a word to the wise

I started writing this post yesterday when I was in the eye of a Fatigue Storm. It was shaping up to be super-long and super-depressing - today is quite a bit more hopeful! So stick with it.

Let's Go!

It has been seasonably warm over the last few weeks - it says a lot for the English Psyche that we feel the need to comment when our summer is *heaven forfend* SUNNY.

The other week, my mate Simon started the Derby Race For Life in memory of his late wife Annabel - the race started round the corner from where we live, so we went along. We didn't manage to hook up with Simon but had a nice time on the park watching people running 5k in blazing heat.

The trouble started when we tried to get home - the heat had done a number on my head, so I could hardly move my legs. I barely made it home.

This year has been the first time I've really been aware of how the heat can affect me - yeah, I've noticed the energy drain before now - but this year, it's been almost like as soon as my head gets in the sun, my brain goes into a slump.

So when this post appeared on StumblingInFlats at the height of the heat, it was all too relevant to me.

Case in point - this last weekend, we were in Bristol for Gromit Unleashed exhibition (Evie loves the Wallace and Gromit films) so we stayed for a night in an apartment and tried to walk around seeing as many of the Gromits as possible.

Y'know, like any normal young-ish family.

Obviously MS had other ideas. Basically the heat and a long drive conspired to make it feel like I was walking through thick sludge. I'm assuming that you know how it is!

But obviously this conspired to put a dampener on the weekend for us all - actually, I don't know if Evie noticed but me and Mrs.D certainly did. It's hard for her to see me struggling, and it always makes me have all kinds of helpful thoughts.

"Is this the start of a slow decline? Am I going to need more assistance in the future? Will our lives consist of a constant narrowing of our horizons? Would my girls be better off without me?" - y'know, that kind of thing.

It carried over into my return to work this week - each day I was completely beat when I got home, struggling up the stairs and making it onto the sofa, barely able to hold a conversation.

ANYWAY - for some reason, when I was bathing Evie last night, I remembered something that somebody on Twitter had talked about - how her MS symptoms seemed to be exacerbated by a histamine intolerance.

Now - I've had Hay Fever since I was a child. But I have many, many HAPPY memories of Summers spent with my brother (who always had Hay Fever much worse than me), listening to records in the Dining Room at my parents house - the stereo was in there, and the room never got ANY Sunlight.

These really were golden days - eating frozen fruit drink cartons and listening to the key musical texts of my upbringing - quick thanks and roll call for De La Soul, Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, Throwing Muses, Sonic Youth and The Stupids.

Musical digressions aside, I still get a little bit of Hay Fever, so I've recently been taking antihistamines.

When that Twitter conversation popped into my head (and after I'd put Evie to bed), I went to Google and just look at what popped up:

Now I'm not dumb enough to diagnose by Google but that article makes for interesting reading!

Am I going to take it with a pinch of salt? YES - especially as the same search throws up results which seem to promote the use of antihistamines as an MS treatment.

Did I take any hay fever treatments this morning? NO

Do I feel more physically and mentally able today? YES

Am I going to talk to my MS Nurses about this? HELL YES 

Today's lesson:
With MS we're playing with a queered deck from the start, so I guess I should've known to look into things a bit more carefully before I started taking any additional medication.

And I know there might not be a link.

But I DO feel better today.

So let's all be careful out there.

And with that I'll leave you with the full Peruvian Vacation album by The Stupids (it's only 20 minutes long) - sometimes the internet really does deliver in spades, doesn't it?

Enjoy - and pass me a Capri Sun.