Saturday, May 9, 2009

Symptoms I had in April

I'm about to reveal some shocking numbers. In the month of April, I kept track of my symptoms. Remember that this is all a matter of perspective. If you compare these numbers so 0, these numbers are atrocious. If you compare these numbers to 25 or more, then these numbers are spectacular.

I will * the ones that I had more than 25 days in April of 2007. I will + the ones that I had more than 10 days in April of 2007. The others either weren't relevant (IE: Picc line bumps .. b/c I didn't have a picc line in 07) or happened less often than 10 days. You also have to keep in mind that I also had a lot more symptoms than this in April of 2007 as well.

So it's a matter of perspective. Keep that in mind when you read the following symptoms.

*13 days of fatigue
12 picc line bumps
*9 days of skin itching (usually on my arms)
*8 days of joint pain with swelling
*7 days of eye/vision trouble including blurriness and floaters
6 days of shortness of breath/coughing
*6 days of sleep disorder (either too much or not enough)
+6 days of sore throats
*5 days of forgetfulness
*5 days of headaches
*5 days of confusion with difficulty thinking
*5 days of tingling in extremities
*5 days of feeling overall unwell
*4 days of stiffness in the joints, neck and back
+4 days of stomach upset (gas)
*4 days of neck pain/strain
+4 days of swollen glands
*3 days of difficulty of concentrating when reading
*3 days of lightheadedness or wooziness
*3 days of twitching
2 days of fever
+2 days of mood swings
+2 days of sound sensitivity
+2 days of sweating
2 days of nose (it was *running* ala Forest Gump)
*1 day of muscle pain/cramps

4 comments:

Kara said...

These symptoms aren't too bad. SO much better than 2 years ago!! I like the way you summarize your symptoms. Maybe I'll try doing it this way. It might give me a better idea of how things are progressing. Here's to progress!! Thank heaven!

Jennifer said...

Kara, I have a huge Word document that I put random symptoms in ... I charted it out for each day and if I had a symptom I put Y and it I didn't, I put nothing.

I was having a few symptoms that were concerning last month so I restarted it. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't having an overload of symptoms. While I am not thrilled about some of the numbers (the fatigue and the picc line bumps especially), I am thrilled that I have improved. I also realize that some of those numbers are caused by something (like 4 of the fatigue days, the night before I didn't sleep at all).

Shandy Monte said...

Jennifer,

I was wondering what you do to treat the lyme?? Do you use abx, or just natural meds?? I have not been on abx for 7 months... only doing natural. I know yoou had a picc, but what was going through the picc... was it abx???

I have the same symptoms everyday since I have gotten sick... just varying degrees of intensity. My list is the same but just a smaller number.. you know what I mean?? I am ready so ready to start feeling some kind of normalcy and functionality.

I hope you are feeling better!!

Peace :)

Jennifer said...

Shandy, I'll send you an email.