For someone who is a chronic insomniac (that would be me), my recent sleep patterns are a bit disturbing...the fact that I'm sleeping A LOT is quite strange! And I can honestly say I haven't slept this much since I was 16 and came down with a severe case of Mononucleosis...you know...the "kissing disease"?!? And trust me, there's been no deep-tongue, lip smacking going on HERE lately...unless you count smooching my cat, Meha, now and then. LOL
The only plausible explanation I can come up with is a medically based one...the Novantrone has plummeted my cell counts. Remember waaaaay back when I was lamenting about the function and side effects of Novantrone AKA, the "blue juice"? Well, it's action is to interfere with and wipe out rapidly growing/dividing cells, which includes the blood cells. It is believed Novantrone interferes with the White Blood Cell Counts which, if you recall from MS 101, are thought to be responsible for the development of plaques in the MS brain (funny...I just typed "plague in the MS brain"...really the same thing, isn't it?).
But the problem with Novantrone is, it's just not very discriminatory...it also interferes with platelets and Red Blood Cells. And those sweet, lil' old RBC's are what carry oxygen around to vital organs like...say...THE BRAIN!!! And one could argue I've been hypoxic (without oxygen) to my brain my whole life, but I believe it may be a bit worse now! LOL
I have noticed even the smallest of exertion causes me to feel winded also. Walking up a small flight of steps gives me pause. And the overwhelming need to take a nap (sometimes twice in a day) is just not like me...I tend to be someone who runs on a 4-6 hour sleep schedule...getting any more sleep than that, just feels "lazy". LOL
Today will be the true test of my stamina as I return to work...I have been off work on a 6 (7, if you count taking off last Friday for my infusion) day furlough from my job, which has been wonderful...I've been afforded the luxury of "cat napping" whenever the mood strikes me. But my work demands not only my attention, but also that I remain AWAKE! Work can be sooo dayum demanding, can't it?!?
The other "wonderful" idea about Novantrone is, usually one's blood counts don't completely bottom out until between the 10th and 14th day post infusion...I'm on number 7. I can hardly WAIT to experience what "might" happen in another 3 to 7 days!!! It may take a stick of dynamite to blow my arse out of bed by then...or a fairy tale kiss from someone on a white horse. I'll keep you posted. LOL But I imagine the end result will be the dynamite...
2 comments:
Now I have only had 2 Novantrone treatments....but my experience (so far) is that I am wiped out for the first couple of weeks. Then I get to feeling much better. There have been ups and downs (we can't expect anything less with MS, I suppose) but I do feel better than I have in a long time. It does take that first couple of weeks of taking it easy (until the blood counts come back up) for the energy to kick back in. I have noticed my sleeping patterns are off....but then again it was never real great. Like I said, I have only had 2 treatments, so there is not a lot for me to go off...but overall things seem to be better. I am hoping and praying you also have a positive experience. :)
Take care of yourself and remember not to over do things.
Maybe it's something in the water Linda... All I'm doing lately is sleeping too and we both know that this is not like me at all. LOL!
Oh, and up till 5 years ago I always thought being laid up for 6 months with Mono (oddly enough I was also 16!) had been worth it... Billy the Beautiful was definitely worth the Mono but I'll have to kick his germ laden butt if that's what caused the MS! NO ONE is worth that! Besides, he's probably bald and fat by now. ;)
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