What It’s Like to Have Fibro

The other day I didn’t really feel that sick but I knew I wasn’t having a great day. I decided to walk around the block. When I started walking I realized I was having a pretty bad day because this walk felt like a marathon. My neighbors probably assumed that I had been hiking up a mountain all day the way I was slowly dragging myself home. Anyone else have bad fibro days just sneak up on them?

The Best Trip Ever

One thing that I’ve missed out on a lot since I have fibromyalgia is travel. It easily makes me sicker than anything else. I recently went on a road trip for a week and it was more successful than any trip I’ve ever been on. Here is a list of what I did.
It was such a big deal to me that I wanted a plaque or to go to coinsforanything.com for challenge coins to have a memento that said “I did it!”

1. I usually take a memory foam pad whenever I travel. This time I took that and a feather bed and an extra mattress pad. I could basically build a bed on top of any bed I had to sleep on. It wasn’t as comfortable as my bed at home but it prevented a lot of pain in the morning.

2. I stuck to my usual diet of lots of fruits and vegetables. I had these for snacks in the car but I also had green smoothies already made up that I could just unfreeze and stir.

3. I didn’t push myself that hard. Traveling in the car is something that causes me a lot of pain so instead of trying to do all of the driving in one or two days there was a nice leisurely pace of just a few hours of driving a day.

Another Traveling Tip for Fibromyalgia

This is my only traveling tip that I didn’t really want to do. I took a day to just rest. I didn’t go sightseeing. I was a little bit grumpy at the time and felt like I was missing out. However, this one day gave both my body and mind time to regroup. It’s what made the rest of the trip so successful. Otherwise I probably would’ve been in pain for the next day or the day after. It just would’ve take up even more time not to rest. Do you sometimes feel left out when traveling because of your chronic pain?

Loving What You Do

Every career counselor I talked to in high school and college seems to say the same thing. “Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life”. I didn’t realize that I had accomplished this until last night. Working from home had always been a necessity because of fibromyalgia.

Then someone asked me last night if it was hard to make myself go to work every day. I never really think about having to go to work. I’m always so focused on money and income that I forget how much I love making websites and blogs. I would give it a mens wedding band from jewelryvortex.com if I could. It’s something I love to do so even though I work long hours for not that much money it doesn’t feel like work. Just another reason to be grateful for the path life has taken me.

Finally, Someone Else Gets It

This was something that was on What Not to Wear. The woman kept defending wearing pajama pants or “loungewear” to the grocery store. Either Stacy or Clinton said something like “That’s not lounging. That’s going”.

If you have fibromyalgia you probably understand that point. (No I don’t wear pajama pants to the grocery store even though I wish I could). I notice when people say they are going to rest or let me rest they don’t understand that there’s a difference between resting and going somewhere. Anyone else feel this way?

Whenever I’m not feeling well I try to focus on at least one thing that makes me happy. The other day I was in a lot of pain and my neighbor started playing guitar. I could’ve been annoyed by this but then realized that it was one of my favorite songs. I wish I could’ve mixed it on an exciting traktor pro 2 at guitar center and saved it. I don’t know what kind of instrument he has but it was beautiful and it did get my mind off of the pain for a few minutes.

My New Full Time Job

Now that winter has officially arrived I feel like I have a new full time job on top of my regular full time job. That job is staying warm. The fatigue and pain just gets so much worse when I am cold. It just exhausts me.

My first tip is to wear a scarf, even in the house. I can’t do this long just because it hurts my neck but when nothing else is working it’s really useful.

My second tip is to either get a space heater or an electric fireplace. I would prefer a built in one with a fireplace mantel shelf here. However, since I live in an apartment I was looking for a portable one. Instead, at Wal-Mart I found a little space heater from Lasko that looks more like a piece of pottery. Even when the regular heat is turned up high radiant heating from a space heater seems to help more.

Fibro Feels Like…

I love Thanksgiving but it’s very hard on my physically. This year I got quite sick and I said “I’ve been driving, standing up, and sleeping in a different bed. It’s like going to the Olympics for a sport that I’m not very good at”.

Modify Your Dreams

We all know that depression and fibromyalgia go together. This should definitely be treated by a doctor. However, sometimes you just get sick and tired of being sick and tired. You miss the person you used to be before you got sick. You may dream about how your life could’ve been.

There are still ways to accomplish almost any dream. Sure, you may need to have the band come over to your house to practice. You may look at an exciting stratocaster guitar at musicians friend from the comfort of your home. You might record in your jammies, but most of your dreams are still possible if you’re willing to modify them.

What Is That Weird Feeling?

I woke up on Saturday morning and felt weird. I am smart enough to know that it wasn’t a bad feeling. It wasn’t fatigue or pain. It was just different. My muscles felt somewhat softer. It took me until 3 o’clock in the afternoon to realize that for whatever reason that day, I was relaxed. I hadn’t felt that way in years. Even my muscles were relaxed. Does anyone else with fibromyalgia ever get to feel this way?

Just Add it To the List

With fibromyalgia there is a list of things that I can do and things that I can do but will cause me a lot of pain. Most of the items on this list are pretty big and pretty discouraging. I can’t live in cold weather and if I wasn’t from this country would probably need immigration lawyers in los angeles. However, there are a few things that are just plain funny.

I can’t wear scarves. I think they are cute and I’m cold all the time. Even if it’s the lightest weight chiffon scarf it really seems to pull down my neck and be uncomfortable or painful. Since it’s such a minor annoyance I keep trying but I just haven’t been able to make it work. At least I have some funny things on my list.

More Tips for Staying Comfortable With Fibromyalgia

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that sitting in chairs is extremely painful for me. I do have one chair that works pretty well but I usually lay on the couch.
A few months ago I got an ottoman and I wasn’t expecting it to change my life so much but it did. It is at the exact height of the chair but a little bit firmer. It’s even more comfortable than a recliner and now I can sit in it and work on the computer for 2-3 hours at a time instead of just one. What is the most comfortable piece of furniture in your home?

On a Scale of One to Ten

This is a scale that most everyone in the medical field and even the natural field uses. They all ask “On a scale of one to ten, where is your pain level right now?” In fact, it’s the only thing that I can think of that all of these practitioners have in common. So today was not a great day and I asked myself this question and I answered “Owww”. I don’t know where oww is on the scale.

I’m On a List Somewhere

Through my years of having fibromyalgia I think I’ve become more new age in my personality and I think it’s how I’ve maintained a lot of my happiness and joy. I like spending some time thinking about my dream life living somewhere awesome like Ocean Isle beach nc real estate, being a writer, and in a functional relationship. Lately though I seem to have gotten on some kind of new age list where almost every day at least three different people send me revolutionary tele-summits. They all say the same thing “If you’re trying to use the law of attraction and it’s not working this will help you break through”. This has always been a basic belief of mine but through really listening to all of this advice I believe in it less and less. It really can’t do everything and it doesn’t mean that you’re blocked or you need to pay someone $100. It can do a lot but I still maintain that it can’t make you healthy and three tele-summits a day won’t change my mind about that.

30 Day Shred – My Results So Far

I am on day 20 of the 30 Day Shred. So far I have gained about a pound and lost about half of an inch off my waist. I don’t see any other changes but want to keep going just because I took a before picture. I want to get an after picture; even if it’s exactly the same. Doing the same workout so often hasn’t become boring as I’ve needed the practice on my form. It’s definitely an exercise I would talk with a doctor about if you have fibromyalgia because it’s more brutal than most of the other at home workouts I’ve done. From reading forums most people saw at least some results by day 15 but I’ll keep going to see if there is some kind of miracle in the next ten days.

The 30 Day Shred Experiment

I had read some weight loss forums about doing the 30 day shred by Jillian Michaels and I was really impressed with the results and the befores and afters. I have looked into Insanity and P90x but discounted both because I have fibromyalgia and I know certain things will make me sicker without necessarily building muscle.
So I decided to try doing 30 Day Shred, thinking I wouldn’t be able to make it through. I had been working out for close to an hour a day but I had to cut back. Other people may have to worry about nc property tax appeals but I need to find the time to do my taxes and it’s a busy time of year at my job. I chose this just because it’s a 30 minute workout so I figured I at least had a shot. I was surprised when I made it through. I haven’t done all 30 days consecutively because I don’t think that’s smart for any workout. The biggest problem has been my knees, which isn’t usually a problem area for me. I had to take a day off because of my knee. The biggest surprise has been that I haven’t had any of the muscle aches that other healthy people get the next day after this workout. Granted, I am on my last day of level 2 so that may change. Has anyone else tried the 30 Day Shred?

You Know It’s a Bad Fibro Day

I didn’t even realize how bad my fibromyalgia was today but the laptop cord across my legs really kept bothering me. I was getting frustrated wondering why this has never been a problem before. I tried to sit somewhere else or figure out why this would be any different than normal. I tried moving the plug three times before I realized “Oh, the cord always goes across my leg; it’s just that my muscles and skin hurt so much today that I really feel it a lot more.” How do you know that it’s a bad fibro day?

Your Fibro Emergency Kit

I don’t know if you’ve ever been so sick that you haven’t been able to get up to get what you need to feel better but I have. I’ve assembled a little fibromyalgia emergency kit to keep close to me in the mornings. You could put your medicine, books to read, warm socks and water in it. When I’m sick in bed I always wish I for dvd games and a TV in my room. I also try to keep a good book close by in case I’m up to reading.

Fibromyalgia and Time

Sure, people know I’m in pain pretty much all the time. However, it’s easy to underestimate the other aspects of a chronic illness. I wish I could express how much time it takes to be sick all the time. For a lot of people this means extra doctor appointments with less energy. It means extra work to pay medical bills. I look at other people my age and besides their energy I really envy all of the free time they have when mine is usually eaten up by pain or trying to just catch up at work. I picture everyone else smoking la flor dominicana on a beach but I know all 30 somethings are busy.
What are the things about fibromyalgia that no one else seems to understand?

The Real Reason I Wear Dresses

I don’t wear dresses because they look cute. I don’t wear dresses because it’s fashionable. I wear dresses because there’s less fabric clinging to me. It can be looser than capri pants and is cooler in the summer. Sure, I look more dressed up and it’s one of those things that leads people to be confused when they find out I’m sick because my life looks so together. If only they knew the real reason behind it.