The morning after... groan!

I felt very rough this morning. All my joints ached and I even felt a bit nauseous. I injected at 10.40ish last night. I woke at around 2am to see to one of my children when I felt groggy with sleep but fine otherwise. I finally woke up at 6.30 this morning and felt as though I had been hit by a truck. I guess this is the flu like symptoms. I also noticed I was sensitive to different temperatures. My daughter's cold hands and the too hot shower water both sent my nerves screaming.

Luckily I had a blood test this morning, so I didn't have to go to work so early and was able to go back to bed for 15 minutes after breakfast.

My blood made a nice squirty noise as it filled one of the test tubes. Both the nurse and I smiled. She said she'd had an 'interesting' morning collecting blood from the mental health wards saying she was always a little worried in this situation - that there might be gruesome noises to freak the patients out.

A combination of ibuprofen and paracetamol are helping me ride it out. My next injection is due on Christmas Eve, but I might delay this by a day - I don't want to be ill on Christmas morning.

Double trouble?

My jobs for this evening include stripping wallpaper, bathtime and bedtime for the kids, wrapping Christmas presents, going to the supermarket to stock up on festive goodies, shifting the sofa and covering it with dust sheets ready for the plasterer... oh! and shooting up with Rebif (left thigh night tonight).

Well it's full dose time, today. After a couple of weeks of Beta Interferon at 22 micrograms, I double it to 44 tonight. From what I have read on discussion boards etc, the side-effects should start kicking in from now on. Hurrah! I have already experienced the achey joints and the hot flushes - will I get them twice as often? Will they be twice as bad? Will I start getting the injection site reactions I have heard about?

Probably none of the above.

Only time will tell, of course.

Typically, I have forgotten to attend this morning's scheduled blood test and have apologetically re-arranged it for first thing tomorrow morning - the 'morning after' so to speak. Also, typically, the next injection is on Christmas Eve.