Sickle Cell Crises

I'm having a SC crisis. It's a new and improved version on it because of the changes I've made to my diet, and it takes me longer to recognize what is actually happening to my body. Sometimes, I just think of it as pain. Normal pain. Which is something I'd almost never experienced before my dietary changes. It's been 3 years and my life has had a complete turn around. Okay, so details. The weather on the east coast (anyone else from NYC out there reading this blog? Shout out!) has been quite funny, as it varies from being warm/hot to chilly/windy/cold in the same day. I CANNOT handle these strange weather patterns and quick changes in temperature that all happen within the same day. My body does not like extreme weather. On Tuesday (it was hot) I went shopping with a friend, and we went to two locations, a shopping center and a mall. The sun was hot in the car and the mall was cool/cold. After we'd finished at the mall, the weather had cooled down and was getting cooler towards the evening. I went out twice more after she dropped me off home, and the second time I went out, I had to wear a jacket (note all the temperature changes in one day!). The next day, I spent most of the day on Tylenol Extra Strength in bed because my body was in crisis mode. By the end of the day, I was feeling mostly better (well enough to have dinner with a friend ;) ). Today, the weather was nice. It was warm for the majority of the day and again I went out with a friend. This entailed hopping on public transportation, which blasts the AC, heading back outdoors, heading indoors where it was cold, back outdoors where it was warm, repeat, repeat, repeat... In other words, it was a recipe for disaster! Aka another SC crisis. Such is life with SC. Temperature changes such as these are the bane of my existence. The sun literally burns my arms (my most susceptible to the cold body part... they're so skinny!) when I'm in it for too long and it hurts. Even in the summertime I have to carry 1 to 2 extra layers with me, either to cover myself from the sun or to keep myself warm when facing ridiculous AC subzero temperatures. It's a difficult season to deal with. I used to think that summer was the best season because it was warm all around and I didn't have to worry about winter making my bones ache. But summer hurts just the same as winter. The main difference is that in winter I can wrap myself up more and adequately prepare for the killer cold. In the summer, it's a double-edged sword. I get hot easily AND I get cold easily. Not only do I need to dress for the heat, but I have to consider the cold as well. My body can't handle it very well either. I'm doing everything I can and yet SC still is attempting to kick my butt and keep me down. But we are warriors, aren't we? The pain doesn't keep us down for very long and as soon as we can get up we can, don't we? It's not all roses, in fact, there are quite a few thorns along the way. This is the reality of life with SC, and I am keenly aware of the fact that there are many, many others out there whose symptoms are much worse than mine, who deal with more pain than I do, often on a daily basis. I write for them as well as myself. I write because I have a new hope and I want to share that with others as much as possible, that others too might now that there are life changes that can be made to help their health. It's not easy for sure, but it's life, and life, by definition, is not easy.

Update of the Week!

The meal planning worked in theory, but I have not actually been following it very closely. This week my body has been in crisis mode, meaning that there were two days when my body wanted to be in a severe crisis, but because of my diet, the pain was very manageable. Here is what I wrote from those days as memos on my phone, they're both from Monday:

7:39 a.m. 

I think I pushed myself a bit too much last week. I mentioned I wasn't feeling top notch a few days ago, and Sunday night into Monday morning my body was in full on crisis mode. I say crisis mode because I had the symptoms of having one - tired, pain in my right leg and various other parts of my body, ribs included, but it wasn't intense or even unmanageable pain. To remedy this, I went to bed early and took 2 sleep aid 500 mg acetaminophen when I felt the pain starting in my leg. As I was waiting for sleep to come, I felt the pain in my ribs and took a Codoliprane. Thankfully I was able to sleep alright and the pain was incredibly manageable. Over the next few days, I will rest and take it easy as much as I can and hopefully it won't turn into anything worse. Sticking to my routine is key, and I haven't stopped taking my Folic Acid, Liquid Chlorophyll, or Serrapeptase, and I continue to eat foods high in Thiocyanate.

3:04 p.m.

It's pretty ironic that my body's begun waging war on me only a few days after I decided to go public with my blog and let people know how my new diet is helping me. I wonder what the cause of the sickness is. Could it be the sea salt laxative I took on Thursday? Perhaps I added too much salt and my body ended up absorbing it rather than having the laxative go straight through me? Or could it be that since I'm eating more spinach now it's making my blood thicker? I'm more inclined to think it's got something to do with the laxative. In any case, it reminds me of the way I was sick the first day I began teaching, with all the horrible back pain I was going through which ended up keeping me out of work. Tomorrow I am starting yet another job, and now I'm worried about the way my body will respond. I'm hoping for the best and yet I fear for the worst. No matter what, I need to stick to my diet. Maybe an extra spoonful of Chlorophyll with my dinner will help me feel better.

So that's what happened on Monday, but it passed and I was feeling better the next day. On Thursday morning when I woke up, I had pain around my left elbow, but it was more like a soreness so I didn't pay much attention to it till later, when rubbing hadn't helped it. I took a few painkillers for it, but thankfully the pain was again, incredibly manageable and did not increase. Since Monday, I decided that I would take 2 tablespoons of Liquid Chlorophyll daily, once in the morning, and once in the evening. My elbow hurt all day on Thursday, but the pain was quite manageable, though it did augment a bit because the day was long for me, as I worked from 12:45-6pm, and had some stressful classes to deal with. On Friday I was feeling almost entirely better with my elbow, and it only started to hurt a bit again when I was at work, babysitting. I quickly rubbed it down with anti-inflammatory gel Voltaren that I purchased here, and took a Doliprane (1000mg of paracetamol) for it. It didn't hurt again after that.

This week's troubles have led me to start taking Liquid Chlorophyll twice a day, which I think is more helpful to my body than taking it once a day. Right now I feel great (besides having my stupid period!) and that is a good sign. I decided to stay home and take it easy today because I had a tiring week and I don't want to forget to rest. I haven't really kept up with my meal planning, and am wondering if I shouldn't go back to writing down my meals again to keep track of what I am eating and to make sure it's all healthy and beneficial.