Serum Sickness

[Click here to read an update: Timeline since 2011 and the onset of nerve damage... ]

I'm having to adapt this week to relaxation.

For the past three months, I've been dealing with what I was referring to as a drug-induced injury in all my limbs. It's been horrible.

This past Monday, after almost 3 months of suffering (not an understatement), I finally got a definitive diagnosis..."serum sickness." My particular serum sickness was a response to terbinafine, a generic brand of oral Lamisil. I took the terbinadine only for 4 to 5 weeks in March/April. I stopped it in late April thinking the symptoms would clear; they didn't. I have learned that in rare cases serum sickness can take up to one year to clear. I hope my response is not that rare.

My symptoms? Both hands and arms and feet and legs became dysfunctional due to swelling in the joints, not to mention the malaise and overwhelming fatigue. Nights were horrific, especially in my hands. Some mornings I could barely walk. Everyday was a struggle. Yet, I'd get up and force myself to move and to continue to work as 'normally' as I could. Movement did relieve some of the discomfort and ease the pain though the pain was always there, always.

I refused to pull out the walker; absolutely refused. I did use toe-to-thigh compression socks on both legs along with compression knee sleeves for support. I used various types of compression gauntlets and braces for my wrists and hands, along with compression sleeves that began at my wrists and went up to my arm pits.

It was scary, to say the least. Part of the fear was a lack of diagnosis and the continual tests which showed nothing wrong with me. But it was obvious to anyone that saw me; I was not well.

I walked like a primate. A primate in pain.

I'm no foreigner to pain; I thought I knew pain. Then this 3-month bout began. Due to my other allergies and asthma, I cannot take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain relief medication. I utilize bromelain (on an empty stomach) when I need inflammatory relief. The bromelain didn't make a dent.

Once the diagnosis was definitive this past Monday, July 11, I was put on prednisone. Yes, another drug. But one I know well.

Pred and I have a long history and a love-hate relationship. I haven't needed it since 2006. Prior to 2006, we last danced in 2000. Prior to 2000, Pred and I lived with yearly (sometimes monthly) get togethers for over 15 years. I called Pred the trash can drug. Makes you feel good initially, relieves the symptoms...but then there can be horrid rebound once off the drug. Not to mention the side effects, one of which is bone degeneration. Thus probably my reason for hip replacement surgery in 2008 at the young age of 49.

This past Monday I held the four, white 10mg tablets in my palm. I looked at them. I whispered, OK buddy, do your magic. Then let's part ways. I popped them and drowned them down with water, while my emotions connected with my heart and body embracing all working in harmony. Pred and I will be together for another couple to few weeks.

The real test for how I do in regard to the symptoms of the serum sickness will come following the Prednisone.

I hope there is no rebound.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the relief. My hands are still in gauntlets, but my legs are almost back to normal.

I'm having to get used to "relaxing" in that every function is not a struggle. On the other side of the coin is possible "roid rage"...the roller coaster of moods that can come with prednisone. I know them well and can recognize and regulate, for the most part.

I'm going to the Parkway today for some much needed wilderness relief. I plan to hike.

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Related entries:
Hands in Gauntlets
july 1, 2011 entry
Update: Serum Sickness
Journal Entry: 3/26/13
Timeline since 2011 and the onset of nerve damage...
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