Ssshh..Remission?

So y'know how in those loony tunes cartoons (of my imagination), they have a little devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, egging them on? That's me that is. Devil says "ssshh.. don't tell anyone, but you're in remission". Angel says "look, daftie, you've been here before. don't get carried away, love. Remember that time you went to a Lyme conference wearing a badge saying 'lyme free thanks to Dr D' then relapsed a month later? yeah. Calm the F down.

Before

After

I haven't kept a symptom diary or blogged in a while because A) I've been busy with that thing called NORMAL LIFE ! and b), as the queen of melodramatic health crises, I developed severe asthma and eczema which has landed me in A+E the emergency asthma nurse and meant I've spent a lot of time familiar with the sofa and netflix.

So what's been gaan on? Prior to this asthma shite, I had been feeling pretty normal (insert big fat smiley face). Went camping, mountain biked 5 miles and 13 miles on consecutive days with no after effects (apart from blubbing in the car with the enormity/relief of it all), sorted some of the long overdue things around the house, even bought a new swimsuit in preparation for going swimming with kiddo.

Carried kiddo up our local hill on the day of the worldwide Lyme protests.

Then developed weeping disgusting eczema, an endless hacking asthmatic cough and went and had an asthma attack for the first time in 8 years in the car park of the supermarket.

Brilliant online friends (Lyme disease UK discussion group, you are fab), helped me figure out the asthma/eczema was probably due to an overload of histamine. The health detectives that are my pals and I deduced this was due to 1) Cefuroxime I'd been taking for Lyme which inhibits Diamine Oxidase, the enzyme which normally breaks down hsitamine 2) snaffling an entire large jar of chilli pickled gherkins- very high in histamine plus other histamine containing foods 3) those pesky pollen levels which have been sky high this year and 4) I'm probably one of those itchy wheezy souls prone to this type of thing (history of eczema/asthma/hayfever/dermatographism).

So, the upshot is, I'm in the USA to see my lovely Lyme doctor. I want him to agree with the devil on my shoulder and tell me I'm in remission. Does being tired in the evenings count as remission? (but what parent of a three year old isn't tired in the evenings?). I'm not so great at multitasking and sometimes struggle to find the right word if I'm tired. Maybe though,  this could be just 'me' or maybe permanent neurological damage? I might still have mild insomnia, I haven't tried stopping the bedtime GABA/Gabapentin/melatonin yet as histamine has caused worsening insomnia (who knew?!).

I feel well. I feel like if it weren't for this asthma, I could climb a (small) mountain/tackle the overstuffed cupboards/get on with living completely normally. In the meantime, I'm on a low histamine diet (duller than Melvyn Bragg), antihistamines, asthma meds and a ton of creams and greasy gubbins. I also stopped cefuroxime. Hoping, Dr X agrees and sometime soon, I can start saying the 'R' word out loud.