Lupus during Covid

Since mid march I have been holed up at home, shielding, due to my rubbish immune system. This wouldn't have been so bad but just 5 weeks previously I had returned to work after spending most of the year before recovering from two total knee replacement surgeries. I was ready to start living again. Just as I started making plans.....bang.....Covid struck. In the grand scheme of things I am thankful that I am safe but I have had many ups and downs since shielding started.

I am currently going through a Lupus flare and I think the current craziness that we are going through has been a contributing factor. A Lupus flare is unpredictable and can come out of nowhere and is when Lupus symptoms become more apparent. My flares floor me and can be overwhelming. For some bizarre reason they always begin in my inner elbows. My joints and muscles become swollen and painful, this time it is mainly my ankles and my hands.....but I have also developed a new symptom, a pain in my chest.....and I admit it, I'm feeling sorry for myself just now.

There are different triggers for my flares and I have found that my mental health plays a huge part of how in control I am of my Lupus. My moods have been low more often than not recently, not for any particular reason but being stuck in the house has not helped. Stress is a major contributing factor to my flares and the past couple of weeks have probably led up to this point. I am doing multiple courses to try and keep my mind busy and have probably taken on more than I should have. I have been stressed about assignment deadlines and homework. I also turned 40 a few weeks ago and although shielding, I knew that I would have some visitors, so decided to totally gut the downstairs of my house and did too much. The thing I need to realise when it comes to housework, I can only do a little every day, NOT hours of cleaning every day, the way I did. I need to listen to my body and rest when it tells me to. Also, like most people during lockdown, my eating habits have not been the greatest, which always has a huge impact on my Lupus. When I eat rubbish, I feel rubbish. Why have I been eating rubbish.....because I'm bored.....because my mood has been low.....because it passes the time.....I know nutrition is key, yet I continue to self-sabotage.

Whatever the reason for my flare, I am taking back control!!! I was speaking to my doctor today and my normal course of action when suffering from a flare is steroids and painkillers. Due to Covid they are not recommending steroids. Steroids, apart from helping relieve the symptoms of Lupus, also reduce my immune system and my immune system is already non-existent, so taking a course of steroids would make me extremely susceptible to Covid. Although I am struggling at the minute, it is really not worth the risk. My plan of attack is to do what I can to take control of my wellbeing, by me looking after my body and my mind in a more natural way. The first part of this plan is arranging an appointment with holistic wellbeing centre in my area. They promote complementary medicine and having been to them before and following their recommendations I know the positive impact this approach can have on me and my health.

Have you used an alternative to traditional medicine and have found it more effective? What do you do to take control of your wellbeing? Is there something that you have tried that you now swear by? Let me know in the comments section below.