Don't Come to Work Sick! -A Rant-

I recently found out, thanks to a guest post on thepaleomom.com that my autoimmune condition is due to the over stimulation of the same part of my immune system that attacks viruses. Maybe this is why I catch bacterial stuff much more easily than viral? I don't know. Side note, she's writing a book! I so can't wait!

What I do know is that I got a cold last week, and boy, was that lame for me. I was fine in a few days. If you don't count my immune system freaking the flip out on me. My hair is falling out-again. Right in front actually. I have a nice little patch of extremely thinned out hair. That part of my scalp was also bleeding. Super fun stuff right? My psoriatic arthritis is going town (mostly on my hip, so walking is awesome right now-sleeping is ultra comfortable too). And my face. My God! MY FACE. I'm sorry this is at such a terrible angle. I promise I don't normally look like a diseased alien. I'm just really not good at self portraits.

My face. Cold giver, you do not get any thanks from me for this.

So I'm going to use this here blog to rant for a moment. Since it's mine, I can do that.

I would not be dealing with the backsliding in all my symptoms and my head BLEEDING if people would just fucking stay the fuck home when they're sick. That's right, I feel so strongly about it that I'm dropping f bombs. This may be due in part to the fact that this is the second time this person has gotten me sick by coming into work. Also, sometimes nothing gets the point across like the F word. Fact.

No one thinks better of you for coming in sick. No one thinks "Gee, this person is a really hard worker, they're here even though they're coughing up their own lungs! We need more people like that around here!" No. People are thinking "Oh please please PLEASE don't let me catch what she has! Why doesn't she just stay home?!"

And you should. You should stay home. It's rude to come in and infect other people. Because then other people end up coughing their lungs up. Or their autoimmune symptoms start raging. Or they take your illness to their homes and get their entire families sick. Some people have compromised immune systems and could end up in the hospital!

All thanks to you showing up sick instead of watching soaps at home on the couch. Or Ellen. You could have been watching Ellen instead of infecting me (and probably others).

No one is going to thank you for that bit of work you got done when you came in. I have a news flash, it would have gotten done at some point anyway. You're not saving the day and you're not the only person who can get things done.

No one wants you around when you're sick. That's fact. Stay home and get better for the love of all that is not oozing and painful! When you come in sick, you're behaving selfishly. Stop it!

Oy... Would You Like to Read an Overshare?

I'm often surprised since realizing how sick I've been/am to also realize how lucky I've been to feel as healthy as I have. Don't think I'm not thankful for it.

I've been reminded how thankful I should be over the last few days. We'll start with Thursday morning sometime around 4 a.m. That's when I realized I was awake. And I realized I had a migraine. A really bad migraine. I haven't had one of those in a while (thankful note: before going Paleo, they were happening about once a week. By the time I recovered from one migraine, I'd get another). I took my medicine after breakfast (thankful note: I know there are tons of migraine sufferers that would throw up at the thought of food. While it was a SMALL breakfast, I'm glad I could eat!) and went to work anyway.

That may not have been the best idea. Here's part one of oversharing. My medicine sometimes makes me sick. And this time it did. I threw up a little in my mouth shortly before lunch time. :( Yuckie. I went home after that. By then, my medicine had taken the edge off the pain, but I was still hurting. I drank some bone broth and ate some bacon when I got home because in this situation, if I don't eat, I will get even more sick. Side note: I have a feeling I'll have to be the forever snacking lady should I ever be pregnant. Anyway, I then laid down on the couch with my trusty heating pad on my neck and back and tried to nap. I was very unsuccessful. So I watched the first 3 Harry Potter movies and went to bed.

Part two of oversharing. There's only 2 parts, don't worry, but this is the super overshary part. I woke up the next day. Migraine gone, but migraine hangover in full effect (sore muscles, glassy eyes, very tired, minor headache. Kinda feels like having been beaten up by a ninja with a wooden club a few days prior.) Here it comes. I went to the bathroom. "Oh my god, that's not normal. I'm going to die." I had this thought. I won't go into it, but when I asked The Google what was happening, it said I wasn't going to die but I should go to the doctor because I probably had a UTI or bladder infection. I have never ever had either of these things. Chalk that into the thankful column as well please.

So I left a message at my doctor's office and went about my day. They were able to get me in at the end of the day. Through the day, my symptoms were less and less and I actually thought maybe I should cancel my appointment. But I decided that I would go, get a Rx for some antibiotics, try the home remedies The Google found for me, and if those didn't work, then I'd take the poison.

I've worked so hard to get my SIBO/gut dysbiosis under control (and I'm still not there yet) that the idea of taking antibiotics is really non thrilling to me and I'm trying my best to avoid it.

I get to the doctor's office, and give them a sample. I'm talking to the PA and telling her my symptoms. She's looking at me kinda like I'm growing a second head and I'm thinking to myself "oh come on lady, I know I'm not the first woman you've seen with this problem." Then she tells me my sample is negative. No bad guys in there at all. Hence the 2nd head growth stare. I have some mild symptoms of UTI/Bladder infection, but no infection. She decides however that because of the symptoms, and because I came in the same day they started, that it could just be too early for the test to detect anything and my planed course of action is most wise. Of course it is! This is me after all ;)

That means today I have to leave the house and interact with weekend shoppers to purchase home remedy stuff. That's a bummer because most weekend shoppers are: 1-decidedly not on a mission and 2-entirely unaware of their surroundings. I don't like weekend shoppers because I am always on a mission when shopping, and I'd really like for people to not be in my way. Missions should be accomplished as quickly and efficiently as possible, and people standing in the middle of the isle with their carts sideways staring at (but not seeing) the items on the shelf in front of them do not help accomplish missions.

The things I'll do for my health... My body better thank me, because my brain will not forgive me for a few days.