Monday, January 28, 2008

Sinus woes and lupus lessons

So, one of the many fun things about living with lupus is the constant second guessing about minor (and major) ailments. Is it a hangnail or a massive inflammatory response to something in my fingernail? Is it a reaction to my new face cleanser or is it discoid lupus lesions across my cheeks and nose? You get my drift...

I could not not not wake up this morning, and when I finally did, it was with a massive horrendous headache, with the world spinning, and feeling drugged. I think it's probably the start of my annual battle with my sinuses, and maybe a sinus infection. But there's that part of my brain that asks if it's lupus bothering my central nervous system (CNS). You might ask, CNS! Wow, you ARE a hypochondriac. However! Lupus often messes throughout one's life the organs/systems that you first showed symptoms with when lupus first messed with you. For instance, if someone had major kidney problems early on, that's likely the system that will really have problems later on. And that makes sense, right? Well, my first symptoms were joints, chest pain, migraines, eye problems, dizziness. The last three (at least migraines and eyes) are CNS-related. So, now when I experience exacerbations (flare ups), my poor head always gets the brunt of it.

So, circling back, even though I'm sure I'm just dealing with a sinus infection, there's always that niggling shriek in the back of my head, "can this be something more?" I'm ignoring it for now, having voiced it out loud, and am curled up in bed, warm compress across my head, waiting for the sinus meds to kick in, because it's bad enough that I'm missing work, but I can't miss school tonight!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry Sinus Sistah! Hang in there-lob Plock, Plock
K

Brenda said...

plock plock -- I'm going to finally listen to that one next!!!