New Description

I haven't felt like posting for awhile. It just gets like that.

I did hear a lovely description of fibromyalgia the other day. It was described as a condition where the pain fuse has been blown. That's exactly what it felt like to me.

I went from a period where I could successfully handle pain to not being able to handle it. I took pain medication but an occasionnaly tylenol was nothing like what I was and still do have to do every day.

What did suprise me was the list of co-occuring disorders. Let's see, it was fatigue of course, thinking problems (fibrofog), dry eyes, dry mouth, sleep disorder, irritable bowel and irritable bladder.

Wow, I have several of those. Although I knew one went with the fibromyalgia, I never even considered the others.

I'll have to think about it some more. What do you think?

The joy of Fibromyalgia is that I forgot what I have done before. So if I have spoke about this before sorry!

One of my theories with no basis other than my own experience is that I have to find new ways of doing things in everyday life. One of those things is my grabber. My shoulders hurt to much to be able to reach things that have fallen behind stuff or things that are too high. The grabber is a big help. At least on days when my hands don't hurt.

So what is your favorite piece of equipment?

Inflamation and Fibromyalgia

Inflamation is one of the problems with my Fibromyalgia. I can feel it in my mouth. It's swollen and hurts. I usually take medication like acetaminophen when it's really bad.

I started drinking green smoothies every morning. Mind you I have only been drinking them for the past 5 days but I noticed that I have very little inflamation those days. Still hurting but the inflamation seems down. Have any of you tried green smoothies?

Is Lack of Sleep a Symptom of Fibromyalgia?

Since one of the symptoms of fibromyalgia is the overpowering fatigue, it is important to get the best possible sleep. One of the areas to look into is sleep disorders.

Although this may not be the ‘answer’ to autism it might lead you to an important tool in the battle to remain as functional as possible for as long as possible.

Being up at night, because you sleep so lightly, is not normal. You also should also not wake up hurting and tired. You may want to check with a sleep specialist. You may not even realize that you are having a problem with sleep.

I know some people who have checked with their spouse or children and found out how badly they snore or grind their teeth at night. These are also good reasons to check with a sleep specialist.

The sleep specialist and their staff will be able to do a thorough work up at the first appointment to see if you might have a problem with a restricted airway.

It is also typical to have to spend a couple of nights at a sleep center for more testing. Sometimes this can be done in one night but typically it takes two nights.

Of course not all people with fibromyalgia will have sleep disturbance as one of the symptoms. Sleep disturbance has been found in a large number of people with fibromyalgia. It was also one of the first things that the diagnosing doctor told me to check.