Life on Medication

During these years from the remainder of 2008 -2010 life was pretty good. I was still able to do holidays, throw my daughter a birthday party on my own, go on family vacations, continue coaching etc. I just had to deal with the side effects from the medication which in consideration to others that are on it mine were relatively mild, except for the rash. The most common side effects of plaquenil are hair loss, mouth sores and rashes. Over a longer period of time it starts to affect your eye sight and when your on the medication you are required to see the eye doctor every 6 months and eventually every 3 months.

The rash is what was the worse for me and it also cause skin discoloration- it gives your skin a gray color tan when you expose yourself to the sun. My rheumatologist told me to stay out of the sun. I had mild hair loss but I have plenty to spare so the only reason I noticed it because hair was all over my house. I also got mouth sores but only like 3x's over the 2 years. Like I said before the rashes were the worst of it I would get all different kinds and all over my body some were painful and some were not, one doctor at Loma Linda told me I had psoriasis. Psoriasis is a long-term (chronic) skin problem that causes skin cells to grow too quickly, resulting in thick, white, silvery, or red patches of skin. I may have but either way it was a result of medication. Itchy, flakey, dry skin was just something I learned to live with regularly.

Here's some pic of me and my family:

 Me and my daughter at San Diego Wild Animal Park.

 Me and my Delta College friends at Homecoming. I went to the football game but didn't go out after with friends because my feet were in bad pain and I was fatigued.

 Casey's ( my bro in law) rehearsal dinner. This was summer of 2009.

 This was for Mj's 3rd birthday. I remember being tired but I was able to throw her a party and I am so grateful! :) ( Sometimes the worst part about this disease is you don't look how you feel and its not something people can see.)

 This is at Casey's wedding Summer 2009

 Family Camp in the Cold Hume Lake

Family Vacation to Orange City Iowa to watch Uncle Cary play football

at Northwestern University. 

Here's video of pictures of some of my rashes. Sorry its poor quality :/ The first pic show white patches on

my arms. The 2nd shoes a raised red rash and the last one is tiny dots all over. These pictures are more recent my rashes were much worse back in 2010 but I didn't think to take pictures then.