It has been about 2 and half months since I started on Gilenya, the MS pill and I am pleased to report that it is all going fairly well.
I am sure I had a good old whinge in my previous post about experiencing back and neck pain as one of the side effects...and I thought that was it, and that I was winning but then...I had a blood test and getting the results has revealed other side effects. Bummer man.
My cholesterol has risen. I've never had high cholesterol! This is really disappointing, because I really fucking love butter. The butter we had has now been replaced with Nuttelex. I put some on a crumpet the other day. It tasted weird and gross. I threw it in the bin :-/ BUT this has motivated me to join one of the local gyms with M. And in just 2 week's time, I will be back in the casual teaching game which means I will have more time and therefore more energy to be more active. More more more! I am time greedy, what can I say?
Then there was the white blood cell count results. Low. Very low. My lymphocytes are 0.2! This is sorta good and bad. It's good because this is what the drug is supposed to do as it is an immunosuppressant - so it is working how it should. The bad thing about this is that I am susceptible to catching things like colds and stuff and if I do get ill, my body will struggle to fight it. So if you're sick - stay away from me! Ha, nah. I can't live my life in a bubble! If I wanted to live in a bubble, I'd move to Bondi (some of you should get this cheeky joke!).
Besides all of the above, I am still getting neck and back pain, but less frequently. All my usual Mad Sascha symptoms are still silently there, being annoying. Weirdo left knee is still there and is mostly a pest in the morning and when walking up and down stairs. Very slight tingles in the left pinky - this is my oldest symptom so I am very used to it being there and really, it doesn't cause any grief like my stupido left knee. Then there are the muscle twitches which happens on a daily basis and of varying twitchiness. Again, this symptom doesn't really stop me from functioning normally, so that is good!
Anyways, what's on your menu tonight? I'll be having chicken with cous cous.
