I've been getting a lot of calls, texts, facebook posts, and emails about the 50 years older post I just wrote. So I thought I'd write a disclaimer to let everyone know that I'm not dying.
About a year ago our insurance started covering the birth control I was on, so I had to switch to another one. That one didn't work out so well seeing as how it made my face break out like a 13 year old. Finally about a month and a half away I couldn't stand it anymore and HAD to do something about it. I was put on a different birth control and prescribed an antibiotic for my face issues. I also have two different topical prescriptions. I should be off the three of those by the end of this month.
All that accounts for 4 of the 7 medications.
WARNING: I include a picture of my eye in this next section.
Tuesday night my right eye started itching, but I didn't think anything of it until I woke up the next morning and my lid was swollen like I'd just been stung by a bee. I read online to treat with a warm compress. While this helped with the itching it did nothing for the swelling. I left it alone thinking it would eventually go away on it's own. Thursday came around and I felt a huge rock-like bump right by my earlobe. I once again read online that there's a lymph node there. So I assumed it was swollen because of my eye. That will go away too, I thought. But last night the lymph nodes on my jawline and on the back of my neck started swelling too. It got to the point of me not even being able to lay the right side of my head on my pillow because of pain. This morning when I looked in the mirror I noticed that on the underneath of my eyelid (like where my eyelashes start) had little white bumps surrounded by red swollen areas. Hmm...that doesn't look good. Maybe I should go to the doctor.
I called the ophthalmologist's office and described my symptoms, and they wanted me to come in immediately. Brad left work to come pick me up. After some poking and prodding, the doctor concluded that my eye has blocked glands, which caused the lymph node near my ear to swell. However, he said my eye shouldn't effect the other swollen lymph nodes. He thought I could either have a herpes virus in my eye which was spreading, or I was starting to get shingles. YAY! So he prescribed my eye drops and an antiviral medication. But he was worried so he sent me to an urgent care facility.
That doctor came to the same conclusion - herpes or shingles. He then prescribed me an anit-bacterial drug, just to cover all the bases.
I go back to the eye doctor on Monday to see if anything has improved. But hopefully, I'll only be on these eye meds for about a week, which is great but they're pretty much horse pills. I have to half them to even think about swallowing them.
So, there you have it. I'm not dying. I just happen to have a few problems all at once. By the end of the month I'll be down to just the birth control, which will be wonderful. (One of the eye medications I have to take FIVE times a day! Seriously?!)
But I do appreciate all the worrying.
