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

First Day Back to Work!

Well I survived my first official day back to work.  It was great seeing all my friends again, and we had a great day catching up.  The inservice wasn't too bad, but I would have wanted to spend the day doing more productive things than going over things I already know how to do! A friend of mine sent me this link that a teacher wrote about inservice trainings.  It's pretty funny, and pretty scary how accurate it is when it comes to how a lot of us feel during inservice.  I shared this with my colleagues and they thought it was pretty accurate also.

I am very happy that I haven't needed my oxygen tank at school, but I'm still getting headaches and am exhausted by the end of the day.  I came home and took an hour long nap because I was so tired.  I'm going to try to get to bed earlier tonight (couldn't fall asleep until midnight last night and was up at 5:45), and I may take my shower tonight so that I can sleep just a little bit longer.

I'm hoping by next Monday that my body will be used to the new routine and that I won't be as exhausted by the end of the day.  So for now I'm going to read some blogs, then it's off to my shower and then bed time! Let's see what tomorrow brings!

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!

LUKE, I AM YOUR MOTHER!

This is what I get to wear to bed!

I have finally received my CPAP machine and will begin wearing it tonight.  My hubby has the same mask, so all we need now are light sabers and everything will be complete!

Well That Explains Things!

I finally got the results of my sleep study. I definitely have sleep apnea. Apparently I stopped breathing a total of 255 times during the study, or an average of 38 times per hour. They said this would explain my constant headaches, total exhaustion, and blurry vision.  As if that wasn't bad enough, my oxygen level drops down to 87% while I'm sleeping (95% is considered ideal) so I also have hypopnea (not enough air gets to the lungs). 

I go next Friday night for another sleep study, but this time I will be using the cpap machine.  Now Brian and I can have his and her breathing contests.  I'm sure we will look adorable! Even though I'm dreading the machine, it's going to be nice not always being exhausted.