I’ve been flattened by some bug for the past 10 days and I have to say that having multiple sclerosis makes the ordeal that much worse. I’m not sure if I have a lingering cold or maybe something more serious, but I am just starting to re-emerge from the sickness that has been holding me down. And yes, it’s very frustrating.
I don’t know if non-MSers understand how infections are compounded by an autoimmune disease. Since we folks with MS are continuously being attacked by our own immune systems, when we get sick with a “real” foreign threat the risk of our MS symptoms worsening or our immune systems launching new autoimmune assaults (or MS relapses) increases. The immune system of someone with an autoimmune disease– MS, lupus, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and so on— can go completely out of whack when the body is fighting a real threat such as an infection, trauma caused by an accident or surgery, or an emotionally-stressful situation. The body becomes very vulnerable to an attack from the immune system itself.
My other frustration lies with taking an immunosuppressive medication— one of the disease-modifying injectable meds— that has a tendency to make me feel worse when I am already sick with something. I take an interferon medication that lowers my resistance to infections and causes flu-like side-effects that are mild to moderate. On a normal day, the side-effects can be slightly annoying, causing headaches or mild fever/chills or maybe absolutely nothing, but when I’m sick with an infection the injections cause me to spike a fever, have bodily aches and pains, nausea, and often a blasting headache. UGH. I sometimes forgo a few shots during these sick times, although I have to admit that the injections have helped me to lead a somewhat symptom-free life during MS remissions. And my MS relapses have slowed down considerably since starting the drug a little over three years ago. So it’s a nonstop battle of weighing the pros and cons of my disease-modifying medication.
One thing I do find interesting about having MS is that it can sometimes work as a barometer to forecast oncoming illnesses. When my usually-dormant symptoms rear their ugly heads, I am often tipped off about a new infection. This has been the case with bladder infections, which I’ve come to experience since my MS diagnosis which was a little over three years ago. Bladder infections can be pretty vague at first– lethargy, a little nausea, and maybe some stomach upset. My MS symptoms become a great forecaster of oncoming bladder infections and other illnesses.
