This is a photo of me while suffering from migraine/trigeminal pain, showing the asymmetry.
I don't know how coherent this post is since it's been written in so many parts, but I'm sharing anyway.
So, it's been two months since I last posted. I spent all of March dealing with another infection: my right tonsil and right ear were affected. I also ran a fever most of the month.
Obviously, the whole world has turned upside down since my last post due to the COVID pandemic. And the whole world has entered a quarantine similar to what I have been living for years. The whole world is learning to adjust to a similar type of isolation that is my whole existence.
So, my quarantine is similar but quite a bit different than what others have been recently immersed in. The similarities...I am staying home, avoiding unseen airborne particles that could make me very ill, don't change clothes or shower much, lose track of days, lack motivation and meaning, feel uncertainty about the future, and often feel very lonely due to the isolation. What do I call this? How about, "Tuesday"? Or every day. Yes. This is every day of my life.
But the differences have become so obvious to me at times while hearing people talk about their experiences. Similar to others, I have to be on alert for threats completely out of my control that can strike at any time every day of my life. So yes. I relate very well to those concerns that everyone is now dealing with, in addition to the actual threat of the virus. But with the endless onslaught of new triggers, it's like there are new viruses popping up constantly in my world. New threats around every corner. Also, obviously, my quarantine has been going on for years with no reason to think it will do anything but keep getting worse. I have to be afraid that my only remaining safe environment could become unsafe at any time (and is already contributing to my poor health). I do not get short excursions to the store or a walk outside like others. The outdoor air is rarely if ever safe for me, and my feet and knees become unbearably painful after about 300 steps. But for the time being, the biggest difference is that I am chronically ill with varying levels of chronic pain every single day of my life with no relief in sight. I don't just stay home. I stay home and suffer through my days. Boredom is really not a major concern in my life because so much is about survival and enduring suffering. So I know this is quite different than others. Routine is how I stay safe, so the monotony feels protective, not oppressive. Another way it is quite different for me is that there is no hope of treatment. If were to get infected, I would not be able to receive medical care or any kind of treatment. It is just not accessible to me. This article explains the extra concerns for chemically sensitive patients during this pandemic: http://annmccampbell.com/covid-19-and-chemical-sensitivities/
The strangest part for me for sure has been that while others are struggling with this new isolation, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of interaction and home activity. I am used to my days being largely mellow and quiet and dim and calm and alone. So this has certainly been an adjustment. Like all couples who are both at home full time now, we are having to find ways to accommodate each other into our daytime lifestyles. But I also have not experienced this level of connection with the outside world in years. I wonder if people will still have any interest in video calls once they are able to see each other in person again. I suspect not. I also wonder if doctors will still allow telemedicine when they aren't required to. I again suspect not.
The hardest part to cope with is the hope that others are allowed that is not meant for me. This type of message is unbearably sad to read:
I understand that it provides so much encouragement for those who are feeling desperate and trapped. But it just lays out all of the things I am unable to look forward to in life. The ability to look forward to my future at all.
All of this talk of treatment requiring a ventilator has prompted me to make sure that my paperwork is in order on this issue. Considering how poor my health already is and how poorly my body reacts to literally any medical intervention, I have outlined my wishes very clearly in a POLST document (Practitioner Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) as well as appointed a medical Power of Attorney to try to ensure my wishes are respected. This includes my desire not to receive CPR or ever be put on a ventilator, which includes a DNR order. This is incredibly important to me. I do not have any medical doctors really anymore, so I have no one to sign my POLST form. I can only hope it is adhered to or that my husband will be able to have my wishes respected if the time comes. I had a medical POA and a DNR after my last surgery, but I was given every indication that it would not be respected when a crisis actually came. I still remember feeling the need to cry out, "No tubes," because I was being threatened with intubation. This is why we really need strong advocates. I still need to have my power of attorney documents signed by a non-related witness though. So that is not really in place either.
So, my daily routine has gone mostly unchanged with the exception of my husband being at home. My diet is unchanged besides attempting increased portions, and my meal times remain the same. I have stuck with my same home exercise routine to try to maintain some strength. I have been really good at following it for the last 6 months, whenever the pain level is below an 8 and I don't have a fever. Unfortunately, my weight loss has been very limiting. At this body weight, my energy is lower than ever, and I am incredibly weak. I weigh a full 35 lbs. less than I did at my heaviest, and I was always slender. This kind of drastic weight loss is very difficult to cope with. Not just the hunger but the psychological toll. It is hard to feel yourself get weaker due to muscle wasting. It is strange to see new bones begin to protrude. My sacrum is so exposed now. My ribs and pelvic bones are very visible. And sadly, my round, smiley cheeks are gone. Instead, my face looks long and gaunt. It's weird to shower and wrap your arms so far around yourself because there isn't much of you anymore. It's strange for your wedding ring (which was fitted when you weighed 100 lbs.) to become loose. It is painful to no longer have the padding of flesh. And it feels like no matter what I do, I can never gain back what's been lost. Watching the scale decrease despite my best efforts is so hopeless. And my usual exercise routine becoming harder and harder despite my dedication is such a letdown. Like no matter what I do, I'm up against something too big to overcome.
As the pounds have slowly but steadily slipped away, so did my life force. The intensified chronic fatigue makes life even harder than it already was to get through. My ability to accomplish anything or interact much at all beyond my tasks of daily living is so low. And just getting through my daily routine often feels like an insurmountable challenge. My blood pressure being 70-80/40-50 definitely doesn't help with this problem. My blood pressure very rarely reaches 90/60, and my heart rate no longer helps out! My heart rate is usually in the 50s, so it's doing nothing to compensate for my hypotension. With such low vitals, I black out and have near-fainting spells very frequently, and there is just no energy to spare. Not enough oxygenated blood reaches my brain. Even wearing compression hose barely helps at all, because compression is difficult to achieve when your legs are skeletal. Also, I often no longer get my evening or late night burst of energy that I used to be able to rely on. This has worsened my quality of life quite a bit.
I did have a phone consult with my dysautonomia specialist, but even one of the very top doctors was not able to come up with a recommendation that he thought I would tolerate. That was a difficult email to read.
Digestion has been a major issue for me. My 5 safe foods are not the 5 foods that are easiest for me to digest. They are the only ones that my whole system can tolerate. I can no longer follow a low fiber diet appropriate for low motility. I have to eat what my system will accept. Digestion is actually an incredibly draining process that is often quite painful as well. I have also been maximizing my portion sizes as much as possible, leaving me incredibly bloated a lot of the time. Unfortunately, despite painfully adding about 150 calories to my diet, I have not regained any weight. Also, the food cravings can be incredibly intense when your body is crying out for more. There was a mention of French toast on a TV show tonight. They didn't even show it, or if they did, I looked away. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about French toast. This can happen with almost any food ever. Food commercials and advertisements for recipes and meal posts just seem cruel.
One thing I have a lot of difficulty explaining is the nature and degree of my cognitive impairment. It is variable and a little hard to describe. (It's pretty hilarious that I needed my husband to help me write this section. I have trouble putting it into words...which never used to be my problem!) I know my own lived experience, but it's hard to make sense of your own cognitive impairment for some reason! He explained it as low mental acuity with an undercurrent of energy due to ongoing low level reactions. In other words, my brain is usually a little agitated while also having a difficult time focusing. This helps to explain my default state during the daytime: I play simple games on my iPad, just to keep my brain from totally zoning out, while also watching shows on my laptop. I actually don't have the attention to be able to focus on just one thing most of the time. This is my comfort state. This is how I spend so much of my time. My brain has developed severe inattention, so it takes a lot of effort to just pay attention to a TV show. It actually takes much less effort if I am also playing a game. Although, I certainly miss out on plenty of the shows. ADHD medicine has been very helpful to me in the past but is no longer tolerated, like just about everything else.
Another good example of my level of cognitive ability is what my husband affectionately refers to as "trout face." While I am watching my shows and playing my games, my face is often completely blank, staring, with my jaw hanging loose. This is the trout face. I look minimally conscious (like a vegetative state), to be honest. And it is really my default expression. It requires energy to have a more normal expression on my face. I don't have that energy to spare most of the time. It can feel like my face is a mask, and I am unable to move it. I also think my mouth is open to help intake more air per breath with less effort, since my narrow sinuses are often inflamed. This happens on a daily basis. When pain is overwhelming my consciousness, I also revert to the trout state.
One facet of this is the effect of barometric pressure, temperature changes, and precipitation on my mental state. There is a huge correlation. I'm sure that sounds crazy to some people, but the strong association with migraines makes me believe it. Especially with my CSF pressure issues. Low pressure and oncoming storms lower my level of consciousness. Rising pressure or high pressure may also be painful, but I'm more likely to feel agitated and have trouble sleeping.
This whole cognitive problem really came about back in the dreadful year of 2013, almost immediately post surgery, when my mast cells got kicked into high gear. Suddenly, I was unable to follow an episode of Friends. I felt so confused. It is also when I had prolonged episodes of reduced consciousness and even loss of consciousness. Basically, it feels like they broke my brain. And then, it has gotten significantly worse over the last 6 months without my antihistamines. Antihistamines might make you feel drowsy, but if you are existing in an intense histamine fog, a Benadryl can help you come out of that fog and perk up quite a bit. I'm not me anymore, and that becomes more apparent with time. I am starting to understand all that I have lost of me. The cognitive issues seem to be actively progressive, affecting every part of my life and who I am.
My inability to follow TV shows also demonstrates my reduced cognitive capacity. So, I can no longer follow fast dialogue or very complex plots. Two shows that we started but were unable to continue were The West Wing and Damages. Interesting, high quality television. But I needed to pause and have my husband explain the previous scene between each scene! It was an exercise in futility. I have not often felt so stupid in my life. And I'm not saying I missed the intricate details. I mean that I literally absorbed and retained nothing from each scene. Another pretty huge example is Game of Thrones. Now, I did have some difficulty following the plot throughout, but usually reading episode recaps was enough to help me follow along, although my husband had to remind me of story lines plenty of times, much to his frustration, I'm sure. Memory is a major issue as well. I often retain very little between episodes and even between scenes. With Game of Thrones, I was only getting the broad strokes of characters and plot. Details were completely lost on me. Foreshadowing: gone. Anything beyond the main dialogue and major plot lines was completely lost on me. This seems to be why I did not share the common disappointment (devastation?) over the last season. I wasn't able to be let down, because I was never able to keep track of everything anyway. The main problem is my inability to focus and my slow processing speed. There are also processing issues (visual and auditory). I have no visual memory. So, slow but interesting dialogue without a lot of background distraction works best. I miss out on a lot due to my inability to focus, both on TV and in life. I can't even follow what someone is saying to me if there is background noise or activity.
Another area in which my cognitive impairment shows up in odd ways is in my social interactions. I often get asked how I am able to have seemingly normal social interactions if I am so impaired. If I'm not called upon, I remain in "trout face". However, when I am called upon, for example, for a text conversation or even a phone or video chat, my brain is sometimes able to muster the energy and the focus to attend to that interaction. However, this is variable and unpredictable, so I often don't answer. Plenty of times, I start an interaction and gradually fade away. Often, depending on who I'm talking to, conversations end up one-sided since I am too slow to contribute or ask questions. But other times, I seem to be able to have a normal conversation, although how much I have actually absorbed and retained varies. After I have engaged in an interaction (or any activity, really), I often retreat back to trout face and sometimes will even crash into a stuporous state. Sadly, this makes it even more difficult to socialize and explain my inconsistent ability to engage.
The last part of this is sensory overload. My brain gets overwhelmed very easily. Brightness often triggers ocular migraines. (And not what most people would consider bright...minimal or very brief brightness). But recently, I have learned that during the day, having too much light can also trigger an intense sense of uneasiness, an inability to relax, which can set off my other symptoms of mast cell activation.
Okay. That was a lot. I know that was a lot. It took forever to put thoughts into words and type them somewhat coherently! But I'm not done yet, because I have had so much on my mind that I need to get out! And I barely ever manage to do it. I wanted to write a bit about what's going on recently. The last few weeks, I have had two prolonged reactions overlapping (or more, depending on what you count). As soon as my infection and fever were gone, I decided it was time to trial my next potential medication filler for compounding in the future, which is my only real hope for future treatment. So, since I have already failed Avicel (microcrystalline cellulose-wood pulp) and rice flour, I decided to try tapioca starch. It is such a freaking inert substance tolerated by just about anyone. And how much did I try? About 1/16 of a teaspoon inside a safe capsule that I know I tolerate. That was three weeks ago. It caused my burning insides to return. I had had a nice respite from that symptom, but it is back full force now. It also made my eyes burn, my mouth burn, and my crotch burn. Additionally, I got a very full feeling in my throat. Throat symptoms are always something to be wary of. Now, I had overlapping reactions, so I can't say for sure, but these symptoms are persisting. I'm also becoming much more reactive to showers and flushing at random times, which is difficult. This is my face after a shower. Flushed with a rash. Being so pale, my flushing isn't as obvious as some. But if you know my porcelain-skinned complexion, you can recognize the delineation between my white skin next to my ear and the pink flushing on my cheek. I used to always have the same skin tone all over with no variation.
Here's another one that shows the flushing.
The next reaction was just three days later. It was a result of intimate activity. These two issues combined caused total misery. By the next morning, I had gained 5 lbs. of swelling, mostly around my pelvis. (Weight gain seems great, but this kind is fleeting.) Burning pain all around. Uterine cramping. Bladder retention and burning. And very sadly, my severe intestinal bloating after every meal has returned and persisted. I also ended up with another yeast infection and a fever of 99.7. (My normal is 97.6.) The fever lasted for several days, during which time my total body pain was about an 8. I mean head to toe pain. My mantra to myself has been "Give It Time." It feels like it's been forever, but it's only been 3 weeks. I just finished treating the yeast infection, so the worst remaining symptom is the severe bloating (often about 5 inches added to my tiny frame). I seriously just inflate like a beach ball in my gut. I just have to hope that this does not become permanent. But of course, symptoms easing up requires trigger avoidance, which is freaking impossible so much of the time!
I have a lot of concerns with summer approaching. Already, we have had some warmer days. And on warmer days, every smell is stronger. Scents permeate so much easier in the heat. Scents mostly get inside through our bathroom from the neighbor's apartment. I know every time she cooks and every time she uses scented products in her bathroom. And I don't just smell it in the bathroom. I smell it in the living room too. Scents also come in through the hallway door, although that has been sealed up with tape for quite a while. It's not much of a problem in the colder months though. Another big issue with summer is mold growth. Our bathroom lacks ventilation and is a bit leaky, so it grows plenty of mold. Mold seems to be a bigger and bigger issue for me each year. I have had to replace our bedding and get rid of old clothes and towels. This will be the year I finally get a dehumidifier. We have no room for it in the bathroom, but that's where it needs to go, so we'll make it work. We need it in the summer, because our wall air conditioner removes almost no humidity from the air, so we often reach very high humidity levels. I also have concerns about summer heat. When the heat and humidity are high, our air conditioner is not sufficient to cool the apartment, especially the bedroom. And heat is a vasodilator, so it lowers blood pressure and causes prolonged loss of consciousness. It also activates mast cells, so it gets you both ways.
Another summer concern is the outdoor air. I have the air conditioning unit really well sealed up right now so that I am mostly protected from the outdoor air contaminants. (Skunk smell still gets in somehow...or it could be marijuana smoke. I can't tell the difference!) But in the summer, that obviously needs to be unsealed, which allows tons of outdoor air inside, along with the air conditioner itself, which blows largely unfiltered air into the home. So every time a neighbor grills, the smoke gets inside. Every time a neighbor does laundry, the fumes come inside. Those are daily concerns all summer/early fall. Asphalt is another huge trigger that gets into the air and into my home in summer. There is no where safe. I am also truly terrified to find out if my mom's house will be safe again for me this year. Of course, I need to be in a state where I am not currently having a reaction. And then I have to be brave enough to test it out. I need to be smart about the timing. There is an idea called the activation threshold. Basically, similar to migraines, reaction begets reaction. If you are already reacting to something, you are at high risk of developing new reactions. This is why I have to spread everything out so ridiculously much. I know not to try something new unless my system is in a calm (for me) state. Many people with chemical sensitivities end up without a safe home, which is a scary prospect. So it's important I don't push myself. Anything can trigger an escalation. One big trigger or multiple compounded triggers.
Summer is also a scary time to have no antihistamines. As soon as we had our first thaw, I began suffering my first seasonal allergies without high doses of antihistamines around the clock. The sinus drainage has been terrible, the itchy eyes, and my ear is blocked a ton of the time. Nasal rinses seem to make it worse. And I still cannot tolerate any allergy eye drops or nose sprays. The fear of a mosquito bite with no round-the-clock Benadryl is also huge. I have massive, systemic reactions to bites. And the only way I have survived in the past is 2-3 Zyrtec a day plus a Benadryl every 3-4 hours and ice to numb the site of the bite for at least a week. I have no idea how I will survive my next bite if I don't have Benadryl by then.
My histamine symptoms are troublesome during the day, but they really flare overnight, when histamine levels peak. This is a rough photo of me on an average night. I sleep in two parts, so I always wake up during the night. At that point, I use the bathroom and apply more dry eye lubricating drops, because by then, my eyelids are swelling badly. They swell so much that the tear ducts get swollen shut, causing the corneal abrasions. But itching and sinus drainage and crawling skin sensations and heart pounding are also common overnight. In this photo, my lips are also swelling, as they often do at night. I rarely share photos of myself anymore, because my appearance is so embarrassing to me.
But of course, I have no allergist and no way to compound meds. I'm also not particularly willing to trial anything else. I go through way too much from each trial. And every time I tell myself, "Stop Trying New Things!!!" So, I have no idea what I'm doing. I guess I'm waiting for my current round of misery to end to hope I can get brave enough to approach whatever's next. I lack motivation to act now though, because I don't intend to try anything new. Just trying to maintain this marvelous status quo. But I need to find out if any local compounding pharmacies will compound the active ingredient in a capsule I give them with no filler. If not, I need to keep trying the fillers I haven't tried yet: sucrose, oat flour, quinoa flour, potato starch. But that will obviously be months of trials. And I don't want to wait that long or go through the extra suffering.
Then, I would have to see if my previous, less-experienced immunologist will see me again and try to help me. Ideally, she would be able to offer a phone appointment. I need to find some way back on antihistamines. They affect so much more than allergy symptoms. I also need to consider compounded Celebrex to reduce prostaglandins. I could attempt compounding Cromolyn Sodium, but I don't have much hope in that med for myself. The only other ideas on my list of "treatment options left for me" are Xolair injections (higher risk) and maybe Gamma Core vagus nerve stimulation. Dr. Barboi still wants me to try the chemo drug, Gleevec, which seems highly doubtful. That's about the end of the line for me.
I actually have more to write about in my blog notes, but I doubt anyone would keep reading beyond this point, if anyone even reached this point. So I will save it for next time. Thank you for reading and checking in on me. I love that people still care about my endless saga. This disease is progressive and relentless. Not for every patient. But for me, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome eats away at me, causing ever-increasing suffering and limitations. I don't even know how to hope for anything different anymore. Hope is a dangerous thing and brings so much pain. More on this in the next (super uplifting!) post.
Thanks again for reading what feels like a very incoherent post! I swear, I proofread many times, but I still don't know if it makes sense.
