Greetings! Today is Tuesday, June 6, and it’s really starting to feel a bit more like summer in good ole’ Georgia! Finally! That’s not bad news as we can finally get in the neighborhood pool and not freeze to death!
I missed posting last week as I had a stomach bug that just WOULD NOT GO AWAY! 🙁 My wife and I had a “Date” on Wednesday evening and went to a new restaurant to check things out. Dinner was nice so I ordered a dessert that tasted a bit “off”…. Long story short, I in initially blamed my Tiramisu for giving me a slight bout of food poisoning, but now I’m thinking it was more of a true “bug” vs something I ate. Why? Well… food poisoning is usually short-lived (At least the time or two Ive had it before), but I’ve had stomach issues going for almost a week at this point. Not good.
Sitting around with an aching belly is boring, uncomfortable and inconvenient. The longer I felt that way, the more I started thinking about “Why” it was taking me so long to get over it! And, of course, the first thing that came to mind was my weakened Immune System. I think the technical term I’ve seen or heard used by neurologist is “Compromised Immune System”, but they really mean the same thing.
A quick internet search shows about a thousand different definitions of the meaning of Compromised Immune System. I read through a few to make sure there weren’t any outlier definitions before deciding this was the best summation: Your immune system’s defenses are low, affecting its ability to fight off infections and diseases. Depending on why your immune system is compromised, this state can be either permanent or temporary.
Perfect! NOT! 🙂
As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, the medicine I take to treat MS is called Ocrevus and it definitely has negative impacts to the immune system. The other drug I’ve taken (Copaxone) also fell into the “Negatively impacts immune system” category. Based on commercials I’ve seen for other drugs, it’s likely most of our drugs do the same. Guess this means folks taking all of these effective MS drugs are doing so at the cost of their immune system. Is it a fair trade? Hmmmm…. absolutely love pondering stuff like this! Good Times!
It’s too early for such heavy thoughts! 🙂 My personal opinion related to my MS drug vs the impact to my immune system? It’s worth it…. mostly! 🙂 Gotta throw in my Get of Jail Free word! Honestly, I don’t know if my immune system allowed a stomach bug to be with me for almost a week vs squashing it in 24-48 hours. Or, if the colds I get each winter that seem to hang around FOREVER (Just ask my wife) are also a result of a compromised immune system. Maybe those things would have happened anyway? Right?
However, I know for certain that Ocrevus has had positive impacts to my daily life! The number of days I am too dizzy to do anything but hang out in a chair is way down. My energy level allows me to be relatively active for at least a few hours each day vs often being so tired even sleeping doesn’t help. These might sound like small things, but they in the day-to-day push and pull of life… they add up to some big wins! Now, if only Ocrevus get help me with my memory and other cognitive issues! That would be amazing! One day…. 🙂
Ultimately, it’s a bit of give and take. If I was constantly sick and having a hard time with recovery, I might change view about the positives vs negatives. I know MS can be a devastating disease, but the drug really seem to be doing wonders in limiting its impact on lives. I dont know…. guess time will tell. Maybe?
That’s it for today folks! Gotta run my wife to the doctor. Against all odds, she ended up with some stomach problems over the weekend as well that resulted in an overnight stay. So, going to be a few weeks of figuring out what the heck is going on there. It never rains, but pours… right?
Also, I am 28 days out from the Peachtree Road Race. Yikes! I am so woefully under prepared at this point that I don’t know what to do! I hit the road today and did just over four miles, at least 30% of it was at a fast walk. I may just have to reconcile the fact that I’ll be doing a bit of walking at that race! Especially since it’s 6 miles or so. Good grief. I definitely need to be on the road as much as possible the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck!
Have a great week!
Steve
#1guywithms
#compromisedimmunesystem
#immunocompromised
