So yes at long last I'm back on the blog. As I said in my last blog, I lost the race with our puppy to the scooby snacks. Turns out I broke my rib....OUCH. Then if that wasn't bad enough....I caught the flu shortly after that, so I was pretty much K.O.'d for a good week and a half. I started feeling appreciably better this weekend so I'll be back at work tomorrow.
The good news however is that I did get to see the rheumy who specializes in fibromyalgia, this past week. He took me completely off the amitryptaline/elavil. I was taking it to help me get to sleep at night. He was surprised that my docs put me on it. His concern is that all it does is promote weight gain, which oddly enough is what I've been doing since I've been on it. At least I know it wasn't ALL my doing! So in it's placed we have doubled the amount of cymbalta that I take, which is great. One, because I really have alot of reduced pain with the cymbalta, and two, I always like it when I can get off one of my meds as opposed to add another one. My concern was not being able to get to sleep, but I've always taken my cymbalta in the morning. Now I take double what I have been, but at night. I started this on Wednesday night, and with the exception of last night I've been sleeping reasonably well. One night of not sleeping is much better than the avg for me so no complaints so far. The increase has upset my stomach a fair bit, but I'm told that that will be a temporary side effect so all's good. The best part is that I have noticed less pain since the increase, which ultimately is my goal, so what's my conclusion thus far???? Four days in...and so far it's two thumbs up! I'll keep you all posted on that though.
The doc also suggested I get a "hydropillow" which is as the name indicates, a regular pillow that has some water in it too. He said that he's found in his fms patients that these pillows really help decrease the neck and shoulder stiffness, and pain. I haven't picked one up yet but hopefully this week. He gave me a bunch of stretches to do, morning and night, just to keep my muscles stretched and relaxed, I'm hoping now that I'm feeling better I'll be able to get into a routine with all of this stuff.
And of course, as all fibromites know....exercise is our friend! kind of....Even he states that initially it's going to hurt, but in the long run, it will go a long way to promoting better muscle health and hopefully less intense flares. With my rib I'm kind of limited right now, but I'm working towards the exercise routine slowly. In the past I've always tried to jump right in there and set up a routine of working out 5-6 days a week....and guess what???? can you believe it??? It never worked and I'd just give up! YES....I'm slowly, little by little....starting to see the errors of my ways! So now my goal is to get to the gym at least twice in 7 days and stretch at least once daily.....we'll see where that takes me.
So all in all it was a good visit. I go back in 5 weeks to see how the med change has worked and we'll go from there. At least I feel like I have a workable and reasonable plan for now!
hobbz
4 comments:
Hi Hobbz,
sorry to hear you cracked a rib-ouch! Glad the Cymbalta is helping the pain. I take it as an anti-D and the first 8 weeks I was pain free it was bliss. hope it lasts alot longer in you!!! As to the weight issue. I've given up. what with the Amy's and lyrica my poor metabolism doesnt stand a chance!
and yes Gnelte exercise is the key. But please go really gently at first. I started off managing half a lenght of the baby pool once a week tand slowly built up until now I swim 3 x per week and I can manage 10-12 baby lenghts, but its taken me 2 years. Personally I find daily stretching too much so I stretch in the warm pool before my swim. Thers this need, as you've found, to be a super Olympic athlete and compare yourself to the thin 'beautiful brigade' who sweat and pound on those blasted machines at the gym, ut all it does is set you bakc and make you ill. it put me in bed for 8 weeks when I did it!!! best of luck and take care
Thanks for your words of support Cinders! It made me laugh cuz all I ever want to do is be the BEST athlete, worker, wife, mother, etc etc....moderation is tough for me, let alone taking things at a gentle and slow pace. I need the 2x4 of reality across the the forhead sometimes. lol
Your tagged by the way!
6 word memoir.
You know the one, where you
1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links; and
5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!
k2
Plans are good.Good luck.
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