Health Issues

So the last two years have not been a joy health-wise.

After giving birth to my beautiful girl, my scalp psoriasis came back with a vengeance. I think it was triggered by the birth, as I had a failed epidural and gave birth naturally after 10 and a half hours of labour. The very next day, i had a small spot of psoriasis on my hairline by my neck. I hadn't had a flair up for years before that. So needless to say, the psoriasis flared up like crazy and I was not able to do much about because I was determined to breastfeed.

Not me - But a good example of what my psoriasis looks like

I then tried every natural route I could think of. Homoeopathic remedies, Allergo-stop injections (two courses),  and dietary changes (which I was not able to continue due to family eating conflicts and poor self control).

Out of desperation I asked my doctor at a recent baseline medical appointment for work, to give me something. He had a look and said that my psoriasis was very severe and he prescribed Dovobet and Clobex Shampoo. Both are corticosteroid based. not my ideal choice but I am so desperate to get some kind of relief because winter is a tough time to have psoriasis. Its been helping so far but I have been very stressed out lately and am sure its contributing to the psoriasis staying.

At the very same baseline medical, they tested my eyes. Even with my glasses on, my results were poor. Which was very strange considering I had just gotten my new lenses in January 2012.

The doctor was concerned that my severe psoriasis was possibly 'attacking' my eyesight. I was told to go see an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. I was so panicked after googling - worst thing to do when you are unsure of your actual diagnosis. Everything came up with psoriasis making me blind!

My husband, bless his heart, phoned around to try find the best eye doctor in town. A few days later I went to see Dr Mia at Waterfall Hospital. He did his tests and found out that I had a disorder called "Keratoconus". My case was bad enough that he suggested Corneal Cross linking as soon as possible because of the rate my eyes were "twisting".  He told me that is was degenerating so fast that I would possibly lose my eye sight by August/ September of this year and would have needed a corneal transplant etc.

The difference between a normal eye and keratoconus

I had the left eye done on the 28th of May and then the right eye done on the 11th of June. Thank Goodness that my father was able to help me with the money. The procedure cost R12 000 for both eyes and my medical aid would not cover it. Discovery told me that they would not cover it because not enough medical studies had been done on the procedure in South Africa. That was absolutely ridiculous!!! Screw the fact that I could have lost my eyesight. They however feel the procedure is cosmetic, even though it did not correct my vision - it just stopped the progression of the disorder. I still have to wear glasses and then possibly get fitted for hard contact lenses to try 'push' my eye into shape for better vision. But that will all only come, once my eyes have fully healed. I am going to have to wait a few weeks for that.

With all of these things happening, my skin, eye and weight gain has got me feeling abit down. I kinda feel like "why me?". I don't get why out of a family of 5 children, I got dumped with all the genetic disorders.

Its very worrying, considering that I have to watch my little one closely to make sure is she has any of the things I have. I feel like if she gets anything, it will be fault because my genetics are so bad. I just hope her fathers strong genetics will 'cancel' out my bad genetics.

I also think that I need to do something drastic. I am considering either going vegetarian or gluten-free. I have been told by multiple doctors that I should not have any wheat and gluten-free may just be strict enough to make a health difference. I have to do something that will give quick results because i feel so sluggish and just plain moody and demotivated the whole time.

I am going to look into it and see what I should do. I think Gluten-free may just be a good start and then I can go vegetarian at a later stage for detox reasons.

I am just so scared that if i don't do something drastic like this, I am going to wake up one day with cancer or something at my young age. I just feel like all the bad stuff is happening to me and I am almost expecting something bad like that cause it all just keeps getting worse.

I know I shouldn't think like that but it is so hard to be optimistic when I feel like I am just getting knocked by anything and everything.

Here's to bette health in the future
xoxo