11 Oct. 2010

Another rough span of days.

Since that day a week or so ago I haven't had a single day of feeling even "good." Is this a new [low] level of normal? Time will certainly answer that.

My sleep has been increasingly restless. My mind may be trying to deal with my health on the subconscious level...I just don't know. I've now been feeling bad for a whole year, so I'm sure there is some stress my mind is trying to compensate for, or fix. What I do know is that I am awaking every day as tired as if I never went to sleep; and that I am having dozens of instances of partially waking every time I sleep, and feeling like I've had bad dreams. Strange.

Saturday was only slightly better than Friday. I ate a little more, though...which was nice. All day I still had to contend with the vertigo and general dizziness, a headache of an 8, visibly increased edema in my lower legs, the ongoing malaise, and a decreased urinary output (in spite of using the diuretic--as always). I got next to nothing accomplished and just felt like a lump all day.

Sunday was downright terrible. I slept for all of 90 minutes before being awoken by a headache that rated somewhere in the 9-9.5 range. It stayed at that level until later that night. Meds did little but make it back off to about an 8. Plus, my newly increased nausea was kicking my butt as well. I didn't eat anything until 830p. In total, I ate about two cups of food for the whole day.

In spite of being as tired as I was, I could not get back to sleep. I finally accomplished that around 930p; but only slept for four hours before being awoken (again!) by the headache. It was at a 9, again, and making me miserable. So, it was more meds, and more sleeplessness. Plus, about an hour after I took the meds, I got overwhelmingly nauseated within seconds. No reason...it just happened. So, I took the anti-emetic. Within ten minutes it had alleviated the nausea, but did little to help me get back to sleep until 630a. Then, I slept [restlessly] until 230p. Even after all that sleep, I am still tired and feel as if I could sleep even more.

However, as of this writing, the nausea has backed off (yay!), and the headache, too (yay!). My whole abdomen feels off like I've got the flu (you know...tender, slightly crampy, and just off). I've been up for 2.5 hours and have yet to eat anything, and really don't feel like eating at all. Looking at my feet today I see the edema has not decreased, and I'm even seeing a little swelling in my hands. It's not a lot, but it is definitely present.

Also, I trimmed my beard really short to see what my skin is looking like [because of the dry skin I've been having on my face and scalp]. I've got numerous patches of this dry skin on my chin, around my nose and along the jaw line.This is all in addition to the scalp dryness that started four or five months ago. I'm pretty sure the dryness is from all the meds I'm taking. Remember, I started having the dry scalp around the time my hair became inexplicably straight. (I'm just glad I'm not losing any hair!) Anyway, I'll probably shave my beard entirely to see if I can treat the dry patches. Hopefully I can.

That's all I wanted to mention today...I think...as always! :o)

Good Health to All!

ScottW