I do my best to avoid all of my known triggers, of which there are many, but sometimes I can’t avoid certain things like stress, pollen, and at the moment, paint.

I put off painting the house for years, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. We had actually just begun a bunch of remodeling and updating projects on our place back when I got really sick in 2015 and because of this we stopped everything, leaving a lot of things unfinished.

So I’ve been slowly trying to finish them. Yesterday I tackled the dressing room and attempted to finish painting it. It’s the second go at it and I’m nearly done but oh man am I paying for it.

I woke up with what feels like someone stabbing their thumbs hard under each arm pit, as if trying to lift me up. My lymph nodes don’t swell as much as they HURT, mainly under my arms and mainly after I’ve been exposed to something like paint fumes.

I did use a low odor paint and I did wear a mask and open the windows and I did use the air filtration unit the whole time but there’s no escaping some of it, especially while it cures. That can take days.

So that means I have to spend more time outdoors, in the garden, to escape breathing in the molecules of paint floating around. Oh, darn lol.

At least the smoke has cleared out there!