Speaking of flu shots, with my weakened immune system I have been strongly advised not to get one for the past two years. No big deal. I have only gotten one flu shot in the past ten years, it was about 6 years ago, and I got the flu shortly after receiving the shot. I have snubbed the flu shot ever since. People always look at me like I am crazy when I say I don't get the flu shot; it is the same look I get when I tell people I don’t eat processed sugar. You heard it here folks I avoid flu shots and processed sugar; gosh I am so weird. Speaking of processed sugar, Halloween is just around the corner. This means I am going to have to steer clear of the candy pushers who get ridiculously offended when I turn down candy at the office. "No thanks" I say, "I prefer to snack on these raw almonds". Nobody believes me.
WOW! I am totally off track. My intention was to write about how my treatment to break up the biofilm (discussed in my previous post), combined with me discontinuing one of my antibiotics per my doctor's request (forgot to mention that in my previous post) has led to increased discomfort, tingly feet and crippling pain in my right hand, and I am right handed. The hand pain sucks and it happens to be the reason why my writing has slowed down. Trust me I have endless amounts of Lyme-related information and experiences to share, but by the time I get home from work it is hard for me to make a fist with my right hand and typing is the last activity that my hand wants to participate in. My hand has also been cranky about opening up jars, bottles and squeezing toothpaste out of the tube. The hand situation also led to an interesting first two weeks at my new job which I started a month and a half ago. Additionally, I haven’t been sleeping very well for the past two weeks. I am exhausted, a little spacey and I am experiencing bad headaches. I apologize in advance for all of my rambling. (Perhaps I should have prefaced this post with the lack of sleep/headache/rambling information). I could cut and paste it, but this is a good example of what goes on in my head during the week when I am trying to work, prepare all of my food, keep up with my Lyme disease antibiotic regimen, etc., while not getting enough sleep.
Guess what. I think I just figured out how I should begin this post! On July 29th I started a new job. Like any typical new job it involved orientation, a lot of paperwork, and shaking a lot of important people’s hands from many corners of the agency. In my mind, when meeting people for the first time whether you are in a professional or personal setting there is nothing worse than a limp handshake. Oh wait, there is. A sweaty limp handshake. Luckily for me my hand temperature is perfect.
About three and a half weeks into my new supplement and antibiotic schedule I began to notice some changes. I had increased pain and discomfort in all of the places that usually have pain and discomfort (neck, shoulders, hips, legs, knee, etc.) and one new place; my thumb. The side of my right thumb became very tender and constantly felt like it was bruised from below my nail bed to my wrist. If I used my hand too much throughout the day the bruised feeling turned into shooting pain that radiated through the rest of my hand. I was trying to get used to this new annoyance when I experienced a herx reaction. I discussed herx reactions in November 2012 in the following posts: "And then my immune system woke up" and "Buckle up and enjoy the ride". A quick review: A Herx reaction occurs because the Lyme bacteria, under attack from the antibiotics, start to break up and die, releasing toxins and other harmful debris as they do so. This, in turn, causes the body’s immune system to temporarily go into overdrive in order to cope with the abrupt deluge of toxins and debris.
I hadn't had a herx reaction in about six months and while I wouldn't say this was the most severe one I have experienced during my Lyme treatment, it did keep me in bed for about two and a days; Friday thru Sunday morning. When I went back to work that Monday, coincidentally my last week at my old job, I was feeling exhausted, extremely sore, achy and a little out of it. Two days later I took the day off to attend Mayhem Fest with Laikisha in Bristow, VA. What is Mayhem Fest? Mayhem Festival is a traveling metal festival that includes bands that represent a broad range of sub-genres including thrash metal, death metal, metalcore and power metal; just to name a handful. It is an all day event that involves a lot of walking around from stage to stage, standing, shopping, people watching and head banging. With my constant neck issues I did not partake in the head banging but I will tell you watching other people throw their heads around made my neck hurt more. The picture on the top left is a fine example of a t-shirt that I refrained from buying while we browsed the merchandise.
Laikisha and I had a lot of fun soaking up the sun and people watching while listening to the music. I am not going to lie though, walking around all day was adding to my increased aches. Take a look at the photo to the left of me throwing devil horns with a nice man that I met wearing half of a bear suit. My thumb is in the wrong spot. It is not because I don't know the proper way to rock the devil horns, it is because my thumb was too stiff to bend into the proper position. The half man/half bear didn't seem to mind, so neither did I. Long after the sun had gone down and Laikisha and I had dodged some seriously insane mosh pits, my posture was incredibly slouchy and my legs and neck were throbbing, but none of that stopped me from thoroughly enjoying Rob Zombie's performance which closed out the night. Laikisha and I left the venue covered in dust with hoarse voices and bizarre new followers on our social media accounts due to the Mayhem Fest references and pictures of Rob Zombie we had posted. At work the next day I was more exhausted, achy and robotic than usual, but I survived the last two days at my old job and had a phone full of unique photos from my Mayhem Fest experience to share with my co-workers.
I had a weekend to rest up, but I was feeling less than rested when I reported for my first day of work on July 29th. I was stifling yawns during orientation, I was trying to ignore the pain in my hand while filling out loads of paperwork, I was limping because my knees and ankles were so sore and I was hoping that I was only wincing on the inside when people were coming in with the death grip to shake my hand. Not wanting to be known as the "new girl with the limp handshake" I tried my best to firmly shake back which on a few occasions caused my shoulder to crack. Talk about a bunch of vigorous handshakers.
It was a good two weeks of multiple handshakes a day before my hand finally got a rest. I mentioned to a few of my friends that my thumb and hand pain had intensified due to all of the introductions at work. My hand looks totally fine to the naked eye and I didn't want people to think I was rude and making up a hand injury by not wanting to offer up my hand when they stuck theirs out. Some of my friends suggested buying a wrist brace, while others told me to lick or sneeze into my hand upon meeting people. I was trying to make a good impression. Licking or sneezing into my hand before extending it would have given off the wrong vibe, and worse yet, if I had been sick I could have spread germs to my new colleagues if for some strange reason they still chose to shake my hand.
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