speaking arabic mainly, looking to creat a new circle

hi everyone, i've been diagnosed with lupus for about 5 years, i've seen all the ups and downs, from fluid retained in lungs, to removal from brain. i've been on prednisone since day 1, i started with 20 mg, up to 80 mg, down now to 10 mg. my blood pressure never was under control until recently, because of the new medication(hydroxichloraquine), my blood pressure and blood sugar are finalely fine. but last thing i need right now is paranoia, confusion and imaginations. my doctor suggested to creat a circle of freinds that are familliar with the disease. but my only problem is i communicate better in arabic. so i will be very thankfull if there is any moroccan or arabic person in here to talk to, to join me and help each other.

thank you for your warm welcome, little introduction about myself. i'm 31 years old, from morocco ofcourse, i live in US NEW JERSEY. I had couple of operations already. First, had fibroid removed from uteress, then cyst a year later. removed fluid from lungs twice, and again from my head this year, from around the brain, i'm still recovering, unable to walk on my own, lack of balance. like i mentioned before, i suffer from paranoia probably from years of using prednisone. but i'm thankfull for the use of hydroxycholoquine, my blood pressure and sugar undercontrol . paranoia is killing me, nobody can understand what i go through. hopefully i can vent here and find some ears to listen.

thank you very much for your support.

I wanted to welcome you to the forum.  Friends are so important and you will meet so many awesome people here.  I wish we could speak arabic so you would be more comfortable, but I must say, you are doing a great job of communicating in English!  I'm impressed!  Sorry you've been through so very much.  I had the problem with the paranoia.  It can be scarey and frustrating to say the least!  When you know what it is it is somewhat easier to deal with.  God Bless you, Judy

Hi Morocco,

 

I have to say that your english is very good! I have absolutely no problem understanding you.  If you hadn't said that you prefer to communicate in arabic, I wouldn't have known otherwise! 

 

Paranoia is very common in CNS lupus.  Do you have that?  it's amazing how terrific some of the anti depression medications are in helping paranoia.  I have a little paranoia which really is an anxiety or panic attack for me.  I am a bit paranoid about my health issues.  I'm taking Zoloft and have been on it for 2 months now.  It's turned my life around!!  I don't have anxiety or panic attacks anymore.  No more paranoia either.  I'm so much happier.

 

I'm glad you're seeing a psychiatrist.  That is really important.  Congratulations on losing 18 pounds!  That's a big accomplishment when you're on prednisone.  I just lost 10 pounds myself!  I am eating better.  No fast food, and more fruits and vegetables. It feels good!

 

Talk with you soon,

Ginny

Hi Morocco,

Welcome, we're glad you have joined us! I agree with the others, you're english is very good, if you mis-spell some words, don't worry about it, it happens to all of us. What matters is that you are here with friends who can relate to your issues!

I too suffer from anxiety, I never had any issues of this type prior to lupus affecting my brain and CNS. It is horrible isn't it? It has really depressed me on top of made me feel ancie and just real unsure about myself and other people. I have taken Effexor XR for many years for my Fibormyalgia, little did I know that I would also need it for mental issues as well. My doc also put me on Xanex to assist with the anxiety, because it hits me worse at night than any other time. The Xanex really helps me shut my mind off and go to sleep.

I look forward to getting to know you!

Melissa

thank you butterflak,I feel happy when i see my friends,all the persone have the lupus are my friend,I had quit work 2005,what you eat in breakfast every day.
love morroco.

thank you hippimom2,now im not feel alone,I had vey good group of people .how olde are you? how is your diet?what city are you from?

Hi morocco, and welcome to our group of friends. We are like a little family. I'm 59 and from Oklahoma. For breakfast I eat a little fruit and gluten-free ceral. I find that keeping gluten out of my diet helps me feel much better.

There are people of many ages here but we are all friends and we all help and support each other. How long have you lived in the US? Has it been hard living in a foreign country? What do you do during the day to entertain yourself?

I'm happy that you are here and hope you will find some comfort among friends.

Pat

Hi Morocco

I live in San Angelo, TX. I don't have much of an appetite at this point due to the meds I am on. Between the effexor, xanex and imuran I truly am having to force myself to eat. I try to eat well when I do because I am struggling with energy issues. So, I include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, I don't eat much meat and very, very rarely eat out.

Melissa

Hi Moroco:

I wanted to offer up my welcome to the forum too. I'm Barb and I've had lupus for 21 years. I'm 43 and live in Maryland. I also have Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibro, and smoldering leukemia. My diet varies as my stomach doesn't work properly and I spend most of my time vomiting up what I ate. I'm on 30mg of prednisone and feel as if I'm starving to death most the time.

I have issues with depression and also see a therapist. I do not take anti depressant drugs though, I try to handle my depression with therapy.

There's a bit of information on me, looking forward to seeing more of your posts.

Take care,
Barbara

Greetings Morroco! Welcome to the HW family! I do not speak arabic but some of the children in my school speak arabic or Spanish. I work in an area of Michigan where we have a large population of arabic families. I just started in my new job here last August and I am learning a lot about the arabic people and their customs. I just love the children and the families seem so supportive of the school and the teachers - very respectful!

I hope you feel welcome here at HW and that you can have your questions answered. We have so many helpful members. I am 47 and I have been treated for lupus and RA for about four years now. Currently I am on 5 mg of prednisone, along with many other meds, and I hope to taper off the prednisone completely very soon. My diet is terrible but I have good intentions. The prednisone has caused me to develop bad habits and I still crave anything with sugar. For breakfast I eat cereal with skim milk and have a cup of coffee. I try to drink a lot of water but I really only want diet cola to sip on all day - I need the caffiene to keep up with my 500 students!

Welcome!

We all understand the part about loosing language - it's a pretty common issue with lupus. Most of us have times that are very forgetful -- for a while I had to use just 3 or 4 letter words, I couldn't remember anything else, it seemed. Plus loosing what you're saying in the middle of a sentence, or loosing the whole topic of a conversation while still in the middle of it! So loosing a second language sounds pretty darn normal to us! If you don't understand what we say, please feel free to ask - I promise you can't hurt our feelings! So very glad you found us!

Hi Morocco and husband! Have you checked the Lupus Foundation of America website? www.lupus.org it is very helpful. Memory loss is very, very common in lupus. We call it “brain fog.” It is so common that sometimes we all joke about the stupid things we do. It can be frightening and sad to think about the things lupus takes away from you and I’m sure you are very sad too. We all go thru times when we miss our old life- all the things we used to be able to do.  Just seeing your improvement taking hydroxichloroquin (brand name plaquenil) makes me think that you’ll do well with other treatments too. I hope your doctor is a rheumatologist. These are the doctors that treat lupus. A rheumatologist will start you on other medication which will help you eventually take less and less prednisone (this is called a prednisone taper). Here at the forum many of us list the drugs we take in our signature. I think the most common drugs are plaquenil, methotrexate and imuran. If you are feeling sad or frustrated, please let us know. Sometimes just talking about it helps. Love, Butterflake