War Wounds from Iron Needles & More!

Well, for the last six weeks, I have been having iron injections - one every Tuesday. My iron was very low, and iron in tablet form makes me really sick, so I can't take them. Yesterdays iron needle didn't hurt too much, but every week my bruise gets bigger, more spread out, and more multi-coloured... lol! It is about the size of my hand at the moment, which is kinda nasty. It seems to be taking forever to fade as well.

Anyway, the needles are making me feel a little better in myself - concentration and energy-wise (although I still don't have the energy to do very much at all). Couple that with the effects of the prednisone on reducing my pain and swelling, and the last two weeks I have become a new woman! I am dreading the gradual reduction in dosage from this week on. I don't want to end up back the way I was where I couldn't type, couldn't walk even around the house, couldn't raise my arms above my head, etc. Hopefully the two weeks at this dose will have knocked the swelling on the head enough that it won't return too quickly.


As to the cause of my swelling and pain, it is still sort of unknown. Although I have Ehlers-Danlos SyndromeME/CFS (which cause seriously nasty joint, muscle and nerve pain in themselves!), my doctor suspects that this new type of pain I am feeling (for about a year now, gradually worsening) is caused by a separate an unknown rheumatological condition (she even mentioned some kind of widespread viral arthritis at one stage). It affects pretty much every joint in my entire body, and my blood test markers have been showing a marked gradual increase in inflammation (and necrosis?!) over a period of months. All I know is - I am REALLY glad I tried the prednisone tablets, because the amount of relief they have given me has given me hope that I won't be so decrepit forever! lol 


~Adrielle =)