What It Is and What It’s Not

The confusing new role of an MS flare

Headache?  Check.

Pins and needles feeling wicked bad?  Check.

Exhaustion? Fatigue?  Weakness?  Lethargy?  Whatever the hell you want to call it?  Check.

Gastrointestinal- don’t even make me say the gross D word? Check.

Temperature? No.

Came on suddenly? Check.

Cough? No.

Sore throat? No.

Weird kind of scratchy but not scratchy and definitely not sore feeling in the way, way back of my throat? Check.

Nausea? No.

Vomiting? No.

Congestion? No.

Muscles aches? Always.

Fever? No.

Random 200 degree hot flashes? Check.

Shortness of breath? No.

Loss of taste and smell?  That’s a biggie and the answer is a biggie no.

I once wrote on this blog that I worried if I was indecisive, but I couldn’t really decide.  One of the effects of the pandemic is that it has increased my indecisiveness, indecisively.   I could give you a percentage but that’s another thing I’m just not sure about.

So here is my question- are the above symptoms signs of an MS exacerbation or Covid 19?  I’m asking all of you because, though you, my MS friends and blog friends, are often indecisive yourselves,  you have experience to draw on and thus, usually have specific information which is what I crave.

Sure, I can get a Covid test, and I will, before I am anywhere near anyone ever again.  But with all the false positives out there, how is that really going to help?  I guess I will have to get a couple of them and hope that they all indicate the same thing.

The internet is only a little bit helpful.  According to the great wide web, I either have Covid, multiple sclerosis, mono, malaria or hypochondria.

Or, right before I started to feel sick, I drank milk from a carton that smelled and tasted fine but was past the expiration date.  Could that be the problem?

Forget about doctors.  With the persistence of Covid and the great need to protect society, if I listened to anyone in the medical field, I would never leave the house!  Just tell a medical person that you have a runny nose these days and they are ordering you home while they put on a hazmat suit.

It’s not a bad thing, just confusing. Especially since I have obligations and will need to leave the house eventually.

I’ve been vaccinated.  I walked around all lofty and cool because I was one of those folks who were lucky enough to get the J and J, one and done vaccine.  But now, not so much…..

When I was getting my flu shot, combined with my second shingles shot, which, coincidentally I received both only hours before I started feeling yucky, I asked the nurse what the deal was with a J and J booster shot.  She started a long explanation before finally saying, “the bottom line- we have no idea if you need one and if you do, when we’ll be able to give you one.”

And now that I’ve shared that I did my second shingles vaccine at the same appointment where I received my flu shot you are likely thinking- “that’s it!  That’s what you’re having.  A reaction to both of those. Why on Earth did you do both together??”

To which I would respond, “why on Earth didn’t the medical office where I did both together tell me that I shouldn’t do both together?”

Sigh…..

It’s a confusing medical world we were living in my friends.  And now, with Covid here, it’s made navigating that confusing medical world that much harder.  Throw multiple sclerosis into the mix, a definable illness which can’t be defined, and even just taking out your trash seems risky.  Especially for someone with a guilty conscious who is terrified of being the one to give a loved one Covid.

But how can you do the right thing if no one knows what the right thing is????

The bottom line- I need to once again return to the internet to find out the closest spot to take a covid test, just to be sure. But I’m so tired I just want to crawl into bed and bury my head under the covers.  Except I’ve been in bed for the last 6 hours, only 2 hours after I got up for the day!

What is one to do?

I will get tested, but until I do, what would you do?