I usually don't get into details of how I am dealing with the fibromyalgia, but I had to share what happened this morning. I have had this since 1995. Which at that time, there was very little information about it. I had been a nurse for 14 yrs by then and had never heard of it. Now its all over the TV, when they try to push drugs for everything, then you have to buy more drugs to treat the side effects.When one has a lifetime condition it helps to not take everything so seriously (when you can). Fibromyalgia, in case your not aware of it , causes widespread pain, fatigue,tender points,sleep disturbance, problems with your thought processes, and a host of other symptoms that can come and go as they please.. I think the" thinking" problems are actually caused by the lack of deep restorative sleep. Which, early on, even caused me to start reversing letters and numbers. Thanks goodness for spell check. Now the pain isn't always bad, but its usually always present to some degree. This winter has been the worst for me for some time. Cold usually seems to trigger more muscle pain and fatigue which leads to other things. Once the weather started warming, I started feeling better, and getting some energy back.There are days I don't make it off the couch until I have to, and others I get a brief reprieve to enjoy life.You never know how your going to feel from one minute to the next.As for the "thinking" problem, that is another thing that can sneak up on you and grab you by surprise. Its the one thing about this condition that I can laugh about, and believe me sometimes it gets hilarious. Except when I get lost, but thats a whole other story.
Anyway, you have a little bit of background. Here is how my morning went: We woke up about 6Am. We were lying in bed, snuggled up under a warm blanket, and had started talking.
Me: It had seemed later than it was, and I was trying to figure out in my head why my husband wasnt up yet to get ready for work. " Are you off today?"
Him: "No"
Me: "Are you off Monday then?"
Him: "No, why?"
Me: "Cause this weekend is the fourth?"
Him: Already realizing I am not thinking clearly again, he said with a chuckle, " This is only May".
I was thinking this weekend was the fourth of July instead of the fourth of May, lol. Oh well, another interesting day is about to begin.
Hi Tammy. I have it too girl and I know what you are going through. Some days I have to make myself get going. I have learned to work like a nut when I feel good because I know it will not last. LOL!
ReplyDeleteBoy you are sooo right hocking hills. Thats what i have been doing since it let up.
ReplyDeleteTammy, my friend suffers from this same affliction...I feel for you. So happy you've found a way to laugh about it! Laughing is really important!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kimberly. There's no use being mad,lol
ReplyDeleteTammy, so that explains what's going on with me then! I often forget...and so does everyone around me...that I'm just not losing it! I've got the same diagnosis and was on Lyrica, which I thought was a wonder drug; but then suddenly it made me swell up and I stopped taking it a couple of months ago. So far, I've been really great. In fact, I keep telling myself I don't really have it. I woke up with pain today but try to chalk it up to other things. I still don't want to believe it. I often sit on the couch the entire day but other days nothing can stop me. I just take each day at a time and keep hoping things don't get as severe as they were a couple of years ago. Until they do (IF they do) I am going to try to believe I don't really have it. But I totally understand. My husband would have just told me I was having a 'blonde moment' if that had been me saying that;-)
ReplyDeleteJan, thanks for visiting. Read up on the symptoms. The way they diagnose it is by the number of tender points.But there are a host of things that go along with it.it will surprise you the number of things listed, that ring a bell, and make you say : "Thats It !".
ReplyDeleteTammy,
ReplyDeleteI had a brief glimpse into your pain and I can't imagine what you handle day in and day out.
About the time I turned 50, I could barely get up, walk...my feet hurt, my joints hurt...everything hurt. I wore bedroom shoes to work. At our company's health care center, the doctor decided it was fibromyalgia. It went on for over a year until I had to go to the ER for my heart and they found my potassium levels were far too low.
Why so low? In hindsight, I had been on the Atkins Diet for a few months prior to all of the joint pain and didn't taken potassium supplements as recommended.
I have mitral valve prolapse and once in awhile, it gives me trouble with lots of skipped and extra beats. When it does, I take potassium regulate it. My muscle and joint pains stopped. I don't know if it was coincidental or not. I now take potassium once every week or two as a person doesn't want too much either.
If I'm out and about and have a problem with my heart, I drink a Gatorade--a simple, safe test to see if your electrolytes need to be checked.
I still get aches and pains, but nothing of the magnitude that I experienced back then.
Take care!
Low potassium can cause muscle pain.And if it stopped after you atarted taking them, then that was more than likely the culprit.I am going thru a spell with my feet now, did this before. It sounds like you were in serious condition before they realized what was going on. When you are in pain like that it controls your whole life.Luckily my pain level is up and down for periods.Sounds like we are about the same age. I will be 50 in Oct. Cameron, thanks for your post expressing empathy. Its nice to know that someone truly understands.
ReplyDelete