I am the face of the Immunooverdrive
This is the picture I show the world
but this is how I look today
I think I look awful and normally wouldn't share this I'd slap on some make-up and try to look normal. Then try to angle the camera so I look better.
Today I have a raging occurrence of my immune system disorder deciding as I call it to start the 'I hate you cycle'. So I'm taking immunosuppression drugs, My face is red and
swollen I have the telltale rash all over my face. I am one of those people you are physically distancing for I have two autoimmune diseases, one which maybe lupus (not confirmed yet still testing for) This disease whatever it is causes health problems and makes me susceptible to diseases on top of my Fibromyalgia.I don’t like to talk about these because I don’t let them define me. I also had cancer of the thryroid which was successfully stopped.
For those that have never heard of it Fibromyalgia is described as muscle pain,tenderness, and fatigue. A disorder that is usually accompanied by memory, sleep, and mood issues. Researchers believe the condition arises from an
overactive nervous system, which amplifies painful sensations. The condition is difficult to diagnose as it is not identifiable by blood work, x-rays, orscans. So imagine having this disease not knowing what the heck is causing all
your problems and then being told it must be all in your head just because theydon’t know what the disease is. That’s what a lot of us have gone through over
the years and that’s partly why we stay silent and just try to live.
I believe I may have had a mild form as early as
when I was eleven years old and that the more severe form didn’t make itself really known until I was nineteen. That said I still wasn't diagnosed until the doctors started talking about the condition when I was twenty-six.
Imagine being a young girl and knowing that your life has changed that you’d never do the things you could before like bike ride, running, skating and other things you enjoyed and to replace all of those you have extreme pain , fatigue and a
foggy brain that sometimes makes you forget simple words when you’re speaking added to that there is no defintion of this disease and some doctors treat you badly insisting or implying you're faking. You’ve adjusted to that all that you
take rest when you can but like before you power through you marry, adjusting your life to raising children and enjoying your life as best you can and then you get something they don’t warn you about another type of illness to add to it; an autoimmune disease that gives you even more of the same effects you felt with fibromyalgia and added to it more swelling a feeling of nausea, headaches, and indigestion as well as a slew of allergies to things you were never allergic to before.
If you’re me you decide it’s not going to win and you work hard when you can, rest when you can and keep close eye so you can get on top of an occurrence. You decide
you’re going to write books (you can do that despite your illness) and so you do, writing the books that have been waiting inside you for years reaching a publishing total of twenty six books since 2010. (I say none of this for sympathy or praise as I feel that's unneccessary we all have our own things we have to get through.)
Then a pandemic starts happening in other countries and you watch nervously as it moves across the world. You sequester yourself in late February to protect yourself and warn your loved ones to follow the guidelines of social distancing (now known as(physical distancing), washing hands and hope that no one you know gets the disease since it’s now moving through generations. I have a grandchild, a wonderful supportive husband and two daughters and a son-in law, for their sakes and yours I’m begging you follow the rules from the medical experts maybe we can stop this disease from advancing and save lives. Your neighbour, your family member, your friends or maybe just someone like me that you’ve only known from the internet will get through this unscathed or at least alive.
Thank you from ©Sheilagh Lee March 27, 2020
