Life with Chronic Illness

If you are new to this blog, welcome!  Before you start reading, you may want to check out the new link above called  From The Beginning .  It explains my story with Cushing's and how to get help if you think you may have Cushing's Syndrome.  Another good post to check out is  Why I Blog About My Health , which is pretty self explanatory.  I hope you find some useful information, please feel free to email me at lifewithcushings at gmail dot com if you have any questions or if I can help you through this in any way.

Have you ever been to a psychic?  I have always wanted to but didn't want to go alone.  I think especially in a situation like mine, where things have been less than awesome for the last 10 years, that something like this, true or not, would be helpful to me.  Maybe it would help me look forward to the future, instead of bracing for the next big thing.  Maybe I would get some validation about what has happened and why. Tonight, I went to a gathering at my cousin's house, and we had a psychic come to speak to each of us. She told me that I don't have a fake bone in my body and that no one has to ever analyze anything about me, I'm an open book to others, but I analyze everything.  She asked why I wasn't a nurse of a doctor, and told me I had probably already met the person who I will marry someday.  She mentioned my grandparents that have died, and one who I never had a chance to meet.  She talked about my best friend and how it was a very unique relationship (any

As you may know, Cushing's can cause insomnia, or a change in your diurnal rhythm.  People with Cushing's often can't get to sleep at night but could sleep all day long if you let them!  I had months at a time where I was out of work and only slept between 7am-3pm. Now, even though I don't have Cushing's anymore, I am still a night owl.  I rarely stay awake until 7am, but I can usually fall asleep around 1am and get up for work at 8 or 8:30.  Often, my best thinking is done when the house is quiet and I'm up all alone burning the midnight oil.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my sleep, but I like it even better when I can sleep from 2am until noon (sometimes later, I won't lie). Are you a night owl or an early bird? How do you cope with having to stick to a sleep schedule?  I for one, cannot NOT sleep in on my days off.  I can't force myself to wake up when I don't have somewhere to be.  I need to collect those sleep spoons !

Thanksgiving is this week, and my good friend Melissa over at  Cushing's with Moxie: Fighting The Worst Disease You've Never Heard Of , had a great Thanksgiving quote for people with less than great things going on and I thought it would be appropriate to share with you. In other news,  I was in the ER last night with another episode of vocal cord dysfunction that wouldn't quit.  I sat, walked, and layed at home for about an hour before deciding to drive myself to the local ER (that I swore I would never go to again.) It's close, it was a Monday night, and therefore not busy at all, and I needed help and was not comfortable driving myself very far.  They just watched me and gave me humidified oxygen until it got better, and sent me home!  No big deal.  I was a little hoarse today and had some congestion and a sore throat but nothing too bad. I will not be working for the first time since I was 16 so I'm excited for a holiday off. I hope you all have a wonderful

This year, my place of employment is requiring me to get a flu shot, even though I have not had to get one in the past due to a possible egg allergy. This year, they have a new policy that says if you have a minor reaction like hives, you have to get one. I'm waiting after a teeny test dose at my doctors office, they are watching me for any allergy signs. To make things a little more interesting, they are prepared with an epi pen as well as my solucortef shots. I have a feeling I'll be fine but I should be able to choose if I want to take this risk, not my place of employment. Have you ever been forced to put something like a vaccine into your body even though there was a greater risk of an adverse reaction? What did you decide?

Remember when I was hospitalized in February ?  I had a breathing issue and stayed the night so they could make sure I could breathe normally before I left.  On my way home, one of the doctors I had seen in the hospital had a new idea about what happened - vocal cord dysfunction.  It's when your vocal cords spasm, which sort of gives you the feeling that your airway is blocked and has a similar wheezing sound to asthma but it is coming from your throat.  I saw ENT and everyone else to rule out another cause and nothing.  It didn't happen again so I kind of forgot about it. Well,  as I was walking the long and cold walk from the parking lot to work last week, it happened again.  My worst nightmare came true about this new parking lot - I was about halfway between my car and work, and had no one to help me.  I decided to keep walking towards work and finally got up to my department and by then things were much worse.  I could barely breathe and they called a code on me.  If you