Friday, January 11, 2008

Side Effects or Illness?

It's so frustrating when I start a new medication and get sick at the same time because I'm never sure whether it's all side effects from the meds (as it turned out to be with the Plaquenil) or it's a legitimate, unrelated illness.

Essentially, I have cold- and flu-like symptoms. Which, of course, are on the list of possible side effects from the new medicine. But I think it's pretty likely to just be an unpleasant cold (is there such a thing as a pleasant one? :) since Ellie and Scott have had one on and off for a few weeks now. I'm probably just lucky that I held it off as long as I did!

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It's technically too soon to tell whether the Salsalate is doing any good. The materials I read about it say it takes 3 to 4 days before it really reaches a level that it can do something.

But I think I am doing a teensy bit better lately. I don't know if it's the acupuncture, the Salsalate or just finally recovering from the exacerbation caused by the Dental Hygienist From Hell that I saw on Dec. 5. I feel like I'm essentially back to where I was before that, which wasn't necessarily such a great place to be, but was way better than how I felt after Dec. 5.

Anyway, I have been able to cut back some on my pain meds, which is generally a good thing. Maybe I won't end up a drug addict after all. :)

Anyway, I still have zero energy and I still have a great deal of pain, but I'm grateful for any small bit of improvement I can find.

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