in my lungs, leaving me wheezing and coughing like a sick
dinosaur. At night, I gasped in my bed, with a rattling rale that sounded like
someone was moving heavy equipment inside my chest walls.
Breathing difficulties exacerbated the nearly ever-present
MS vertigo too.
This is not exactly
the spring picnic I had hoped for, I groaned to myself.
Yada. Yada. You know
the drill.
MS complicates everything. In a flash, the dreaded MS hug
wrapped around my torso. I couldn’t catch a breath – or a break.
Like any experienced MSer, I know we face an increased risk
of contracting pneumonia. And the stark reality is clear: People don’t die of
MS. But they can die of complications of MS. And the primary culprit is often
pneumonia.
“Get thee to a doctor,” is the perennial refrain.
Finally, I did.
At the clinic, they diagnosed me with a sinus infection and
bronchitis. They gave me a boatload of prescriptions, including antibiotics and
a powerhouse antihistamine/decongestant and an inhaler.
Oh, and pretty clear instructions to slow down for a while.
Oh, and pretty clear instructions to slow down for a while.
Yeah, right.
Mostly, this is all helping. I get that it’s gonna take some
time. I’m still overdoing it (in terms of personal exertion), nearly daily, and paying a price for that.
Like any medications, these drugs have a few side effects I don’t
like. And the antibiotic pills are ginormous and hard to swallow, especially
with the MS gag reflex in full attack mode.
But I am grateful to have the prescription treatments. In
days gone by (like before antibiotics), basically healthy people used to die from these sorts of
illnesses. Now those conditions may just lay us up for a week or so. Sure, I
know it will take a little longer to come back to full speed (just because the
MS MonSter lurks for times when we are compromised like this).
I’m still hacking with a chest-racking cough. I’m still
sneezing non-stop. I’m still going through tissue boxes like they are going out
of style. I still run out of steam far faster than usual.
But I’ll be back …
once I catch my breath again!
Image/s:
Adapted by this user
from GNU Documentation License photo
Wikipedia Commons Images
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