It's October and that only means one thing.........it is Lupus awareness month! It seems strange to me that I didn't know anything about MCTD at all until recently and here I am living with it. It is a slightly disconcerting feeling but at least I do have answers and that accounts for more than you know. So this month I am going to be blogging a lot more, get back into the swing of it because I have missed you all and missed this side of me too. Also don't forget to enter the giveaway...ends soon!
The dawn of autumn.
Along with being Lupus awareness month it is also the start of flu season, my favorite time of year (sarcasm is not my strong point) I am preparing myself mentally for the onslaught of viruses, stomach bugs and flu...yes I have had the flu vaccine but it doesn't cover you for everything....maybe I need to find something that does cover you for all flus....I will get my thinking cap on.
So I have had the jabs I need...pneumoccocal and flu....and I am waiting and ready for the colds to reign in. Which I think has already happened as I feel like death warmed up today. So I wanted to share my tips for coping with a chronic illness during flu seasons and hopefully staving them off somewhat.
Ginger, oranges and as much pineapple as I can possibly eat.
Eat more fruit....blah blah blah....I get sick of all those health adverts that tell me to eat more fruit and vegetables...I am a vegetarian all I do is eat that type of food. However this is the time of year when it is more important than ever to eat the RIGHT kind of fruit and vegetables...the kind that is designed to protect and heal us when we are sick.
Now what worries me about this year is that I am immuno suppressed...and greatly so. Antibiotics wont work as well as they are supposed to and I am likely to catch everything going....oh I am really looking forward to winter. With this in mind I have been on a mission to find some natural things I can do to try and help myself. I wont mention the obvious....oranges for vitamin C etc etc...oh look I did in the title oopsy!
A personal favorite of mine at the moment is pineapple, as long as I don't look at them as pineapples freak me out! Not only are they packed full of vitamin C but they are also a natural anti inflammatory, but be careful they are packed full of sugar.
Then there are tiny little cranberries. I don't actually like them, to me they don't taste pleasant at all, but they are packed full of antioxidants even more than broccoli or other similar berries. Their greatest strength though is that they are a natural probiotic. They will protect your tummy from food born illnesses and tummy bugs! I will be downing cranberries but the bucket load from now on!
Other fruits to try are bananas for energy, apples for vitamins and mango!
The science of sleep....or lack of it in my case
Currently I cannot sleep through the night! No matter how hard I try I will wake up 2 or 3 times either because of the pain, the fibromyalgia, or just because my body thinks it's hilarious to wake me up....I personally think it's number 3! The issue with lack of sleep is that my already weak immune system will only get worse, leading to colds, coughs and complete zombie behavior including walking into walls and making a weird gutterall moan!
So I am trying to figure out how I can get more sleep and why I am not sleeping through the night again. I don't know about you but I do find this kind of sleep pattern comes in waves. Some months I will sleep for 12 hours non stop and others I am lucky if I get two hours. Now my usual stance is to change my bed covers, make a hot chocolate and read to fall to sleep. However non of these are working so I have formulated this plan that I shall be testing out for the rest of the week;
- Be in bed from 7pm - now I know there is advice against this, but this helps me to relax!
- No caffeine after 5pm or after work essentially!
- Turn my clock away from me - no clock watching at all!
- Lay on top of the covers until I am ready for sleep - this way I am not getting too hot!
- No baths or showers late at night - for the same over heating reason!
- No TV after 9pm, only books or nothing at all!
- Write down a list of stresses that can be dealt with in the morning...this is the big one for me!
Talk, talk and more talk
Finally and maybe the most important here is to tell people how I am feeling. A cold for me is not a normal cold, it can end with me getting super sick super quickly...so I need to have people around me that I can tell. This is not easy for me. I do not like to rely on people and I don't like people to have to worry, but as the year goes on I realize that I do need to start talking to people and making them aware of what is happening to me.
So there you have it - plans in place! Let's see how the next few months go.........