When you have MS......and then you get something like a cold, flu, sickness or diahorrea it can effect you a lot worse than someone who doesn't have MS. I never really appreciated that until recently when I suffered with a poorly stomach and horrible diahorrea.
I have, since early on in my diagnosis, struggled with constipation. It wasn't easy to deal with or to talk about to start with, but then I realised it was nothing to be embarrassed about. We all have to deal with our bladder and bowel and we really should talk about it more. If we were all more open about it then it wouldn't be embarrassing to talk about!
Anyway, last week, for about four or five days I had something that I'm really not used to.......I had diahorrea! It started off as constipation that was difficult to get rid of but after trying a few techniques that I've learnt over the years, I was able to break the dam. This all happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
What followed was diahorrea but I expected that because that happens when you have been constipated for a while so I wasn't too worried at that point. The trouble was it carried on for about four or five days and for me to have that problem for that long was most unusual!
We are fairly sure it was just a bug and for anyone without MS this can be exhausting but I found myself very weak and totally shattered. I even spent one night sleeping in my wheelchair because I was disturbing Martin so much by constantly getting up.
It is the struggle I have just getting out of bed and it's driving me crazy. As my left leg gets weaker, just moving it in and out of bed takes so much effort and when you're weak from being poorly it makes things even harder. Plus you have the anxiety of desperately needing to get to the toilet so using my wheelchair was the easiest thing to do. It was another example to me that the wheelchair is a positive thing and not the negative that I have always seen it. To me, using the chair means that I'm giving in or that I'm just being lazy but I've finally realised that it's not any of those things at all. By using the chair I am helping myself, I am saving energy and am not in so much pain by the effort it takes to use the crutches, especially when you're tired anyway.
I can't believe it has taken me twenty years to stop being stubborn and to accept this!
It was a difficult week but as always I couldn't have got through it without Martin, and of course, cuddles & entertainment from Rosie!
It really brought home to me how vulnerable I am to everyday illnesses and why getting all the vaccinations I can is quite important. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get my flu or covid jabs yet because of having my six monthly infusion of Ocrevus. When you have Ocrevus you can't have vaccinations until a certain amount of time has passed, because your immune system is stripped back. I will be able to have mine in the middle of January so until then I will need to keep away from any coughs and colds!
Please keep yourselves snuggled up, safe and warm this winter.
With love and Rosie cuddles
XxXxX 💕
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