Some people use cyber Monday sales to buy Christmas presents. I took advantage of the cyber Monday sale at @medicalertfoundation to get two Medic Alert bracelets, as even just the highlights wouldn’t fit on one. My #mastcellactivationsyndrome has been bad, and I’ve been having multiple #anaphylaxis episodes a week. It turns out I have become highly sensitive to most scents and perfumes. It’s why you’ll see me wearing a #vogmask all the time. If you can remember not to wear scents around me, I’d really appreciate it! I’ve already been through 15 #epipen so far, and have too many holes in my legs… 😜 Love you all! 💜💜💜
Category Archives: Chronic Illness
More ER Woes
I don’t get the point of EpiPens. If you use one and it breaks your symptoms, when you get to the ER they call it a minor allergic reaction. It doesn’t matter that my tongue felt like it was swelling and my chest getting tight right before I used the pen. I started becoming out of it and lost my speech again in the ER, and they simultaneously told me a third dose of epinephrine wasn’t indicated, but that I should also have three epipens at home so I can treat it myself there. That wasn’t the only time they contradicted themselves. They tried to get me an ambulance to take me home because I could barely move, but told me I would have to pay as it wasn’t medically necessary. This is how ERs and the American industrial medical establishment is killing us young women with rare chronic illnesses like ehlers danlos and mast cell activation syndrome. At least I’m home now. I’m never going to Denver Health again.
ER with MCAS
In the ER again. I’m going to have to educate them about anaphylaxis. They thought three doses of epinephrine 20 minutes apart would give me a heart attack. It takes that many to break the cycle (and epi is out of your system in about 15 minutes). Mast cell activation syndrome can give you weird allergy symptoms (especially with dysautonomia) that don’t respond normally. Many doctors don’t know about it because it’s a relatively new diagnosis. It didn’t even exist when I was in med school a decade ago.
Happy turkey day
I really wanted to have turkey this year, so I figured out a way. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m so grateful to have all of you in my life! 💜
PotassIum Problems
In the ER again (I was just here Friday night). Apparently my potassium was high, so my doc sent me here to have it rechecked. It was likely due to an error in drawing it, but better safe than sorry. Is it bad when you lose track of how many times you’ve had to go to the ER in a year? 😛
ER Again
Here we go again. In the ER with another anaphylactic reaction thanks to MCAS. It took three rounds of EpiPen and some solumedrol to get me stable. This time it was a scent from someone’s lotion. This is why I wear a Vogmask most of the time. Btw you know you have dysautonomia when your heart rate is 58 after three doses of epinephrine.
Pumping iRon
Some people go to the gym to pump iron. I just connect it to my port! Getting an iron infusion to help with my anemia. My TPN doesn’t have iron in it, so I have to pump iron occasionally. I don’t even break a sweat! 😉
TPN Anniversary
One year ago today, I started TPN (IV nutrition). At the time, I had only been getting about 600 calories a day, between the little I could still eat and the formula I was getting constantly through my J tube. Within two weeks of starting, I couldn’t even get the 600 calories and became fully TPN dependent. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s kept me alive for a year now. In that year, I have only been able to eat three eggs (for a medical test), two small pieces of potato chips, and a piece of tofu, none of which went well. I eat a ton of skittles and jelly beans, but only because they easily drain out of my stomach through my G tube. At least I’m alive and still causing trouble. In other news my SSDI hearing was delayed until January, so I have to wait even longer to get my neck (and speech) fixed. It’s only been three years since I applied.
Medicaid protest
It’s amazing what can happen at a protest to try to protect health insurance for millions of people. Fascism at it’s finest.
Florida Nursing Home Deaths
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-florida-nursing-home-irma-tore-state/story?id=49817477
At least 8 people died in a Florida nursing home after it was left without power. This is one of the many reasons why nursing homes don’t work for us.