Friday, May 23, 2008

Spider bite*Cellulitis*Shingles - An Update

I'm still getting hits everyday from people searching either spider bite, cellulitis, shingles, fatigue and even all of them together!  I did suffer from all of these together last year.  I blogged about my experience and what I was doing to assist my recovery.  I'm still amazed at how this is not a rare occurrence!  



So how am I doing?  Very well thank you!  I have learned so much in this 6 months so here is a brief rundown for those who are interested.  The most important thing I learned is that if I had a strong immune system at the time the spider bit me, I would not have ended up with cellulitis or shingles.  I have a mild condition that I live with that has nothing to do with my immune function at all - well that is what I thought!  It seems this condition which comes and goes (I won't go into details, but it really does surprise me that it can have this effect), any chronic condition really, just keeps taxing the immune system.  Throw in a few immune hurdles, it is taxed more, then whammo, get bitten by a spider and there is nothing left to fight it all off.  


I'm told that it will be at least a year of strong supplements and self care before my immune system recovers from that whammo.  Then it will be a further year of the same before I will have built some reserves.  I now feel lucky that I got bitten by that spider and all I got was shingles and cellulitis!  I am pleased I found out before the story got worse.  I am now happy to take medication for my condition.  I've always thought that I 'should' be able to deal with it without resorting to medication, because really, it is not that bad.  I am also happy to take a handful of supplements a couple of times a day too!


So what's working?  I take 2000 - 3000 mg vitamin C, a mega-B, a good quality multi, a liquid mineral supplement, olive leaf extract, fish oil, B5 and a womens herbal blend.  I'm told it's all necessary.  My information has come from my GP, a medical specialist and my Kinesiologist.  I have Kinesiology treatments at least once every month and I find it is invaluable.  It is difficult to describe how, but I am certain it has helped me become physically stronger, and to consolidate and stabilise my improvements.  


So if you found this post by doing a search for those medical problems, let me suggest you ask lots of questions about your immune system and take vitamin C and olive leaf extract as a minimum.  And all the best to you!


I know these pictures don't go with the post, but it would have seemed awfully boring without some images.  So I've included pictures of my latest rebound book.  I LOVE this book.  I know I say that each time - but this one I'm especially proud of.  It IS gorgeous! It would make the perfect European holiday journal with it's title 'Our Hundred Days in Europe' elegantly printed in gold on the spine.  It has a whopping 216 pages - 64 of them original pages from Oliver Wendell Holmes book.  And it is available in my Etsy shop.

2 comments:

Lindsay said...

Thanks for sharing such a personal post on your health. My daughter has been sick since she had mono a year and a half ago. And I'm always searching for every scrap of information on how people have coped with fatague issues.
PS I LOVE all your books.

Clare said...

Wow Jan! How interesting and in a way ironic... You see, I have the opposite problem to you. I have 'unspecified autoimmune disease', caused by an over active immune system. My immune system attacks my healthy cells so I take medecines to stop my immune system working so well. Shame we can't share it out a bit.