Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Eyes Again....

For about a month, I experienced daily auras in each eye (they took turns) and developed a twitching of my left eyelid. Constant. Daily.

So I had made an appointment with a neurologist to see what was going on.

And then the symptoms stopped. No more eye blinking, no more auras.

So for that I was glad. Didn't need the hassle of yet another referral to yet another doctor.

Until.....this week. They're baaaaaack.

Concensus among the Lupies yahoo group is the aura is probably caused by a migraine (painless) caused by stress, and they're probably right. I had been to Wal-mart to pick up a prescription and they had ONE person at the prescription counter. I waited 30 minutes in the drive through until I decided to hike into the facility and get my refill in person. And there was a line of six people. So I just sidled up to the person behind the sign that said "Consultation" and I said, as clearly and calmly as I could, "I know this is not your job. But I have been waiting for 30 minutes in the drive-through lane, and I would like to pick up my prescription NOW."

And she dropped what she was doing and went over to where the refills were stored and returned with my prescription. I thanked her as civilly as I could and returned home.

It was about thirty minutes later that my right eye developed the aura that was intense but beautiful(!) and it lasted for about half an hour.

Just the same amount of time I boiled over not getting my refill picked up.....

And as soon as the aura faded, my eyelid began to twitch.

Stress, huh? Just what I don't need.....

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The More I Learn, The Less I Know....

Life as a Lupie isn't easy. I'm fairly acquainted with most of the symptoms and medications used to treat this condition, but every once in a while, I'm kind of blindsided by another new symptom that reminds me that Lupus is Still Here.


This morning, after I finished taking my handful of necessary meds, I felt a strange tingling, then a feeling of numbness along my left leg, my left arm and hand.


OMG, I'm having a stroke, was my first thought. Yep, always go to the Worst Case Scenario, and then the REAL explanation won't seem nearly so bad. Right?


I then went to my computer to check my emails, and sure enough, there's an email from a fellow Lupie on the board, telling me about peripheral neuropathy.


Now, I have peripheral neuropathy in my feet, since I'm also a Type ! diabetic, so I'm acquainted wiith the feeling of pain/numbness/tingling if I don't take the Flexeril for a day or two. Of all my meds that I refill faithfully, this is the top one. I can do without the Plaquenil for a day, or the high blood pressure med, even, for a night, but oh, I can't do without the Flexeril.


I had tried Neurontin and had an adverse reaction after two weeks. I won't go into details, aren't you glad -- because I think I've already blogged about it earlier. Anyway, I told my rheumy of that awful experience, so we brainstormed on what type of med I could tolerate, and landed on good old Flexeril, which I had taken a long time ago.


So, long story short, now I know, thanks to the online support groups called LUPIES, a yahoo group, I have the information I needed to deal with this latest odd syndrome.



If you're reading this, and are not in a support group, go online to LUPIES@yahoogroups.com . You'll find answers to your questions and a whole lot of understanding.