Terrible Weekend

I finally made it into work today after spending the last three and a half days in bed.  I am tempted to think I jinxed myself with my last post, turning my frown upside-down on Friday.  Something happened to me right after lunch Friday and it was just a very bad weekend-plus-a-day for me.

It started with explosive diarrhea.  (Hey, shit happens.  It's my forum and I'm going to be frank here, so I hope you can handle it.  That's about as TMI as I'm going to get for this one, though.)  I spent a lot of time in the bathroom Friday afternoon dealing with that.  I finished up my work day and drove myself home, exhausted.  Once I got home, I was relieved and planted myself directly into bed with all the covers over me in my clothes. I was cold and I couldn't seem to warm up, though I don't think I had a fever because I never felt hot or unbearably chilled, just cold.  I probably warmed up some, though, because my chest hived out in a rash. 

Cholinergic urticaria rash on my chest, from my own body heat

For a minute I thought I was allergic to something I ate - maybe soy, maybe sushi - but after I thought about it, I realized that I get heat rashes like this.  I have cholinergic urticaria. My stomach felt beaten up so I didn't eat dinner.

Saturday morning, I tried breakfast, thinking I might need some nutrition, but I developed crampy, abdominal pain soon after eating, so I avoided eating much Saturday and just continued to rest and drink water while staying social with online activities via my smartphone.  I had a small, simple dinner of peanut butter and banana on bread, which was small and not too hard on my belly.

Sunday, I woke up with a headache.  It was the icky kind that I had a few weeks back, when my blood pressure was through the roof and my nose was leaking blood because it apparently had nowhere else to go but out a hole in my head.  I wasn't sure what to think.  My belly was a bit better, but my head wanted to pull me into the center of the Earth and flatten me.  I'm almost finished weaning off Savella, so I didn't know if it was a withdrawal symptom, a side effect from still being on it, or unrelated to it and maybe all about Friday's possibly tainted lunch.

I was useless and laid in bed.  I couldn't even imagine reading or looking at my phone for fun activities.  I was miserable.  I tried to relax and sleep.  I managed to nap, but only after those all-too-familiar starts to fully awakened consciousness, even before ever falling asleep.  This was happening in the pre-sleep stage.  I don't know what that is.  There was no noise, no dream, no reason for these moments that I could understand.  I guess something in my body really flips out when I try to sleep when it doesn't want me to.  When I got to sleep, I dreamt something irritating that made me feel a little cranky and remember awakening suddenly - for nothing.  Again, there was no startling moment in the dream or any noises to wake me.  It was all some internal burst of WAKE THE HELL UP NOW that I cannot comprehend.

Anyway, by Sunday night, I was able to enjoy a great home-cooked dinner made by my husband and didn't feel sick to my stomach afterwards.  At least I had that victory.  I also thought my headache was on its way out, but it seems to feel temporarily better WHILE eating, but then comes back again after I'm finished eating.  What is that?

At any rate, I hoped Monday morning I'd be all set without a headache and ready to work.  No dice.  Woke up feeling awful!  I gave up hope of going to work when I realized I couldn't fathom moving from the bed.  I wanted my headache to fade away, but it was very slow to do so and stuck around through the night.

This morning, the headache was small enough for me to move around a lot better, so I went to work.  I wasn't quite myself, though, but I notice that being around people helps me forget a bit and allows me to become distracted by work or personal chit chat or stories.  I also noticed that my voice decided to leave me.  If the past is any indication, my vocal cords atrophied from disuse over the past three days and now I sound like some kind of elderly smoker.  I will try not to let it bother me and just keep using it, so it can strengthen.  In the past, I mentioned how awful my voice had gotten but people always say they don't notice, so I guess I shouldn't worry.  Could be worse, I guess.

So, I'm on the mend from whatever the heck happened Friday, wasted a weekend resting and not having any quality time with my husband, but at least didn't have to take more than one day off work to deal with it. I'm also progressing toward my last dose of Savella, which will be on the morning of March 9th, if all goes well.  In addition, I've been learning lots about Lyme Disease and a possible connection to Fibromyalgia, and will be posting more about that soon.  There is lots to learn, but it is worth looking into.  If Lyme is causing my Fibro, I can at least try the treatment that has cured many already.  Stay tuned for more on that.

Thanks for sticking with me through this detailed post!