Oops!

I woke up yesterday in serious pain.  I had fallen asleep Friday night watching TV and my hubby decided to let me sleep instead of waking me up to go to bed.  He thought he was doing me a favor, but I ended up not taking my meds before bedtime.  When I woke up yesterday, I immediately went to take my morning meds and realized I didn't take my Friday morning pills. Explains the pain!

I guess I was so excited that Friday was our last day of school before Winter Break, taking my meds completely slipped my mind.  I just wanted to get to work and get the day over with as quickly as possible.  Boy am I paying for that now!  I spent all day yesterday hoping the meds would start working, but no such luck.  Today is a little better than yesterday.  I'm hoping by tomorrow the pain will be back into the manageable range.

On the brighter side of things, I have all my Christmas shopping finished.  I did it all online this year. I usually end up waiting until the last minute which causes severe stress and major flares.  This year I finally got smart and realized I could get everything I needed online.  Now I'm just waiting for the last of the packages to arrive.  They are all supposed to be delivered by Tuesday, so I'm not going to stress until Wednesday if they haven't been delivered yet.

Think I'll take a nap now and see if I can get rid of my headache!

Gentle Hugs to All!
Bonnie

Is it Fibro or Something to Worry About?

Have you ever been faced with a new pain that has you thinking "should I worry about it, or should I just chalk it up to the fibro?"  Well it happens all the time to me, and I am not a fan of the guessing game!

I started having sharp pains in my chest a couple of weeks ago.  Nothing major, just a sharp jab and then it would go away.  This would happen every once in awhile with no clear pattern.  Then last weekend it started happening more often.  It hurt when I would bend over, cough, sneeze, take a deep breath, and it also hurt to the touch.  So I'm thinking Fibro because of the fact that it hurt to touch it.

I finally decide I better call and make an appointment to see the doctor.  Everybody else wants me to go to the emergency room.  I try to explain how many times I've been to the ER only to be told they can't find anything wrong with me, and how it gets embarrassing after awhile.  So I opt out of the ER and wait for my appointment.  I figure it's not my heart since that has been checked out every which way possible during the whole "I can't breathe" episode last year.

So I go to the doctor, and he agrees it's not my heart.  After checking everything else, it turns out I have an infection in my lung.  The lung is slightly swollen which is pushing on the rib cage thus causing the pain when I touch my chest (that is Fibro related).  He gave me a big ole shot, and put me on a methylprednisolone dospak (21 pills in 6 days).  The pain is gone, the breathing is easier, and I can sneeze and cough without pain.  Of course you also have to deal with the side effects: can't sleep, serious dry mouth, my eyes are blurrier than usual, and my face is extra puffy!

I'm glad I didn't go to the ER, but I am glad I went to the doctor.  He said it could've turned to bronchitis if I hadn't come in when I did.

So it was partly Fibro and something to worry about! Again how do you tell the difference without spending all of your time at the doctor's or ER? Such a conundrum!

On a side note, my oldest son and I got matching tattoos! He picked them out.  It's a mom and son heart! It made me cry when he took me to get it.  He knows he's going to be moving out on his own once he gets his basics done next year and wanted me to have something to always look at and think of him (like I would need anything, because I'm going to be a mess when he moves out).  He got his on his shoulder, and I got mine above my left ankle. My new favorite tattoo!

Mom loving her son. Mine has a purple head and his has a blue head!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

No, I'm not talking about the cereal! 

What a day! First hubby and I went to my family doctor (who I absolutely love and wouldn't trade in for the world because he believes me when I tell him I'm hurting) who gave me a shot of something, a pain pill, a prescription for some pain patches, and a prescription for a muscle relaxer. Then he called his brother the chiropractor and told him he needed to see me today. 

So off we went to the chiropractor who said my back was really jacked up (though he used his doctor words) and worked out a temporary plan of treatment. First a massage (I was thinking awesome until they went all deep tissue on me and pissed off my fibro and made me seriously light headed), then some stretches (painful but manageable), time with the industrial strength tens unit , and finally I was back with the doctor. 

 He stretched me out (ouch), and then told me he was going to do an adjustment (oh-oh). I have never been to a chiropractor before, but I relaxed and let him do his thing. He popped every bone in my back (quick relief, then "Dude, I'm going to hurt you if you do that again" pain). Monday I have to get some x-rays and lab work done, and he wants to see me again. Apparently it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Right now I feel like I've been beaten with a bat, plus my back is still killing me. I did take a long nap today due to the work out my body got plus the meds they gave me. So for now I'm supposed to keep resting, and then we'll see what Monday brings. So looking forward to it!

A little humor courtesy of http://www.digitalham.co.uk/misc/chiropractor/

Gentle hugs,
Bonnie

My Get Up and Go has Got Up and Went!

This is definitely me!

My body has been in flare up mode ever since the rainy week we had.  It's been almost 3 weeks and the pain seems to be getting worse not better.  I feel bad because I'm conserving what energy I have to make it to work everyday.  Anyone who teaches can tell you that it is not a sit around and relax kind of job.  I get home so exhausted and in so much pain that I just change into my jammies and climb into bed.

Luckily for me I have the best hubby in the world.  He knows I'm hurting and he takes care of me and the boys.  I know it hard for him sometimes having to be the one that takes care of everything, and I feel guilty that I have to rely on him so much. 

The problem is, that I don't have the energy to do anything with him or the boys on weekends.  My feet, back, shoulders, and head hurt so much that I just want to sleep my weekends away.  My parents don't understand what I'm feeling.  My mother is constantly at me to just get up and deal with the pain.  My dad thinks the solution is to just get on the treadmill and everything will be alright! I know my boys wish I could do more with them, but they know how much I hurt.

I have an appointment to see my rheumatologist in 2 weeks, and I'm going to ask him to refer me to a local physical therapy place that deals with fibro.  They have aqua therapy, massage therapy, plus exercises and yoga.  I'm hoping that they will help with some of my pain issues.  It might also be time to adjust or change my medications.  I have hydrocodone for when the pain gets to the unbearable stage, but I try not to use it that often.  I have an addictive personality, and the last thing I need is to become addicted to pain killers.

So for now I will rest and recover and ignore my parents (I know they love me and mean well).  I will continue to lean on my best friend and hope that I don't end up pushing him to his breaking point.

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

My Eyes!

Ever since I was diagnosed with Fibro, I've noticed a major decrease in my vision.  I've been to the ophthalmologist who tells me my vision isn't changing, and my problems are probably caused by my medications and sleep problems.

Great, so my options are to quit my medications, or learn to deal with the blur!  I can't seem to fix my sleep problems, and I'd rather see things a little blurry than always be in pain. The good thing is they usually don't start getting fuzzy until late afternoon or early evening.  Depends on how much time I've spent reading (which is a lot especially since I'm a reading teacher), on the computer, or how little sleep I got the night before.

Today I am having an especially hard time with my vision (thank goodness for little red squiggly lines that tell me if I've spelled something wrong), and have tried the Visine already..  I spent the morning working on lesson plans, so I know why my eyes are so fuzzy today.

I really don't want to take a nap because then I won't be able to sleep tonight and will start all over with this issue tomorrow.

I wish they had a medication that took the blur away!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

Losing Weight

As anyone with fibro can attest to, losing weight is not always that easy.  You may have medications that work against you, your sleep patterns may be messed up which apparently affects weight loss, or you may be trying to figure out what foods to eat so that you don't end up in a flare up which is not as easy as it sounds.

I have been fighting with my weight for years now, so I can't blame it all on my fibro (or can I since I've probably had fibro for a lot longer than I thought?), but I gained about 40 pounds after my diagnoses.  I didn't realize I was gaining that much weight until I started having my breathing issues in March and I stepped on the scale to a whopping 265 pounds! YIKES! I knew my clothes were getting a little tighter, but holy smokes!  Before my asthma diagnoses, all my doctors kept telling me I couldn't breathe because of my weight. It took losing 20 pounds for them to take me seriously.

I think there is a certain prejudice against overweight people when it comes to getting a medical diagnoses.  Doctors want to blame everything on your weight because it seems to be easier.  I've been one of the lucky ones who hasn't ended up with diabetes or high cholesterol.

I lost the first 20 pounds out of spite towards the doctors.  I wanted to prove that my overnight problem had nothing to do with my weight.  Once that was proven, I decided I needed to continue losing weight for myself.  Knowing about the hole in my heart, and the fact that diabetes runs in my mother's side of the family (she has just started taking insulin shots), I have decided to start going through Weight Watchers* again, since it has worked in the past.  I'm now down 26 pounds, and I'm determined to lose at least another 26 by Christmas. I think losing 6 to 7 pounds a month is realistic.  If I can lose even more, GREAT!

So fibro beware! I will not let you stop me from attaining my weight loss goals.  You are in for a fight if you think I'm going to allow you to get the best of me!

Gentle Hugs,
Bonnie

*I am in no way affiliated with Weight Watchers.  This is only my opinion!