Stress and Healing | My Journey to Wellness | PART ONE

Vulnerability at its finest here, y’all. I may even regret this whole 2 seconds of bravery and scratch the whole thing but for now, my hope is that someone else going through a similar situation will know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

However, even if not one person reads my rambling of words it’s still cathartic for me to get it out of my head.

Chronic illness can be a hard and lonely path to walk. And an even a longer path in reaching a diagnosis and finding the right medication combo to feel human again.

Many of you know that in January of 2020 I wound up in the hospital for 9 days with a perforated ulcer. The cause – partly from taking 2 ibuprofen every day for several years, and also, lots and lots of stress. That little “s” (BIG S?) word can do so very much damage to your body…

Why the long term use of ibuprofen? Daily migraine headaches (which thankfully are now under control because of an awesome neurologist who has worked with me to find a proper treatment combination) and a continuous muscle and bone/joint pain.

Long story and numerous doctor appointments later, I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease –Rheumatoid Arthritis and also Fibromyalgia. (My first being Hypothyroidism). Some believe that RA and Fibro (and autoimmune issues in general) are triggered by overwhelming amounts of long term STRESS. After tracking symptoms I found that one of my primary triggers for migraines and bone/joint pain is stress. (Which makes total and complete sense given the things I have endured the past several years…I’ve been thrown into some pretty dark and lonely valleys, but I am ever so grateful for a God who redeems.) #thankyoulord

RA is a systemic chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder. Autoimmune diseases are caused by immune systems that are in overdrive and attack tissue and organs. My immune system assumes everything is bad and attacks it. Side note – this would also explain why I rarely ever catch a cold.

The Rheumatologist was hoping if she treated the RA, the Fibro symptoms would “subside” and swiftly prescribed Hydroxychloroquine. Unfortunately, after taking HCQ for 4 weeks it aggravated the GERD so bad I had to stop it.

Next RX attempt was Methotrexate, but instead of pill form which does exacerbate heartburn she prescribed injections. For 9 weeks I dosed out a syringe and the Hubby administered the dose. I’m thinking he really enjoyed that part but of course was a perfect gentleman about it. 😉

Methotrexate is an immune suppressant used to calm down the cells that are in overdrive attacking my body. It can affect the liver so periodic blood work was necessary. Unfortunately, it caused one of my liver enzymes to elevate in numbers so Dr. decided to stop this med. Even though the MTX helped to alleviate a lot of the joint pain and stiffness it was also making me extremely exhausted. If I didn’t take a nap after lunch I would be a walking zombie the whole evening.

The MTX also did not touch my Fibro symptoms (muscle pain/weakness/heaviness/burning sensations, etc), so we decided to go a different route with the meds. Instead of an RA specific med she started a Fibro specific med called Gabapentin.

Does anyone else get really anxious about starting a new med? Word of advice with new meds – DON’T READ THE SIDE EFFECTS or even the list of warnings for that matter. Of course it’s in my blood to research everything (is this a strength? weakness? IDK), and so I read all of the above…and the online reviews…and the pharmacy pamphlet…and now I want to hide in a cave. I do like to hibernate so maybe a cave wouldn’t be so bad?

Anyway, the DR told me to take the Gabapentin at night to help me sleep. The first night I slept like a baby for the first few hours – woohoo – but, we had some severe thunderstorms in our area and our big bad Belgian Malinois is thoroughly scared of lightening/thunder so I was up with him for a good chunk of the night. (He cries like a sweet baby and it’s adorable, really. However, the rest of the family doesn’t think so at 2am so I’m the one who gets up with him). That day I had a migraine which I’m hoping was triggered by lack of sleep and not the new drug.

I go back to see the Rheumatologist in 3 months – cross your fingers this med is my miracle drug. Drop me a line if you’ve had success with it – jbphotodesign @ hotmail..com.

Before I end this post – if you’ve read this whole rambling of words I want to say THANK YOU for reading part one. ♥

To my fellow spoonies – I am with you and for you in prayer. We are in this together. ♥

I would also like to give a very friendly reminder – please be kind to people – to co-workers, acquaintances, family and strangers alike. A brave face and a bright smile do not always mean everything is ok. You never know what is going on within someone’s hidden world so the least you can do is not add to their burden.

Gentle Hugs – JB

JB Photo and Design, LLC | Jenni Blake is based out of Leavenworth County, Kansas but proudly serves the areas of Lawrence KS, Tonganoxie KS, Basehor KS, Eudora KS, Leawood KS, Mcclouth KS, Spring Hill KS, Gardner KS, Eudora KS, Lenexa KS, Olathe KS, Bonner Springs KS, Leavenworth KS, Overland Park KS and surrounding areas.  We love to capture images of seniors, families, children, events, landscape, maternity, and macro. But we also love to bake homemade items with love from our kitchen.

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