Wasted Time
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Health Problems (Christmas Update Part 2)
🕑 Added 2021-12-13 09:34:09 +0000 UTCBefore we begin, I'd like to start out with my usual Patreon shout-outs as is tradition at this point. And I wouldn't risk breaking tradition, especially during this time of year. Anyway, thank you guys so much for your continued support.
PARISHIONERS
Warwolf416
Kei Fox
Unformed
KarakuriCentral
Alexander Eckhart
Toonophile
Ver min
O.C.R.
Luposong
Sypher597
BovineMage
BatDuskyLycanroc3blr
Reddawn7744
AmanCalledDominik
FOLLOWER
RandomGamer24
Martin Nilsson
If there's one thing I hate talking about publically it's my health problems. This is for multiple reasons. Divulging that stuff makes me feel like I'm burdening others with my issues, which I hate. I also feel like I'm letting people down, as having to talk about this stuff publically is usually related to me already being behind in my work, or that I'm about to be, which makes me feel ashamed. But the nature of what I do, with the work and the Patreon means I have an obligation to discuss it when it directly impacts output regardless of how I feel. That said, it makes it worse for me that it feels like such 'health updates' have become 'every other week' deals for the last few months.
My health hasn't exactly been great since well before I took up the mantel of "Wasted Time's Erotic Experiments". It was something I had to learn to work around as best I could, and even at that, it didn't always go according to plan. I'd have flare-ups or sinus infections that would interrupt workflow for brief periods, but I tended to be able to work through them for the most part. Within the last few years, my health has deteriorated fairly incrementally. My joints getting worse, or brain fog making writing harder and harder to do, but it was still a rather slow creep. And while my downtime periods ended up longer, I'd still manage to work around them in the end.
However, during the last five months my health began to take a sharp nosedive, centering around my inability to catch my breath with moderate exertion, tripping all over myself, and feeling as though I'm gonna faint half the time, the situation has started to...basically become disabling. When I'm not suffering from these issues I'm unconscious, as my body can't seem to get enough sleep. At first, I believed I was suffering altitude sickness, but as the weeks and months went on with no actual improvement it became clear that wasn't the case, and by that point, my doctors were once again throwing up their hands in utter confusion. Like what I was already dealing with health-wise, I was becoming certain that it was yet another unnamed or weird condition that I would have to learn to live around despite how difficult it was to.
However, it was my heart doctor who would finally manage to put all the pieces together rather than simply treat my immediate symptoms, and discover exactly what has been going on for not just the last few months, but the last few years as well.
Aside from being formally diagnosed with "Chronic Lyme disease", which is something I was pretty sure I was dealing with, but no other docs suggested treating it again. I have also been diagnosed with something called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, (Or POTS) for short. The basic rundown is that my body has circulation issues, and it's reached a point where my blood has a habit of pooling below the waist. I guess this means when I'm sitting and standing my heart has to work harder to pump blood up to the vitals above the waistline, which is responsible for my breathing problems, chest pain, fatigue, brain fog, coordination issues, and why I feel like fainting so often.
On top of that (And please don't take this as an Anti-vaxx thing, I recommend consulting your doc about whether a covid vaccination is doable for you.) I also apparently have developed some sort of...post-vaccination immune disorder? This is probably due to getting the shot with my immune system already compromised by Lyme.
Now the bad news is, this POTS condition is a lifelong thing. There is no cure. I will have this for the rest of my life, and apparently, it might have been brewing for a while and I simply never noticed it until my breathing got worse. (This would explain two years of ever-increasing brain fog.) It wouldn't surprise me, as I already have "Reynaud's Disease" which is another disorder that causes poor circulation.
However, the diagnosis isn't as grim as it seems. With a positive, hard diagnosis, not only do I feel....well, it's weird to feel happy do know what I'm dealing with? I guess the correct word would be 'vindicated'. But more importantly, these are treatable things. My heart Doctor is sending me to a specialist who he believes will want to place me on a longer regimen of very specific Lyme meds to oust the bulk of it from my body, and while POTS can't be cured, it can be managed with specific vitamin and other supplements regiments. The Lyme treatment should also help the covid shot side effect. For the first time in years, I have some semblance of a road map to go by. For the first time in a long time, I've got a sense of hope that I may actually be able to get better and get these things under control. To get my life back.
I'm supposed to meet with my specialist on Friday, so hopefully, I'll have an even clearer plan then.
Now, all that health preamble was essentially to better explain why I've been struggling to put out content, and been missing my ask blog days practically every other week as of late. I would like to say for sure that I know things will improve from here on out, but...honestly, I can't make a promise on that. I will say I'm hopeful however that within the next few weeks, and especially by the start of next year I'll begin to improve health-wise, and as such my art and fic output will increase along with it.
Now is the part where I usually go over my work road map, however...this time I'm not going to. I will say I intend to work on the "Savage Love" comic and get "The Family Vulpes" Chapter five out within about a month, but it would be foolish of me to give any kind of...more specific estimate considering my current circumstances.
All that said, I'd like to thank everyone who's stood by me through all of this stuff...especially the Patreon backers. Between the fire, and my health issues, and the myriad of other bullshit the last year has slung at me, having the support has really helped me hold on to some semblance of sanity. You guys mean the world to me.
I hope to have better news for the next "Monthly Update", and I want to believe that things will look even better by then. Thanks for understanding, and sorry for the "Wasty's myriad of medical Malady's Lore Dump".
-Wasty
