Crash and Burn

I've had enough good days these past two weeks that the "new normal" feels terrible. I have no energy. My chest wall hurts. I just want to stay in bed and sleep it off.  Only that doesn't really work.  I did that yesterday and here I am today feeling just the same.
I'm so grateful for the good days I had.  I know they will come again.
In the meantime I feel like a slacker.  The body over heats whenever I attempt to do any work.  I am so tired I don't even feel like listening to music.  In my brain I see so many things I both want to do and need to do. Its NOT going to happen, not today anyway.

Not Unexpected

My husband is feeling much better today.  He was kind enough to share his cold with me!
I woke twice in the night having trouble breathing and then this morning I started coughing hard enough to hurt my chest. I used my inhaler in the night and that worked. However, I work up jittery probably due to the albuterol in the inhaler.  I had my coffee with some tincture and then went back to bed.
After awhile I felt better and somewhat energized. I started making a couple loaves of honey-wheat bread and now am waiting for the second rise so I can get them in the oven. Bread making is easy because I use the Kitchen-Aid mixer to do the kneading.
Now I think I will lay down again (sleepiness has come over me) and catch a nap.

Getting Into a Good Routine

I always feel better when the house is in order and a supper plan is in place. If I don't rush myself in the morning (remember I was the "hit the ground running" person) but take everything slowly I do get the house in order and don't get exhausted along the way. Eating breakfast is so important even though its hard for me to do.  Since husband leaves the house so early for work he makes his own breakfast. I am up when he leaves but just having coffee.
I move very slowly through the next hour often watching a Netflix episode while eating oatmeal. I take the early meds and cleanup the kitchen.  Then I get dressed and start a wash. I have been trying to do smaller washes so I can get through the wash, dry, fold and put away cycle. Otherwise it piles up in baskets and I feel awful.  I take lots of "sit in my recliner" rest periods and cruise the net, play a computer game or watch the birds. Anything to keep me down for at least 15 minutes.
I have a friend who drops in every day and spends at least an hour here.  That is my long rest period.
Afternoons I lay down for an hour or two. Sometimes I bake.  Sometimes I read or listen to audible books.
Fibromyalgia has made me rethink how I "do" my life but I am thankful to be able to care for my home, and keep my husband fed and in clean clothes so he can continue to work.

Being Warm

Have I mentioned that we sold our cook stove and then waited two weeks for our new stove to come in and be operational? I was amazed at the distress my body felt with just gas heat and no wood heat.  There's something about the warmth that a wood stove offers. I am delighted that we got the stove installed and running. The warmth it gives really helps my fibromyalgia pain to lessen.

                                                                           

                             Siamese Cat


This is Suki. She is willing to keep me company no matter how I feel!

Grace

I need grace this afternoon. Grace to keep on in spite of nagging tailbone and leg pain. My husband has acquired a nagging cough and aches and pains throughout his body. He is trying to rest and recoup so he can go to work in the morning. It helps him if I don't have unmanageable pain so I need grace.
My brain is foggy and I have made no meal preparations. Lunch, I think, will be scrambled eggs, bacon and english muffins. I have all those ingredients and can pull this meal off without having think really hard.
I know that some of what's going on is payback for doing so much the two days I was feeling so good!  I'll deal because I have my house winter-ready now and that isn't a niggling concern.
I should do a wash today because my dryer still isn't fixed and it takes so long to dry the clothes on the racks. But I won't.  Lunch and supper are priorities.

Remembering Good Days

There is a problem with only talking about the painful, exhausting, and debilitating days. Once in a while there good days, even great days. It often happens to me that if a have a good day it is followed by a series of very painful and tiring days. It is the nature of the syndrome.
This morning I am doing the "happy dance" because I have had two and a half good days in a row!  I worked hard to keep the early evening pain at a manageable level and woke up feeling pretty good!  Hurray!  Hurray! The new alternative med tincture I am using is working.
I am convinced that last night's pain was mostly osteoarthritis pain because of my age.

Long Day

Yesterday was a long day. I saw my doctor at 9:30AM. We discussed at length the alternative med I was tincturing. I have been very happy with the results so far. I can sleep at night. I am already cutting down on my pain meds. I seem to have enough energy to go all day. Yes, I am tired at night but I am doing much more than I was. I didn't get home until 4PM after shopping and waiting for prescriptions to be filled. It is a forty minute drive to the grocery store. However, supper got made and served and then I got in bed to watch some Netflix.

I must have slept well because I hit the ground running this morning. I rearranged my living room and cleaned up the mess as well visited with friends. Yes, I am tired again tonight but I feel pretty good.

Learning to live lightly

Fibromyalgia is a most interesting chronic disease. It can present different ways on different days. Just when you think you have it all figured out something else pops up.
I have had bad back pain this past week and have added a heating pad to the back of my recliner to help every time I sit down. Yesterday I woke up with no back pain. It just stopped! I feel like dancing!
In the middle of the night I had restless legs, even though I regularly take a med that usually works for that.  I paced. I wiggled around. I finally moved to the couch and was able to get back to sleep.
My PA added an increase in a morning med but since its been added after taking it I get serious cramps followed by a bathroom explosion.  I isolated the problem to that med and have stopped taking it... could that has caused the leg issues.
As I said, "Every day is different."

It Seemed Like a Touchdown

I reached 70 in June of 2013.  I was looking for answers and honestly a "fix" for the pain and fatigue I was feeling. It's harder now because all the symptoms can look like the onset of old age. Into my 70th year I went for a Doctor's appointment some 3 hours down from my home and yet still in Maine. It was with the rheumatology group I'd been seeing for the last year and a half.  Once again a new doctor was there. Once again he was looking at my file while walking in.  I was surprised when he said, "I think you have fibromyalgia."

"Why," I asked.

"Well, you have pain and fatigue and all the tests done on you are normal."
Then he touched the tender points on my body. "Aha, you have them all!"

I was astonished because no one else had any idea what was going on with my body.  I came home with some hand-outs and so ideas as to how to deal with it but I wasn't sure he really new what I had.
I decided to see a second rheumatologist to confirm the diagnosis. She spent an hour and 1/2 with me and came to the same conclusion. She had read my file ahead of time and she asked a lot of questions and did an extensive work-up. However, in the end, she said she really didn't take on patients with fibromyalgia.

She sent my file back to my home clinic to my PA. My PA was able to begin the journey, with me, to figure out what would work or not work now that we had an actual diagnosis. It seemed like a touch-down!