Decisions

Having autoimmune illnesses means that my immune system is attacking my own body in various ways, as though I have had a transplant and my body is rejecting that new tissue. To combat that, I take steroids that are designed to suppress my immune responses to keep the damage to my organs to a minimum.

Up until recently, all of my medications were oral. Each medication did a minimal job of suppressing these immune responses, but the results were clear-- I went from being someone who was rarely sick to someone who got sick regularly. I started having headaches that would last weeks, and then to having migraines. I went from having few allergies to having many allergic responses.

I recently was put on a new medication for my rheumatoid arthritis (which is also an autoimmune illness). Enbrel has worked wonders on my pain and swelling from the arthritis. However, this medication suppresses my immunological responses to an even greater degree than any previous medication. I have had two blood results since being on this medication and one was well below the minimum white blood cell count considered the "average" range. The second was just inside the minimum average amount.

The upshot of this is that if I feel sick I am supposed to delay taking the medication until I am feeling better. If I don't, then I am suppressing my immune system right when I need it most (to fight the sickness).

It is a difficult decision sometimes to decide between being in pain and allowing my body to get better from the sickness or potentially getting really sick but not being in pain from my arthritis. This time out I chose to skip the medication and live with the arthritis pain until I felt better. Since I am flying tomorrow, I wanted to be as healthy as possible for the plane ride.

The last time this occurred, however, I chose to take the medication. I wasn't feeling as poorly as this time, but the arthritis pain was intense. So I took the medication and, sure enough, my illness got much worse for a couple of days as it could ravage my body with impunity.

My autoimmune issues are, in the overall hierarchy of illnesses, not severe when compared with such issues as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and some of the more virulent viruses. I can only imagine the choices that people suffering with that level of illness must make on a daily basis.

Western medicine is a wonder to behold. It aggressively attacks the problem and strives to eradicate it from the body. However, western medicine does not consider the effects this may have on the mind, soul, and rest of the body of the person affected.