Okay, so I watched Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead last night. Warning, there may be some spoilers in this post, but I think we can all guess what happens -- fat, unhealthy guy goes on a juice fast and gets skinny and healthy.
It really was interesting to follow Joe on his journey across America (though I'm still not sure why he had to travel across the US, especially when he's from Australia), but it was even more interesting to follow Phil as he started his juice diet. Who is Phil? Phil is a truck driver that Joe randomly met at a truck stop that had the same rare autoimmune disease (urticarial vasculitis) as he did. Joe shared his juicing experience with Phil and gave him his card if he ever wanted to try it and needed help getting started. Joe finished his 60 day juice fast and returned to Australia. Months later, he got a desperate call from Phil who said he didn't know what else to do and would like to accept Joe's offer for help. Joe dropped everything to meet Phil in Iowa and help him start a 10-day juice fast. After 10 days, Phil was doing so well he increased it to 30 days, then to 60 days. Long story short, juicing helped Phil not only change his health, but his whole life. In addition, he was able to get off of the hydroxychloroquine, methotrexate, and prednisone pills (sound familiar?!)! He is no longer a truck driver and now spends his time helping and inspring others to get healthy and improve their lifestyle.
While I don't think I could do a juice fast, the film has gotten me to think more about my diet. I definitely would like to incorporate more fuits and veggies into my diet and decrease the amount of processed foods I eat. Here is a link to the Reboot website if you'd like to learn more about the program and juicing:
http://jointhereboot.com/
- a little lupie -
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead
HOWEVER, as I was browsing through some of my lupie blogs, Carla (The Singing Patient), wrote about the DVD and mentioned that it was about Joe Cross, a man who was 100 pounds overweight thanks to all the steroids he was taking for a debilitating autoimmune disease. Now this caught my attention!
The Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead website says that the film documents Joe's journey as he decides to go on a 60-day juice fast and travel across the US to talk to other Americans about their health.
The film has gotten good reviews, so I am inclined to check it out. I've added it to my Netflix queue and will report back once I've watched it.
- a little lupie -
Monday, July 18, 2011
Malaise
I never heard of the term "malaise" before I had lupus, but I'm pretty sure it is what I am suffering from these days.
Malaise can be defined as a generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being. It's when you know that something is wrong but can't pinpoint what it is. Malaise is a symptom that can occur with almost any significant health condition. It may start slowly or quickly, depending on the type of disease. Fatigue occurs with malaise in many common diseases. Mailaise can be accompanied by a feeling of not having enough energy to accomplish usual activities.
My nausea has subsided, and has been replaced by malaise. I don't necessarily feel bad -- I can still manage through my day -- but I definitely don't feel good. Malaise may be a symptom of lupus, and it may be a side effect of medication, so it is difficult for me to to identify the cause. I have found that once I start to get hungry, I quickly become weak and fatigued. I also need to allow myself more time to rest between activities. Hopefully this will pass soon...
- a little lupie -
Malaise can be defined as a generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being. It's when you know that something is wrong but can't pinpoint what it is. Malaise is a symptom that can occur with almost any significant health condition. It may start slowly or quickly, depending on the type of disease. Fatigue occurs with malaise in many common diseases. Mailaise can be accompanied by a feeling of not having enough energy to accomplish usual activities.
My nausea has subsided, and has been replaced by malaise. I don't necessarily feel bad -- I can still manage through my day -- but I definitely don't feel good. Malaise may be a symptom of lupus, and it may be a side effect of medication, so it is difficult for me to to identify the cause. I have found that once I start to get hungry, I quickly become weak and fatigued. I also need to allow myself more time to rest between activities. Hopefully this will pass soon...
- a little lupie -
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
I Hate It...
I am sitting here with 4 little pills in front of me....stalling...because I hate taking my medication. It sounds really silly, but it is really something I dread. I almost would say that it is the worst part of having lupus, but now that really is silly. I still haven't mastered pill swallowing, so it takes me a couple gags before I get it down.
The other part I hate is probably something that others can relate with -- the side effects. Right now, my joints and fatigue are not that bad, and the number one thing I am suffering from is the nausea that comes from taking my medication! Knowing that the nausea is connected to the pill makes it even tougher to swallow!
I take my azathioprine and plaquenil at night now so that I can sleep through some of the nausea, but it causes me to put it off and put it off. When I took all my medication in the morning, I'd do it and it'd be over for the rest of the day. Now it is something I spend the whole day dreading... :(
Okay, guess I have to stop whining and suck it up now (actually, swallow it down). Here I go...
- a little lupie -
The other part I hate is probably something that others can relate with -- the side effects. Right now, my joints and fatigue are not that bad, and the number one thing I am suffering from is the nausea that comes from taking my medication! Knowing that the nausea is connected to the pill makes it even tougher to swallow!
I take my azathioprine and plaquenil at night now so that I can sleep through some of the nausea, but it causes me to put it off and put it off. When I took all my medication in the morning, I'd do it and it'd be over for the rest of the day. Now it is something I spend the whole day dreading... :(
Okay, guess I have to stop whining and suck it up now (actually, swallow it down). Here I go...
- a little lupie -
Friday, July 8, 2011
The BaRF Meter
I enjoy reading Dr. Grumpy's blog -- not for medical advice, but for some medical humor. The humor doesn't come in the form of jokes, but in the absurdity of real-life situations this neurologist comes across every day. In a recent post, he shows a medical rating scale he came across to ask kids how nauseous they feel. It is called the Baxter Retching Faces (or BaRF) Scale. This is for real, and further Googling shows that quite a bit of research went into its development.
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Since I have been dealing with nausea recently, I thought it might be interesting to show how I am feeling on the BaRF meter. I am currently a 2, with just a little uneasiness in the tummy. However, when I don't have food in my tummy and I start to get hungry, that can quickly change to a 4 or 6. I've had a couple days in the past couple weeks where I reached an 8 and 9. I'm making up the 9 because I was dry heaving but nothing really came up. Luckily, no 10 yet...
Overall, I am feeling less nauseated than I was when I first started taking the azathioprine. Hopefully this is a good sign that the nausea will eventually pass.
- a little lupie -
Since I have been dealing with nausea recently, I thought it might be interesting to show how I am feeling on the BaRF meter. I am currently a 2, with just a little uneasiness in the tummy. However, when I don't have food in my tummy and I start to get hungry, that can quickly change to a 4 or 6. I've had a couple days in the past couple weeks where I reached an 8 and 9. I'm making up the 9 because I was dry heaving but nothing really came up. Luckily, no 10 yet...
Overall, I am feeling less nauseated than I was when I first started taking the azathioprine. Hopefully this is a good sign that the nausea will eventually pass.
- a little lupie -
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Busy, Busy Lupie
I haven't forgetten about my blog! I actually think about writing every night, but then I get too tired to open up my computer and am not good enough with my phone yet to type a whole post while lying in my bed.
It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. Every day after work we would work on the new house -- installing molding, patching up holes, painting, cleaning, etc. Then when it got dark, we'd head to the old house and start packing up for the move. We'd work 'til late at night, wake up the next morning, load up the car with some of the boxes we packed, go to work, go to the new house to unpack the boxes and do more patching/painting/cleaning. It made for some long days and nights, and I couldn't wait for it to be over.
I am very lucky to have the best Mommy and Daddy who helped us every day. Not only did they help us paint, clean, move boxes, and unpack, but they even brought us dinner every night so it was one less thing we would have to worry about. I don't think I could've made it through the week without them.
Saturday was our big moving day. We rented a U-Haul truck and a bunch of friends helped us load up our furniture and the rest of our boxes. I also had a Rheumy appointment scheduled this day, so I snuck out for a little bit. I have to admit, it was nice to get away from the house stuff for awhile...even if it was for a doctor's visit.
Rheumy asked me how I was doing with the azathioprine, and I shared with him that it still made me feel nauseated every day. He asked if I wanted to try something else, and I asked him what the results of my bloodwork was. I haven't experienced any joint pain since my last visit a month ago, so if the medicine is helping, I would try to push through the nausea. But he said that my lab work actually got worse. My white blood cell count dropped significantly, along with my red blood cell count. The one good sign is that my platelet count was stable, which is one thing they look for when on a medication like azathioprine.
I asked Rheumy what my other options were, and they were the same as he mentioned before. Methotrexate would probably be the next medicine to try, but if I am thinking of getting pregnant anytime soon, it wouldn't be a good option. It can also cause nausea and hair loss. The other option is sulfasalazine which would only treat the joint pain and not any of the other symptoms of lupus. Since joint pain hasn't been a problem recently and the pill has been described as a "horse pill", it wasn't a good option for me either.
I asked Rheumy if the nausea caused by the azathioprine would go away, and he said it might, but some people are just sensitive to the medication, and it might not ever go away. I also mentioned that we've been really busy with the house move and asked if that could have an effect on my lab results. He did say that stress could play a factor. We decided to keep my medication the same for another month and see how things go. We didn't want to drop my prednisone down yet since my blood count dropped.
Current Rx: 200 mg plaquinel, 100 mg azathioprine, 2.5 mg prednisone, 50mcg levothyroxine.
- a little lupie -
It has been a busy couple of weeks for us. Every day after work we would work on the new house -- installing molding, patching up holes, painting, cleaning, etc. Then when it got dark, we'd head to the old house and start packing up for the move. We'd work 'til late at night, wake up the next morning, load up the car with some of the boxes we packed, go to work, go to the new house to unpack the boxes and do more patching/painting/cleaning. It made for some long days and nights, and I couldn't wait for it to be over.
I am very lucky to have the best Mommy and Daddy who helped us every day. Not only did they help us paint, clean, move boxes, and unpack, but they even brought us dinner every night so it was one less thing we would have to worry about. I don't think I could've made it through the week without them.
Saturday was our big moving day. We rented a U-Haul truck and a bunch of friends helped us load up our furniture and the rest of our boxes. I also had a Rheumy appointment scheduled this day, so I snuck out for a little bit. I have to admit, it was nice to get away from the house stuff for awhile...even if it was for a doctor's visit.
Rheumy asked me how I was doing with the azathioprine, and I shared with him that it still made me feel nauseated every day. He asked if I wanted to try something else, and I asked him what the results of my bloodwork was. I haven't experienced any joint pain since my last visit a month ago, so if the medicine is helping, I would try to push through the nausea. But he said that my lab work actually got worse. My white blood cell count dropped significantly, along with my red blood cell count. The one good sign is that my platelet count was stable, which is one thing they look for when on a medication like azathioprine.
I asked Rheumy what my other options were, and they were the same as he mentioned before. Methotrexate would probably be the next medicine to try, but if I am thinking of getting pregnant anytime soon, it wouldn't be a good option. It can also cause nausea and hair loss. The other option is sulfasalazine which would only treat the joint pain and not any of the other symptoms of lupus. Since joint pain hasn't been a problem recently and the pill has been described as a "horse pill", it wasn't a good option for me either.
I asked Rheumy if the nausea caused by the azathioprine would go away, and he said it might, but some people are just sensitive to the medication, and it might not ever go away. I also mentioned that we've been really busy with the house move and asked if that could have an effect on my lab results. He did say that stress could play a factor. We decided to keep my medication the same for another month and see how things go. We didn't want to drop my prednisone down yet since my blood count dropped.
Current Rx: 200 mg plaquinel, 100 mg azathioprine, 2.5 mg prednisone, 50mcg levothyroxine.
- a little lupie -
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