First Post!

I have never written a blog before, which is perhaps the most generic way one could start out writing a blog, but there you go. That’s how I'm starting. I do like to write, but typically I’m writing to myself with the understanding that no one besides me will ever read it (except of course for academic writing- but let’s not even go there right now). So this will be a learning experience for me as I go.I’m writing this blog for a couple of reasons. One: I am traveling to East Africa next month and wanted to find a way to keep my family and friends updated on my travels for the two and a half months I’ll be gone. Internet won’t always be reliable, and I wanted to provide a way for my people to hear my “voice”- at least in some capacity. Two: As a person with an autoimmune disease, I wanted to share my international travel experiences so that others who are facing similar issues may have some additional insight to inform decisions relating to travel- particularly travel to developing countries. Although the official diagnosis hasn’t been delivered, the two most likely options are either Lupus or Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. I’m not going to go too much into my medical history and experiences, simply because that’s not the purpose of this blog. And I know that there are ton of great resources out there that are specifically designed for that purpose. What I will say is that an official diagnosis has been a long time in the making, and while any autoimmune disease is scary, I will be relieved when I can actually put a name to the problems I’ve had with my health.


Because this will be related to the travel aspect, I will share my most prominent and recent symptoms of concern. I tend to have a lot of joint pain, particularly in my hands, knees, and elbows. I feel pretty tired a lot of the time, but don't know if that’s a function of my autoimmune issues, graduate school, or most likely a combination of both. I experience headaches- sometimes migraines- on a fairly regular basis. Most of the time I can control it with ibuprofen or something similar. My hair has been steadily thinning over the last 8 months or so (although I think I may have found a combination of vitamins, minerals, and shampoo that has been helping) and my eyes tend to be dry most of the time. Most recently, my skin has been reacting pretty negatively to the sun in the form of a red rash that almost resembles a lace-like pattern- particularly on my arms. I also experience shortness of breath pretty quickly, and feel like I haven’t completed recovered from a bout of pneumonia I experienced back in late November/early December. Along with that, I tend to get sick a lot. Lots of colds and infections that sometimes take a while to go away completely. Those are the big ones.


I have to say, I hate listing it all out like that, especially right off the bat at the beginning of this blog. It makes me feel incredibly vulnerable for one thing. But more than that, I know in the grand scheme of things, things could be a whole lot worse for my health, and are a whole lot worse for a lot of people. But I think it’s important toward my second goal of sharing my experiences with others who face similar problems. Oh, along those same lines, the only drug I’m on right now (besides a whole host of supplements- I swear it takes ten minutes just to get them all down) is Plaquenil. I’ve been on it for about 6 months, and can’t really say one way or the other if it’s doing much. But that’s what I’m sticking with for now.


So that's a little background on the purpose of the blog and my current health situation just to get this off the ground!