Fibromyalgia and Night Terrors: Are They Connected

A lot of people, me included, have experienced night terrors and vivid dreams that seem to be connected to fibromyalgia. There are many explanations of night terrors. Medications, stress, fears, or anxiety are some of the things that can cause a flare up. Those very things seem to cause night terrors as well. I have dreamed many times of situations that cause me pain only to wake up in the middle of a flare. For instance I might dream something is happening to my hands and wake up with extreme pain in my hands. I find this disturbing. In the past I was having problems with night terrors and mentioned it to my doctor. He went through all of my medications and changed some. I have heard other women talk about their doctor doing this too. One of them said it was her ‘brain chemistry’ medication but another friend said it was her cholesterol medication. The friend with the cholesterol medication doctor had her cut back over three weeks and then titrate up slowly. Now she only has occasional night mares. Still another acquaintance said it was because of an over the counter sleep medication. When she stopped taking it the night terrors stopped. One of the concerns over my night terrors was whether I had sleep apnea. Many people who have sleep apnea have night terrors. I also found out from the sleep doctor that a surprising number of people who have fibromyalgia have sleep apnea. I have acquaintances, a mother and daughter, that both have fibromyalgia and sleep apnea. So does fibromyalgia cause night terrors? The answer seems to be yes and no. It also can be caused by medications for fibromyalgia and other medications. Night terrors are also caused by sleep apnea. There are too many people with fibromyalgia who have night terrors for there not to be a correlation between them.

It's strange that two of my son's have problems with pain. Neither one of them have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia...yet. The oldest one has small lumps about the size of my thumb. There are maybe 14 of them in various places on his body. He's only 32 years old. Anyway the doctor originally and still thinks that they are lymph nodes. I'm trying to get my son to get his teeth fixed. That is one of the first things the doctor that diagnosed me told me to do. Of course my son doesn't believe me. I tried to tell him how bad my lymph nodes were at the beginning. It's better now. I guess because I don't push so hard. I get more rest and eat healthier food. I also use a variety of non-medication techniques for the pain. Hopefully he will get it before long.

Fibromyalgia Pain

I sit here and try to think about what to write about. All I can think of for the past several weeks is all the times that I am in pain. I was at a training and the only thing I could think of the whole day was how much pain I was in. The only reason I didn't leave is that my employer had paid alot for me to be there. I learned that day around the pain. Another day I hurt I decided it was because of the weather. The only problem with that is that there is always weather coming or going. That struck me as funny that day. I laughed around the pain. Another day I had a meeting to go to. I didn't think I could walk that far. I told a co-worker I could go if she would come get me and drop me at the door. I wanted to go. She didn't want to bring me with her. I missed a meeting around the pain. And life goes on. I learn despite the pain. I laugh through some pain. I miss something because of pain. I guess that's just the way it goes. What do you do to get through it? I really want to know.

Firbromyalgia and My Future

Some days I just can't keep it together. I just panic because I hurt so bad. I know it's going to go away. Some days all I can do is call a friend and laugh. We were both having bad days. The what are we going to do days. We both love our jobs but some days just can't get there. So this is the plan. Whoever feels best is going to wheel one of the office chairs down the ramp to get the other one. Haha No wait we have another plan. We are going to start saving our pennies so we can buy electric wheel chairs. I'm going to have to save harder so I can get one sturdy enough to ride to work when my car dies. We have a friend who rides her wheel chair all over towm. lol Maybe we can get recliners for our offices... I'm working on a prayer chain. Really. Oh my the silly things we can think of. How about you? What silly ideas have you thought of to deal with your fibromyalgia or any other disability? We have to keep laughing.

So I'm still a bit freaky about the hair loss. I'm not really sure it is connected to the Fibromyalgia but it seems like it. I've only been taking the Biotin for a few days so I don't really know much about whether it's helping or not. I was freaking out bad this morning. Eventually if I have enough bald spots they are going to connect. My friends are helping me come up with ideas about what to do. Of course right now I can hide the spots with the rest of my hair. One of my friend's said she has another friend that shaved her head at some point. Then she got a wig. A wig sounds hot but if I didn't have any hair I guess it would be cooler. My friend also said another friend would just wear a scarf around her head. I suppose a hat might work too. I'm going to lose my mind over this. After all the things I have come up with to work around my Fibromyalgia, now this. Another one of my friends suggested asking at the clinic for a referral to a dermatologist. I saw one years ago so I'm going to work on that. Eventually. When I can work up the energy. Ok enough of this pity party. The Biotin is going to help. I know it.

So another wrinkle in my relationship with Fibromyalgia is my hair is falling out. I'm a bit freaky about that. It started about a year a year and a half ago. A patch of hair about the size of a quarter fell out one evening. It sort of fell out in chunks. Not to gross you out too much but it makes this funny little noise when it comes out. Anyway it came out in chunks the root and all of it. I told several of the doctors I see at the clinic I go to at our local university. They really don't seem too concerned about it. One of them did mention I should get some Biotin and reduce my stress. That was about the extent of any thing ANY of them told me. I checked with a couple of pharmacies I deal with and neither one knew what Biotin was. I had forgotten about it. Well here we are now and another quarter sized patch has fallen out. Roots and all, with the creepy little noise too. A friend picked my up some Biotin. Come to find out Biotin is actually a B-vitamin. So I'm trying it. I'll let you know if it helps. Does any of the rest of you have problems with Fibromyalgia and hair loss?

Fibromyalgia In the Mornings

I did something to help me with my fibromyalgia that I have been thinking about for a long time. As I have mentioned before I am still working. This in part is due to the fact the agency I work for works with families that have a member with a disability. They allow me to flex my time. I can make up calls and activities with families after hours and on the weekends when I need to. I can therefore come in late when I do not have appointments. Morinings are sometimes rough with the fibromyalgia. I have a hard time getting dressed. I feel like I sleep but as soon as I'm up I hurt and I'm stiff. Even my medication doesn't help, especially lately. Well I like coffee. Alot. I finally went to the store on one of the few days I could work up the energy and ignore the pain and got a programmable coffee pot. So now I have a new 'new' routine when I get home. After bringing in the dog, I make sure she has food and water out. Then I figure out what I plan to eat and get some water to put by my chair. Once I sit down I hurt so bad I may not be able to do this later. Before I sit down I set up my new coffee pot. The first day I didn't do so well. I woke up and there was no coffee. The past two days have been much better. I also find that smelling the coffee wakes me up if the alarms did not. I'm still late but not as late. I guess the different smell eventually gets my attention. Do you have any little tricks to help you get up? Let me know.