Saturday, December 14, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
December 8 – Slow Improvement!
Entering month 6 and slowly recovering from a flare that hit about a month ago. Mostly good news this time, so we’ll get the bad stuff over first.
The BAD:
- My hands are bad, and are the worst part of my body. Cracked, dry, and itchy. My palms are extremely sensitive and will act up if I do anything with my hands. The flare caused the skin flaking everywhere to return. Not as bad as before, but I find a trail of skin flakes wherever I go.
- I do not feel up to travelling. I will be missing a Christmas family reunion that will very likely be my Mom’s last Christmas. I never made it to Lubbock this season to watch my daughter march.
- I read about this and was expecting it sooner: I am losing my hair. It has thinned considerably and what was just thinned before is nearly bald. I hope the hair returns, but at my age I am not expecting it.
The GOOD:
- In general, I am better in all regards. Primary issue remains the itching everywhere. The hot/cold/sweat thing is better, and the electrical/nerve twitches are essentially gone. I am not taking baths all the time, in fact it has been several days since I took one (thanks to a bathtub leak that encouraged me to skip it). When I get home from work I take a very long hot shower.
- I did make it to Cowboy Stadium mid-November to see my daughter march during the TT vs. Baylor game!
- I am hoping to fly to Seattle to see my mom and rest of the family in January.
- I am off Ambien! I have been taking it for several months and after reading some horror stories about getting off of it, I decided to try stopping. For a few days I took half of a pill, then went to nothing last weekend, and I still slept! This is a biggie. I am still back to sleeping on the lounge chair and the next step is to see how it goes actually sleeping with my wife.
- I continue to rely perhaps too much on hydroxyzine, but it seems to be my best option for controlling the itching and has fewer side effects than ibuprofen. I hardly take any ibuprofen now, and the buzz in my head and ringing in my ears has improved.
The BAD:
- My hands are bad, and are the worst part of my body. Cracked, dry, and itchy. My palms are extremely sensitive and will act up if I do anything with my hands. The flare caused the skin flaking everywhere to return. Not as bad as before, but I find a trail of skin flakes wherever I go.
- I do not feel up to travelling. I will be missing a Christmas family reunion that will very likely be my Mom’s last Christmas. I never made it to Lubbock this season to watch my daughter march.
- I read about this and was expecting it sooner: I am losing my hair. It has thinned considerably and what was just thinned before is nearly bald. I hope the hair returns, but at my age I am not expecting it.
The GOOD:
- In general, I am better in all regards. Primary issue remains the itching everywhere. The hot/cold/sweat thing is better, and the electrical/nerve twitches are essentially gone. I am not taking baths all the time, in fact it has been several days since I took one (thanks to a bathtub leak that encouraged me to skip it). When I get home from work I take a very long hot shower.
- I did make it to Cowboy Stadium mid-November to see my daughter march during the TT vs. Baylor game!
- I am hoping to fly to Seattle to see my mom and rest of the family in January.
- I am off Ambien! I have been taking it for several months and after reading some horror stories about getting off of it, I decided to try stopping. For a few days I took half of a pill, then went to nothing last weekend, and I still slept! This is a biggie. I am still back to sleeping on the lounge chair and the next step is to see how it goes actually sleeping with my wife.
- I continue to rely perhaps too much on hydroxyzine, but it seems to be my best option for controlling the itching and has fewer side effects than ibuprofen. I hardly take any ibuprofen now, and the buzz in my head and ringing in my ears has improved.
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