![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
1. I have finally succumbed to whatever sickness has been going around our house. I almost never get respiratory stuff, so when I do, I am always astonished by how terrible a cold feels. I really should have stayed home yesterday instead of driving an hour each way to teach on the satellite campus, teaching here, and then driving an hour each way to go to the urologist in the afternoon. By the evening, I could barely speak. I feel somewhat better today. I had to go get medicine that's gluten free *and* meets the IC diet requirements. I didn't have any on hand because I almost never get colds. And don't even get me started on how many medicines have citric or ascorbic acid in them.
2. I've decided to start taking Elmiron, the drug for IC. I cannot have another flare up like the one last week if I can help it. I was pretty much laid up and unable to do anything. And immediately catching this cold on the heels of that flare up waning has made me extremely unproductive in the last week.
I don't really want to take Elmiron. I am not comforted when the doctor tells me that they don't know exactly how the drug works. I am also not comforted by the potential side effects which include GI issues and hair loss. But we'll see. The doc says that GI issues usually diminish if people can stick with the drug long enough. Now if I can just get the prescription filled. He supposedly called it in yesterday, but the pharmacy didn't receive it.
3. I have found myself becoming more and more anxious as our political situation in the U.S. deteriorates. Being sick doesn't help as the two main ways I combat my anxiety are through exercise (which I've been largely unable to do in the last week) and through being productive (which has also fallen by the wayside). I think I'm going to have to put some limits on myself. I want to be an informed citizen and do my part in the Resistance, but the way I've been feeling in the past week is counterproductive.
So, as Bill Maher would say, New Rules:
A. I will not watch Fox News at the gym even though it is the only available program. I will move to a machine that makes looking at the TV difficult.
B. I will only read NPR once a day.
C. I will continue to listen to NPR when in the car.
D. I will stop reading the US Politics thread on FFA.
E. I will stop rehearsing conversations with my family members that I will never have. I actually tried to look up their Facebooks this weekend just to see if they'd expressed any regrets (WTF, self?!) and was unable to see anything because I don't have an account (which is for the best). I even looked up Southern Baptist responses to this latest executive order and was surprised to see that it's being condemned even from that quarter. I am pleasantly shocked, but it's too little too late, of course.
2. I've decided to start taking Elmiron, the drug for IC. I cannot have another flare up like the one last week if I can help it. I was pretty much laid up and unable to do anything. And immediately catching this cold on the heels of that flare up waning has made me extremely unproductive in the last week.
I don't really want to take Elmiron. I am not comforted when the doctor tells me that they don't know exactly how the drug works. I am also not comforted by the potential side effects which include GI issues and hair loss. But we'll see. The doc says that GI issues usually diminish if people can stick with the drug long enough. Now if I can just get the prescription filled. He supposedly called it in yesterday, but the pharmacy didn't receive it.
3. I have found myself becoming more and more anxious as our political situation in the U.S. deteriorates. Being sick doesn't help as the two main ways I combat my anxiety are through exercise (which I've been largely unable to do in the last week) and through being productive (which has also fallen by the wayside). I think I'm going to have to put some limits on myself. I want to be an informed citizen and do my part in the Resistance, but the way I've been feeling in the past week is counterproductive.
So, as Bill Maher would say, New Rules:
A. I will not watch Fox News at the gym even though it is the only available program. I will move to a machine that makes looking at the TV difficult.
B. I will only read NPR once a day.
C. I will continue to listen to NPR when in the car.
D. I will stop reading the US Politics thread on FFA.
E. I will stop rehearsing conversations with my family members that I will never have. I actually tried to look up their Facebooks this weekend just to see if they'd expressed any regrets (WTF, self?!) and was unable to see anything because I don't have an account (which is for the best). I even looked up Southern Baptist responses to this latest executive order and was surprised to see that it's being condemned even from that quarter. I am pleasantly shocked, but it's too little too late, of course.
