Posted by Jen Y. (38.196.89.2) on July 14, 1999 at 15:46:29:
In Reply to: Supporters - Give me advice posted by glenn on July 13, 1999 at 11:27:31:
Glenn, I know what you mean. My boyfriend's clusters are
chronic, very chronic. He's been having them almost daily,
and of course often many times a day since I met him 7 months
ago. It's not new to him of course, but it's all very new
to me. He says I handle it better than anyone he's known,
especially his ex-wife (who had lupus and problems of her
own), but I think I do a pretty crappy job of handling it.
I'm relatively young (24) and enjoy going and doing things with
friends. But it's so hard to make plans when we don't know when
the "Demon" will strike. Not to mention how crappy he feels
afterward; lately he's been taking a lot of codeine, which takes
the edge off the pain, but leaves him in a stupor, not to mention
the constipation, loss of appetite, stomach aches and much
diminished sex drive. If he were episodic at least we'd have
the remission periods to look forward to, but his last remission
period was over two years ago before I met him, and then for
only 2 1/2 months. He's been through so much already, I try
to understand why my optimism seems silly to him, but it's hard.
So I pray and pray (and he says, see, God doesn't care about me!
He's not listening!) and try not to get angry at him over something
cannot control.