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That Sun, She's a Bitch...

Last Friday, my team had an all-day, off-site meeting at McMenamin's Edgefield, a large estate east of Portland (in Troutdale) that is home to a variety of different sources of entertainment: a hotel, a spa and soaking pool, a number of hotel-like places to sleep, a couple of restaurants... I could go on. It is a lovely place and on Friday the sun shone brightly and it was warm and beautiful out. We spent most of the day indoors, but there were a couple of outdoor activities that had us traipsing through the grounds looking for various items.

This was fun, yes, but it went on for about 90 minutes and by the time we all got back to the room in which we were having our meeting, we were all hot and sweaty and many of us had allergy-eyes (and noses and throats) due to the pollen and grasses and whatnot on the grounds of the estate.

After our "formal" event ended, several of us sat outside eating and drinking and enjoying the weather.

All good, right? Well, not exactly...

I was quite sleepy once I got home and after playing a bit with Rennie and getting various stuff in the house picked up, I went to bed early. I woke up on Saturday morning - following ~10 hours of sleep - feeling exhausted. Because I'd had plans to have coffee with my sponsor after my usual Saturday morning meeting, I dragged myself into the shower and then drove out to the meeting with the idea that I'd wake up gradually. Not so: I proceeded to (nearly) fall asleep multiple times throughout the meeting. It was just the strangest thing!! I just could not keep my eyes open.

After the meeting was over, my sponsor suggested we postpone our meeting, and I snuck out without talking to anyone and headed straight home. I'd also had plans with my pal Fran on Saturday to meet for lunch but as she was feeling ill we ended up canceling that too. So I got home, pottied the puppy, and then climbed back into bed and slept for another 7 hours. I got up again around 6 p.m., fed the dog and putzed around the house a bit before going back to bed around 9:30.

When I awoke Sunday morning, I was feeling better but still really exhausted. I canceled everything on my calendar that day as well, and just focused on getting rest. I spent about half the day awake yesterday, watching a bit of TV, adding historical information to my new budget software and generally just laying low.

I'm feeling much more rested and energetic today - enough so that I could get up and do a bit of yoga! I'd previously scheduled the day off work, thankfully, since I still wasn't feeling 100%. I did manage to get dressed and run to the grocery store, so that's an improvement over the previous two days, and I spent a large portion of time reading. (I'm about 95% through "Getting Things Done," by David Allen, which is good because I'm signed up to take one of his seminars in the coming month!)

Meanwhile, I'm left kind of scratching my head: I haven't felt that exhausted since coming crashing from my IV Solu-Medrol "highs" back in 2006: is it possible this is a relapse in progress? Or some kind of weird response to the somewhat-extended exposure to the sun? Or perhaps a delayed reaction to the drilling that went on at the dentist's office on Tuesday? Or maybe it's a delayed response, of some kind, to the Tysabri?

Hard to say. Seriously hard to say. This is, I think, the hardest part of MS sometimes: the just not knowing. Could it be this? Could it be that? Should I call the doctor? Wait until my next appointment to mention it? When it comes to MS, my M.O. is to just "wait and see." The phrase I hear a lot, "more shall be revealed" certainly applies to multiple aspects of my life - including the MS!

Comments

It's the sun.

Remember when we were in Hawaii and you got sick after being out in the sun? When I first got sick, I couldn't stand out in the sun for over 1 or 2 minutes without feeling sick and exhausted as you described. It's a lot better now, but I still don't enjoy being out in it for more than 5 minutes or so.

I'm so glad you're feeling better.

XO,
ACJ


"I could have me a million more friends, and all I'd have to lose is my point of view."

~John Prine

My Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis

On June 23, 2006, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Among other topics, this blog is devoted to my ongoing experience with the disease.

Pharmaceuticals

Shortly after my MS diagnosis, I began taking Avonex. Although I managed to mitigate the "flu-like" side effects, for the most part, the drug unfortunately seemed to exacerbate my clinical depression.

So, on July 19, 2007 I switched to Copaxone.The Copaxone worked quite well for a couple months - except for some minor issues with injection-site reactions - and I felt much better.

Unfortunately, the Copaxone also exacerbated my depression. So I met with my psychiatrist to find a mix of anti-depressants that would counteract the debilitating depression I experienced. After spending most of December 2007 in a complete funk and - some days - being totally unable to leave the house, I finally stopped taking the Copaxone on my own. I immediately began to feel better and with some help from my primary care doc - who discovered I also had a mild case of hypothyroidism - I started to feel like myself again.

On May 16, 2008, I had my first infusion of Tysabri. With the exception of some anxiety issues, I've had no trouble with it so far. Still, it's early and the jury is still out... stay tuned for ongoing updates!

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