Talk Tuesday + Watch It Wednesday | Living With Fibro

Hey guys, so I decided to combine the days, and not only offer up some video's to watch, but also tips and kind of a day to day on what it's like living with Fibromyalgia. I thought I would tackle this and then maybe the whole Thyroid/Hormone Disease some other time. These tend to go hand in hand, but it seems like it would be such a long post that I'm sure it would bore most of you.

So, the past two weeks for me have been particularly hard living with Fibro. For those of you who don't know what Fibromyalgia is, it's basically a chronic pain disease, where in my case, my mind communicates with my body telling it that it has been hit by a truck everyday. There are tons of theories on why people get Fibro. My story, the catalyst seems to have come from living too long in pain from nerve damage, so my brain is now all messed up from it. But, they have lately started thinking that it may have been earlier then that going hand in hand with having thyroid issues.


ANYWAYS, for me, Fibro has manifested in a lot of things. Like I said, everyday I wake up feeling like someone literally took a baseball bat to me while I was sleeping. Or for a better analogy, visualize when you first start working out and you've gone harder then you normally would, you know that day after or two days after where you feel exhausted and it hurts to raise your arms, and your whole body feels stiff, and you say "ow, ow, ow" every time you go to sit down? BINGO, that's me everyday.

 I also have periods of time where my memory is super foggy and I can instantly turn from being in a good mood to incredibly cranky (I think the mood thing is mostly when my pain level goes up). It always hurts to be touched by people, even someone playfully squeezing my shoulder results in full out excruciating pain in my body. I've had to cut out lots of foods because I never know when having one of them will flare something up and I will literally become swollen like I have bad arthritis. Some weeks like a few weeks ago I barely got sleep but could function. This week with the changing weather, my body can't keep up and now I have to sleep like 12-14 hours. AND I'M NOT ONE TO SLEEP THAT MUCH! Even setting alarms I sleep through them, which is so weird, so.very.weird.

Lots and Lots of Sleep

The worst way that Fibro has manifested is in the anxiety I have, making plans or going out in public, which may have shown up in me not always doing regular blogposts like I have been trying to do or being at everything I RSVP to. Making plans is hard because if I don't feel good, going somewhere is the hardest thing. Sometimes putting on clothes or sitting down to do my makeup can feel like the most insurmountable task that I just get back into bed and watch movies instead and then I feel bad because I disappoint so many people including myself. Like I want to be at home when I could be doing fun things with my friends?! UH NO.

It's really hard for me to talk about all this, because for awhile, my medications were working and I was on an upward swing, but lately with my Thyroid meds being all messed up it has literally thrown me back down to a place I haven't been at in almost 6 months, which is really upsetting and hard to explain to my friends and well, everyone! I'm not the kind of person that likes to admit when I'm not feeling good or anything like that. Let's just say, my doctor's literally have to yell at me to slow down before I hit the wall, ALL OF THE TIME. Because I push myself until they yell at me, I have these crashes, where I will then be unable to literally move out of bed for days on end. It's something that we are constantly working on and I'm learning how to build up my strength and stamina to be able to do what a normal person can handle in a day at this point. It is maddening and excruciating work, as my occupational therapist says, "This is one thing that isn't going to come easy to you. You aren't going to be able to breeze through this like college, you are going to have to do real work everyday for the rest of your life, in the smallest baby steps you will ever see." AAAHHHHHHHH I don't DO baby steps!!!

Hot baths help relieve muscle tension and pain...but it's still boring

The one nice thing (well not really nice I wish this wasn't the case) is that my mom has also been diagnosed with Fibro, so I can talk to her about it, she understands how I feel, and she gets when I need to rest or sleep till 10am when I'm at her house. We both are constantly searching out new herbs and doctors to see if that will help us.

So I guess I'm telling all of you so that you can keep me in check as well, and also to understand why in some of my video's or blog posts I sigh a lot or skip out for a couple days. It's not that I'm being neglectful it's usually that just getting up and making myself tea or breakfast can feel like the only thing I can handle for the day. It isn't depression, so please don't comment about that, it's just literally being in teeth gritting pain all day everyday. It can cause a girl to eventually lose her mind.

Of course, I always get lectured that there are ways to speed the getting back to normal process along, like not getting stressed out (which is one of the ways to make it worse BUT explain to me how you can just not ever be stressed...I mean seriously) and "resting" and taking baths, but if you have a normal brain you realize how hard and unrealistic that is to do.

BUT I'M GOING TO TRY...

This guy is a little hokey, but I think he explains things really well, and it's been nice to read his book and watch his little rants about this "new" disease which actually isn't that new. I've also included his tips with dealing with someone with Fibro. Although I'm not asking you to treat me with kid gloves or hand out doses of sympathy (you guys know how I hate being looked at like a sick puppy!) It is something to keep in mind.

I guess it's hard. For a long time I woke up thinking and praying that this morning all the pain will have gone away, it took me until a couple months ago to realize that it most likely never will. Please give allowances for people with chronic pain, it literally changes everything about them, even if you can't see it! If you think you may have Fibro or Thyroid disease or anything of that nature, go talk to your doctor! Or message me and I can send you some wonderful literature about it or refer you to the doctor's I see in the greater Seattle area. Also! If you'd like to see a blog post about the diet I'm on for dealing with chronic pain please let me know!! I'd love to tell you all the things that help manage flare ups!

Love you guys! Thanks for listening to me <3

XO
~D