Retha De Wet shares how she lets her physiological symptoms warn her of upcoming flares.
Transcript
I have a tremor in my hand. I don’t know if it’s visible now, but that’s the one thing, and it’s not on the other hand. It only comes when I start to get a little exerted. So that’s my physical reminder.
I think a lot of us have some sort of physical symptoms, whether it’s a twitching eyelid or something else. Most of us have some sort of physical indication. But oftentimes, we tend to ignore those because, “Oh, no, I’m just tired,” or, “Oh, no, I didn’t sleep well.”
What I’ve started doing—especially now that my symptoms are milder, so they’re not as pronounced and don’t demand to be heard—is tracking them. If you ignore them, they do eventually end up there. I have a rating scale in the notes on my phone that I fill out every week, and I’ve chosen three categories: fatigue, irritability, and weakness.
For me, the weaker I get, the more irritable I get. I’ve noticed that if I’m very irritable and I say my weakness is nonexistent but my fatigue is high, then most of the time that means the weakness is worse than I’m admitting, so I’ll pay closer attention to it.
Then I’ll think, “Okay, let’s pay attention. Going up the stairs, am I actually using my hands, or am I just using my legs?” Slowly, you start to realize, “Oh, I’m compensating in this way,” or, “I’m compensating in that way.” I think a lot of times, especially with a chronic illness, you automatically compensate, and you don’t always realize how much you’re doing it.
