Autumn, Cold and Flu Season, and Lupus

Autumn is my favorite time of year, with it's electric orange leaves, crisp mornings, and glowing autumn light that makes everyone's complexion look rosy. It's one of my favorite times to take a walk in the woods. It's also the beginning of cold and flu season, that part is not my favorite. Holiday parties and family gatherings this time of year seem to be a transfer station for the most recent cold or flu. We might have the sniffles, but we don't want to miss out on Thanksgiving or Christmas with the family, maybe we don't even know that we are sick yet, so we go anyway.  

I received my flu shot early this year; in fact I was the first employee at a company that employs over 4000 people.  The employee nurse had to break open the box vaccines for me. I'm also up to date on my Pneumonia vaccine and I'm an avid hand washer. I'm as prepared as I can be.

I'm still concerned because illness and infection is a trigger for my Lupus flares. As a Lupus sufferer, when illness, infection, physical trauma, physical or mental stress, or sunlight, can kick my immune system on in an attempt to eradicate the threat. However, this autoimmune disease makes my immune system kick into super duper high gear, but it has a faulty targeting system.  It targets things in my body other than the virus, infection, etc. It actually tries to kill healthy portions (tissue and organs) of my body, seeing it as a threat to be eradicated. When this happens it's called a Lupus flare, and it can be uncomfortable, painful, debilitating, serious, and even life threatening. So how do I try to keep myself healthy and safe, but not sequester myself from life? How do I limit my risk of illness and infection to reduce the risk of Lupus flare? 

This time of year, the cold and flu season, the holiday gatherings complete with hugs and handshaking. The potential for illness and the potential Lupus flare kind of scares me. There is also the potential for misunderstanding between my friends and family, when I don't hug or shake hands, or I may even choose not to participate in the party or gathering. As well, as the misunderstanding when those I care about don't understand the risk, and think I'm an alarmist, or a complainer, or just doing it for attention. 

Not participating in family events and social gatherings is NOT normal for me. So I'm going to do what I can to prepare ahead of time. Participate as much as I can. Limit myself where I need to.  Who knows, maybe I'll bring medical masks into fashion this season. 

My favorite Autumn walk in the woods.

Yes, Halloween can be frightening....

Halloween can be frightening. Especially when there is the potential for Lupus flare.  But Hey, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this planning ahead thing....  

Here was one of the challenges, Halloween make up sucks! Yes, the standard over the counter stuff usually gives me hives all over my body; I'm just lucky that way.  I really didn't want to go through that again. Instead I tried a few tricks.  First I bought Ben Nye Super White face powder, theatrical make up. It's powder instead of a paste and I figured it wouldn't absorb into my skin as much as the other stuff.  It's also supposed to be hypoallergenic. I figured that might help. To be especially careful, I used my tried and true liquid make up first as a base layer to give a little something for the powder to stick to and also give me another layer of protection, just in case. It worked.  No hives, no crazy reaction, and no Lupus flare!....however I did get a big zit out of the deal.  But hey, I can live with that.

My dear husband and I went to Ashland, OR for the evening and got a hotel room for the night so we wouldn't be driving under the influence and I could rest if needed.  I rested the day before and took a little nap on Halloween afternoon, we met our friends for great dinner, put on our make up and finery and took a cab to the down town area (the cab saved me from being wiped out before the fun started). The sun had gone down so we walked the square and looked at the amazing costumes and happy revelers. We went to one of our favorite pubs for a pint, and met up with some more friends, found our way to another pub for another pint, listened to some great music, and even danced.  It was a really fun evening.  At midnight we left our friends, who were still partying, and called it a night and got a ride back to our hotel.  Used up all of our make up remover getting our faces clean and went to bed and slept like proverbial rocks.  We headed home the next morning, after a fantastic breakfast and a few tubs of coffee. Rested some more and got back into my normal routine. My dear husband said he had such a good time; he wants to do this again next year. Mission accomplished    

Here we are in our Halloween costumes.