It (the feeling) happened on Sunday - I forgot I had hidradenitis suppurativa because I felt so good
It happened on a Sunday, a realization in my own body so new, so unexpected that I didn’t even realize it was happening until I strapped my platform teva sandals on because my feet hurt. Photos of said highly recommended tevas (and Lou) below.
I made it through an entire weekend without crashing early, without succumbing to crippling fatigue, and without having to stop mid-chore or house project to take a break.
The unexpected feeling? Wellness. I felt well - like wholly well. Yes, I had a bit of pain from my wisdom teeth and my HS but it was dull and in the background. My body wasn’t screaming to spend the day going slow or resting to make sure I don’t have any exhaustion during the work week. I started caring, like really caring about my wellness about 3 years ago. Below is the timeline and the catalyst for what really set me on this journey to find this feeling.
Jan. 2020
My consulting job was demanding and without sufficient respect for time off, boundaries, or appropriate pay (all topics for another day). I was pushing too hard and ignoring that I needed to take a week off from being on the road to chill - but I couldn’t there was too much to do. I was flying home from a conference. I was in so much pain from a cyst that was angry, its location upper outside labia majora (and inflaming the associated hairlines). It was impacting my ability to concentrate, to walk, sleep, sit, to do anything but drown the pain in mimosas in the lounge before my 5-hour flight home. Yes, I’d arrive hungover, but I could medicate my way to sleep and then to the doctor’s office. And yes, I do travel with a small arsenal of pharmaceuticals for times like this - but I was beyond their help at this point.
I suspected that I had just made my hidradenitis so angry that it had erupted inside a tract and would just require a bit more cortisone and draining than usual, It was actually much worse than that. I had developed cellulitis in the surrounding area. Cellulitis is a common but serious bacterial infection that spreads rapidly and is red/warm/swollen to the touch - it's caused by the common bacteria(s) that cause both strep and staph. If you're like me, and you've essentially spent a good portion of your life in doctor's offices, it's not uncommon for these bacteria to live in your body. And since this was a downstairs cyst, the development is not only painful, it’s also dangerous. Anyone that lives with a chronic illness, autoimmune disease, etc., will tell you getting a secondary infection is incredibly difficult and potentially dangerous because you are already depleted - your body is already in overdrive.
Thankfully, after a few shots of Rocephin, and some mandated bedrest, I was on the mend. But, my boss at the time didn’t really care what was required for me to be well. I won’t dig too much into it, but iykyk, there are good bosses and there are bosses who think they’re good. I was confiding in a friend that I was unhappy in my role for all the reasons I mentioned and a few more I haven’t. I also confided that I was struggling with my health and I was worried about my longevity in the role. He suggested I have a chat with his old boss, and the rest is history. I’m in a role I love with a boss that really is great. I will do a series on how to talk about your needs with your boss in an unemotional and tactical manner at a later date.
March 2020
Enter, the pandemic. A time of immense frustration and uncertainty. I was given a stay-at-home order until further notice, even after restrictions were put into place - we were not going to mess around with mixing Covid and HS.
May 2020
I had secured my new job and made a seamless transition. The work front was fine, we were all at home and going stir-crazy. But during the pandemic, and all of the time I had to be alone, with my thoughts. I hadn’t met James yet or adopted Louie. I started to really analyze my health. Like really analyzing my health. What I was eating, how much I was drinking, how well I was sleeping, and what did my fitness look like? What did my relationships look like?
Well throw back to the old job and the old boss - I normally fasted the entire day. Lived off of coffee and water. Closed the day with 2 glasses of wine and takeout. None of that is good - like none of it. It may seem glamorous, but it’s not. I realized all of these things during the pandemic and started to make some adjustments.
Still summer 2020…I adopted my chonk, Loubert. The regal king pittie. I was so worried about him having to wait for me to take him to go potty, that he and I walked almost 3 or 4 times a day. Morning, noon, and night. Sometimes we’d do an evening walk before our bedtime potty walks. I was living in a townhome at the time. Don’t worry we had a plan for when he had the runs. It was a quiet time. Just me, Lou, occasional yoga classes, walks, and me redoing or rather Marie Kondoing my townhome.
Fast forward to November 2020…I met James. More on our relationship another time. But we met, we fell into step with each other, our dogs became best buds and we moved in together. We fell in love.
This is the first time James met Lou, and it was just after Thanksgiving. Buds from the start.
August 2021 - my first appointment with STAT Wellness. Specifically, with Dr. Kristin Oja. I’m a stickler for seeing mostly female providers. I find it easier to talk about pain and issues with someone that shares similar anatomy to me. I also think there’s a level of resonance when talking about where HS affects me with another woman. They can envision it for themselves and empathize. I want to call out that this isn't me being sexist, my dentist and oral surgeon are both men.
I started my journey at STAT partially because of a friend who was a trainer there, but partially because I turned 30 in August of 2021 and it was time to start prioritizing longevity. Hidradenitis Suppurativa has so many implications on longevity whether it be heart-related, movement-related, pain-related, or even relationship related. Ever the recovering perfectionist - knowing what I was up against meant a great deal to me.
STAT stands for Strength to Achieve Total Wellness. They do this by working with patients in different modalities. Life coaching, Nutrition, Physical Therapy, Personal Training, Group Fitness, and of course, Medicine. I started back in 2021 with just medicine. Now, I’m at STAT weekly for Physical Therapy, and James is at STAT weekly for Personal Training and quarterly for medicine. I work with their nutritionist on and off throughout the year (she’s also a dear friend of mine), and the whole staff has really become like an extension of our friend group.
Here’s what makes STAT different. Here’s what puts STAT with the other providers I see regularly and recommend. They understand that I am human. They respect how I got to them, and they afford me my dignity when we talk about care. There’s no diminishing how I feel or even may feel. This is huge!
I’ve been in offices where the MD has completely ignored what I had to say and what will work best. I walked out, refused to pay the bill, and told them straight to their face that their bedside manner and active listening skills need work.
More than the dignity and respect that’s offered, they look beyond the acceptable ranges of bodily functions to determine how you’re doing. Yes, this means getting blood drawn regularly, maybe giving a stool sample or two, and maybe having to consult with a dietician or life coach. All of these things work together.
On a side note, in my GI MAP from Aug. 2021. I can see that both Strep and Staph are alive and kicking in my gut as "opportunistic bacteria" because they're present in the poo sample. Just further proof that everything is interconnected.
Food is medicine, movement is medicine, and medicine is more than just actual RXs. STAT has supported me for the last 2 years in a multitude of ways. All of these have culminated in some pretty substantial wins. Wins that will now let us focus on more specific things.
Those wins are:
Successful ongoing weight loss and reduction of visceral fat (dangerous fat around your organs)
Successful maintenance of muscle mass (muscle mass supports metabolic rate, MR is vital to maintaining weight loss)
Balancing and optimization of hormones to best support living with HS (hormone optimization looks different for everyone - this is a personalized view)
Balancing and optimization of everything else (blood sugar, protein, iron what have you, liver function)
The big wins (more than the weight and fat) are:
Rebuilding of movement connections in certain parts of my body where HS can take a toll on muscle groups, HS folks think rotator cuff, intercostals, Gracilius, hip flexors, glutes (all of them mid, med, max), and more
Movement is big, HS has rope-like scarring which can severely impact my ability to move. I was able to make some good gains with areas that are heavily scarred. Being able to move effectively is also the basis for any muscle gain I plan to do in the future.
CRP reduction from 12 to 1 over the last 2 years
From Top to Bottom - a sort of chronological view of my CRP. If you can't tell by the formatting, I had two different lab providers.
My beginning CRP, defined as when I started seeing Dr. Oja is 3 in Sept. 21. Then it shot up to 12.3 in Dec. 21., down to 9.9 in Jan. 2022, then slowly declined until I hit 1 in April 23. I want to call out that in May of 2022, I started taking a biologic to curb the HS resurgence that occurred in Dec., 21 that ultimately led to surgery in early 2022 (and my weight gain). More on this in "The Plight of My Wedding Dress" and "I Love My Sixpack so Much I cover it with a Layer of Fat".
CRP - C-Reactive Protein, is a measure of inflammation inside your body and may also have a correlation to your biological age. Elevated CRP is correlated to an increased risk of all-cause mortality. Now for me, HS is a chronic inflammatory condition. So how does STAT help me lower and mitigate inflammation so my CRP is 1 and below?
The answer is all of the above. Regular check-ins for how I’m feeling, whether I am experiencing new symptoms or changes, have my labs changed, has my body changed how it’s responding to adjustments, has my movement changed - whether I am getting too much or too little exercise, my dietary intake, and my psychological load. To them - everything is interdependent.
Over the last 2 years, I’ve worked with STAT to adjust my lifestyle and add in medications and/or supplements to help regain movement previously lost or misaligned by years of contorting my body to make pain manageable. The glorious cumulation of all these things? I finally felt well. Like wholly and truly well (even with my mouth healing from my wisdom teeth).
And let me tell you - Wellness Feels Good.
Now onto the goodies! I have two promo codes for y’all…
STAT just opened a new location in Peachtree City and is offering 25% off ANY SERVICE. Just mention OPEN25 when you call to book. Valid until 05/12/23
STAT offers an IV menu to help you feel your best! YAS10 will get you 10% off any IV or injection at any STAT location. Just mention the code when you book :) Valid forever
If you decide to take advantage of the promo codes - tag me @yasmeenemilia and tag @statwellness. Add the hashtags in my signature for a bit more oomph and enjoy.
With brutal honesty wrapped in good intentions,
*This blog post is not sponsored by STAT and I don't gain anything monetarily from your use of the promo codes
**All medical information portrayed in this post is from my point of view in an effort to destigmatize the stress of going to see a new provider
***Any medical information in this post should not be taken as medical advice, if you relate to anything in the post - awesome - but make an appointment with a medical professional to validate