The weather keeps changing from warm to chilly, dry to humid, but the wind remains fairly constant. Today hasn't been as windy as the previous days, but it's supposed to blow in more storms this week. Weather can be a pain in the ass for someone who is +. The meds can already cause sore joints & other ailments, then Mother Nature has to take her whack at it.
Besides the intestinal ailments the meds can cause they can be aggravated by atmospheric & environmental factors. I've mentioned before that allergies can upset the whole matter. Many meds can make you extremely photosensitive. This leaves in need of SPF & a lot of shade. Excess heat is usually no more welcome than bright light when you're on HIV meds. Heat & light can sap your strength & leave with a migraine.
Today's issue is the fluctuation of the humidity & temperature. I wake in the morning & fully well expect my body to creak like an old wood floor. The creakiness usually passes fairly quickly & is nothing an ibuprofen can't handle. But the stiffness in the joints & muscles can sometimes take a lot longer to get past. I have to watch how I sleep now. If I sleep with my arms or legs in the wrong position, I'll pay for it the next day. My ankle is achy & feels like it's been bound to tight to walk on comfortably. It's probably a combination of the weather & how I slept. It won't get any better until I sleep again, so I'll just have to hobble around today.
It's better than when the gout kicks in. An ugly issue with an ugly name. The commercials for the medicine that treats gout make the ailment sound manageable. If you ever have a flare-up of gout, which hope you never do, you will think it is anything but manageable. You've probably heard all those stories about animals getting caught in traps & chewing their feet off. My theory is that those animals had gout & thought the trap would chop off their painful foot.
One of the problems with HIV & similar conditions is that they rarely travel alone. Most often they bring company to the party. HIV has no problem letting the environment rattle you, weakening your immunity so some other virus can bug you or allowing an ailment like gout to set in to cause further ridicule & suffering.
My hope for you today is good or at least tolerable weather.
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