2024, pneumonia and living with RA

 First blog in a long while. Felt the need to write this down.

The year got off to a nice start. I had returned from New Zealand just before Christmas and it took a little time to readjust. Especially the weather! The trip was amazing, and I was able to see everything that I had planned to. I didn’t keep to any kind of itinerary, so it was pretty chilled. I’d been doing some training while I was away and took in the obligatory park runs but nothing too intense. Fitness was a bit of unknown really.

I had entered the Brass Monkey half marathon via the ballot which was the third week in January. The previous year’s attempt was one to forget having stomach issues the night before and stupidly still went. A few trips to the bushes en-route was not my finest hour. This year was different, I had no pressure on myself and felt relaxed throughout. Managed a PB by a decent chunk so that was a nice boost.

Things started to deteriorate mid-April. I had travelled to Hawkshead with Lindsey for the Lakeland Trails 16k race. I wasn’t feeling myself, especially after the event. Fever, chills, loss of appetite. I put it down to a bug which I thought would be in its way after a few days. This wasn’t the case. I had subsequently lost my voice and picked up a chest infection bringing up copious amounts of green/yellow mucus. I went to the doctor’s and got checked out, they advised an x-ray of the chest.  I was given antibiotics early May which did nothing to improve the symptoms. I was in a bit of a state. No energy, constantly coughing, fever, sinusitis, sore ribs and each day I was hoping to see some sort of improvement. But no. At the end of May I revisited the GP and they took a sputum sample which revealed pneumonia. New antibiotics were dispensed which worked this time.

Over the next few months, I still wasn’t feeling like my old self. Lindsey and I had a lovely trip to Chamonix for some mountain air, a really great holiday in a special place.

I still had a cough, sore ribs, sinusitis and no interest in doing anything. The palpitations were getting worse too. Blood tests showed inflammatory markers were sky high and I was  also becoming anaemic. This was not ideal.

I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis back in 2013 which I never talk about (not sure why) and I’ve been managing the condition quite well over the years. The weekly dose of medication isn’t great, leaving me feeling sick for 24 hours afterwards. I had the occasional flare up in the hands and wrists making some tasks quite difficult. In September I went back to the GP and expressed my concerns over the symptoms I still had and the fact that this had been going on for months. It was decided to stop all my medication, including the medication I take for RA. This was with a view to allow my immune system to build back up and fight the remaining infection(s). I had a chest CT scan which revealed I still had fluid in my right lung.

Within 2 weeks I had the biggest flare up since I was diagnosed and each day it was getting worse. Fingers, wrists were really swollen and painful. My neck was stiff, I couldn’t look right and left without ache, my elbows were sore, and shoulders were stiff. I had another blood test.  I visited the RA nurse and was given a booster to calm everything down. Medication recommenced. Mid-October I was beginning to feel better; sinusitis had calmed down and my breathing was improving during exercise so this in turn improved my perspective.

During all this time, I had no interest in doing anything. I ran and increased the strength work, but I felt I was in a spiral of deteriorating physical and mental health. I was in  a very dark place. The darkest I’ve been. I had some really dark thoughts. I’m hoping to put all this behind me and look forward in a positive way. Hugely grateful for Lindsey dragging me out of a big hole and my folks for always being supportive. I've never been as ill and it's a kick up the arse to look after myself.

I'm looking forward to 2025 but going to make the most of the rest of this year. Still 20% of the year left!  It's the big 50 next year and I hope to be bagging a few category prizes ;o) Feeling like i'm back on track.