Giddy Tigers

First of all, I would like to wish one and all a very happy blessed New Year!  We had a lovely time together, just family…but maybe this year, we’ll eat in on New Year’s eve instead…hahaha.

The past 3-4 months have been a difficult time for me.  I’m sure some of you must have wondered if I had retired from blogging altogether.

Well, I have not.  And I hope to be able to keep the blogging momentum up and running as soon as I can possibly can.  Actually, this post was supposed to have gone out before the year 2015 ended, but alas, I have been so bogged down that I have not had the chance to complete the draft.

So, as I said before, the past few months have been a difficult time for me.  I was overcome by stress earlier on, but in true “supermom” fashion, I did not realize I was in a vulnerable position, and as such, I did not recognize it as stress.  It is only now that I am in recovery mode that when I look back, I know that I had been incredibly stressed then…albeit without my knowledge.  My body fought back naturally but there came a time when my body could not defend itself anymore and so succumbed to stress.  Had I realized I was stressed, I would have been able to manage it better and prevent the avalanche of incidents happening.

Anyway, in late September, I contracted a bacterial infection called impetigo.  It usually affects eczema sufferers with broken skin, because the bacteria can then enter the bloodstream through the broken skin.  However, in my case, I know that I definitely did not have broken skin, so I was confused about how I could have gotten it…until I learnt that it also affects those whose immunity is compromised due to high stress levels, for example.

My infection was so serious that I lost the use of my hands while they were recovering.  I was initially treating the infections with natural alternatives, however, this takes longer…and while the healing was happening, unfortunately the infection spread to my little baby daughter too.  This in turn caused more stress for me, and subsequently the infection got worse…so I had no choice but to get antibiotics treatment for both of us.  This included topical steroids.

I was so depressed really.  I still find it incredibly painful and difficult to look at those photos of my infected hands, even now.  I couldn’t cook and couldn’t clean and could hardly even drive!

So after that incident of impetigo, I healed but not long after, had a sudden flare-up of eczema on my hands.  This, I knew, happened because I had applied topical steroids when I had impetigo, and the flare-ups were my body’s natural reaction to ridding itself of toxins. I braved myself to fight this spell.

However, little did I know that it was a really bad one that became worse and worse as time wore on.  I had breakouts everywhere on my hands, even on the back of my hands where I have never had any problems before.

I had to go back to those days of wearing band-aids on my fingers to prevent the pain of the cracks and bleeding.  This really got me down and pulled me even deeper into depths of depression.

Sometime in November, I suppose because of my state of stress, I fell sick and developed a very high fever over the course of 3-4 days.  The feverish spells came with chills and sometimes went up to as high as 40+ºC.  It was a very trying time for me and on day 2 of the fever, I woke up with hives all over me as well.  Both my hands were swollen to the extent that I was not able to move my fingers.  I was in too much pain…I had to resort to steroids again.

It was a mean and vicious cycle.  I knew I had to break it but I just didn’t know how yet.

The doctor recommended a blood test to rule of dengue fever.  I will be frank…a part of me wanted it to be positive for dengue so I didn’t have to take antibiotics.  Crazy I know…. anyway, the blood test came back negative for dengue and the doctor prescribed antibiotics.   Slowly I got better and better, but the stubborn eczema flare ups on my hands were still persistent.

I decided then that I was going to heal it all now with natural means, no matter how hard it would be: Izumio internally to flush out whatever remnants of toxins from the drugs, medications and steroids, and externally, I used essential oils coupled with a hand moisturizer liberally and religiously.

I found out that my hand eczema condition is called Dyshidrotic Eczema, typically it manifests itself in times of…you guessed it….STRESS.  Dyshidrotic Eczema symptoms are small itchy liquid-filled bumps that itches more when you scratch and scratch.  I had them all over the back of my hands and on my palms and fingers too.

It was embarrassing to show my hands to people so I preferred to be home most of the time.

During my healing, I had other factors causing me stress too.  I discovered a termite infestation in my kitchen!!  We engaged a pest control baiting service, and had 2 baiting stations placed: 1 in the kitchen and 1 on our main door frame.  However, 2 weeks later, I discovered another termite infestation site in the dry kitchen.  Termites just give me the ickiness…Just thinking about it makes my hands itchy and I can’t wait to get the whole termite colony dead!  Thankfully, the last update a few days ago by the pest control team was that the colonies would be eliminated by the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Other things attributed to the increase in my stress levels during the past few months as well.  I was leading a team project where there was severe lack of communication and accountability.  Let’s just say that I was extremely glad that the project is now over and done with; and I’m also thankful for the handful of people on that team who went the extra mile to make sure the project was completed.

This year, I’m going to try my best to not let stress get to me.  Yes, I have mouths to feed and yes, I have things to clean up, but I’m going to take it easy and just try my best.  I’m going to focus on God being the center of my life and surround myself with love for my family.  I’m going to put my home organisation plan into place as soon as possible and hopefully that will help me feel more relaxed.  I’m going to focus on helping others but I’m going to also remember to help myself.

To everyone, I wish you a fantastic year ahead.  Don’t forget to take time out for God, for your family and for yourself.  May you enjoy what the New Year brings and look forward to plenty of blessings ahead!

I hope to blog more often too, so please do come by and say hello! 🙂