AAAAAAAHHHHH Saturday, is quite possibly the best day of the week. One can sleep in late, no work has to be done, you can stay up late, and still not have to worry about going back to work until Sunday. I never really appreciated the beauty of a Saturday when I did shift work, since my days off were all over the place....but now that I work 5 on and 2 off, for the first time in my life I don't have to work on weekends, I've really come to appreciate this day. sigh
This week seemed like a long one. I think my body still isn't 100% recovered from the flu, so I went through most days in an exhausted blur. It's funny how still, yet again, some more...I (unconsciously, I hope/think) try to fight the fibro and be "normal", whatever that is. I went through Monday and Tuesday, just dead ass tired but plodded through. But then by Wednesday, I was past the point of over-exhausted and I STILL had to convince myself to go lay down for a nap. Why do I continue to do this, I just don't know. A nap is such a simple thing....but wow can it make a difference. I slept and felt soooo much better afterwords. Life just seems so much easier to cope with when I've had a little sleep. The telling thing is however, that when I went to work Thursday, 3 separate people stopped me and said I "must be feeling better" and that I "finally had some color back in my face".
I just have to shake my head, it really spotlights for me how hard I'm still fighting this disease. Even now when I feel like I've really embraced it and tried to integrate it into my day and work with it instead of against it. I'm sensing I still have some more work to do in this area....lol
I'm such a creature of habit, and my habit has always been to work harder and stronger at everything. I'm digging myself a whole here and still trying to figure out how to find a happy medium. I know that this is just part of the learning experience s we humans struggle with. It's not made better or worse by my fibro....it's just highlighted and prompting me to work on this particular issue probably quicker than I would have without the disease....that at least is a good thing.
well i'm off to enjoy my Saturday folks! Maybe I'll even take a nap! lmao
hobbz
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I've been tagged
So apparently I've been tagged and now I need to write a six word memoire...wowzers...no pressure! LOL
Living...Last life to next life!
I was tagged by DJS at http://dj-astellarlife.blogspot.com/
now for the fun part...the following people have been tagged
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.
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.
http://soxandcinders.blogspot.com/
http://nightmare54.blogspot.com/
http://bree-theblogblog.blogspot.com/
and that's all I'm going to tag for now, cuz I don't post on a whole lot of blogs, but I do read several....these are 3 that I read regularly tho.
Anyone else that feels like continuing this memoir string please feel free to say that I was the one who tagged you....I'll even add ur blog to the above list!
have a good night folks
hobbz
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Did you miss me????
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
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
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Checking in...
I thought I'd put up a quick post before going to bed. It's been a long week with our budding "adolescent" which has taken a toll on me. I am however, proud to announce that I was really good at taking care of myself this week in spite of the hormones that were raging in our house LOL. Taking the time when I needed to instead of doing laundry or washing the kitchen floor, which really needs it by the way...really helped me to not get overwhelmed with my disease and the daily crap that arises. So kudos to me I guess.
My biggest issue was having my dog trip me and falling down the stairs on Monday....ouch....the muscle that was already torn....yup not so much healing now! The rest of my back has gotten to the stage that it's just stiff, so I'm back to square one, with the back....but what can you do. Lots of ice the first couple of days and then it's been heat the last day or so....slowly but surely it will get better???? i hope!
It sucks to not heal as well as one did when we were younger and then add fms into the mix and you create a muscle nightmare lol.....yikes
hope everyone is well....fight the good fight
hobbz
My biggest issue was having my dog trip me and falling down the stairs on Monday....ouch....the muscle that was already torn....yup not so much healing now! The rest of my back has gotten to the stage that it's just stiff, so I'm back to square one, with the back....but what can you do. Lots of ice the first couple of days and then it's been heat the last day or so....slowly but surely it will get better???? i hope!
It sucks to not heal as well as one did when we were younger and then add fms into the mix and you create a muscle nightmare lol.....yikes
hope everyone is well....fight the good fight
hobbz
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Yea for the weekend!
The best thing about weekends for me living with fibromyalgia.........is the opportunity to sleep! Man o Man do I love my sleep! After a week of working and everyday life it's feels so nice to get caught up. Slept in until almost 11 a.m. then my son was out playing with friends so I took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and now it's almost 10pm and I'm off for some more sleep.
I guess that's both good and bad. It is definitely a necessity so I have to catch up. The bad side is that as Cinders was saying in her last comment "do i have much of a social life?" ----nope. That's another part of the whole equation. Is my quality of life what it should be? or what the avg person's is? that's a pretty subjective thing to judge but I'd love to be out there snow shoeing or skiing or hiking or fishing, on the weekends as opposed to sleeping. I also try not to sleep alot when my husband is working out of town, because that's not really fair for my son. Luckily tho he's 12 now and is out with friends or snowboarding in the afternoons so I can sleep guilt free. Hopefully tomorrow won't be so tiring, but after groceries, lunch out, and hair cuts' today....I was drop dead tired. What r u going to do?
have a good weekend everyone......and oh by the way......I love the fact that this blog is starting to reach other people! it's great to hear other's experiences, it brings alot of hope and normalcy to a situation that feels really out of control and crummy! So thanks guys!!!!
hobbz
I guess that's both good and bad. It is definitely a necessity so I have to catch up. The bad side is that as Cinders was saying in her last comment "do i have much of a social life?" ----nope. That's another part of the whole equation. Is my quality of life what it should be? or what the avg person's is? that's a pretty subjective thing to judge but I'd love to be out there snow shoeing or skiing or hiking or fishing, on the weekends as opposed to sleeping. I also try not to sleep alot when my husband is working out of town, because that's not really fair for my son. Luckily tho he's 12 now and is out with friends or snowboarding in the afternoons so I can sleep guilt free. Hopefully tomorrow won't be so tiring, but after groceries, lunch out, and hair cuts' today....I was drop dead tired. What r u going to do?
have a good weekend everyone......and oh by the way......I love the fact that this blog is starting to reach other people! it's great to hear other's experiences, it brings alot of hope and normalcy to a situation that feels really out of control and crummy! So thanks guys!!!!
hobbz
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wow 3 posts in 3 days...new record LOL
Cinders had so much wonderful information in her comments to my last post, I thought I would just respond to them in this post so here goes.
I'm not so sure that I've listed all of the meds that I take daily, thus far. I've mentioned them separately but here goes the list....
-CYMBALTA 30mg daily. This is a "two-fer"....it does double duty helping with depression as well as pain control. I love it, it did wonders for my pain.
-TRAMADOL 50mg every 4-6 hours...technically I should only be taking four a day but usually it's more like 5 with extra strength TYLENOL as well
-AMITRIPTYLINE 50mg at night, which is also a mild anti-depressant, but I take it to help me sleep.
those are my fibro meds....I also take DOSTINEX twice a week for a pituitary tumor, PRILOSEC daily since my inactivity with the fms has contributed to me blowing up like a whale (whole different topic), and last but certainly not least I take MAXALT for frequent migraines.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a walking pharmacy here....ack. I like the idea of a morphine patch, if it would cut through the pain in my legs...but that's a big step and one I don't want to be taking while I'm working. The good thing is that I can bring all of this info to my rheumy appt in March and see what he would suggest. I know that the lady that referred me to this doc. said that they experimented until they found the right medication fit for her....so that sounds very promising.
Next on the hit list is EXERCISE which goes right in line with my weight. I'm really struggling in this area right now, and I'm not sure what the block is for me. I've been losing weight with the help of a bariatric doctor and have done quite well. But I've taken a break from it for the last month or so, in order to get my head into the right place to make it all work together and stick for good. I'm done with going up and down all the time, and it sure as hell isn't helping my body any. Exercise is my biggest obstacle right now. It seems sooooo hard to stay on track and keep up the motivation. I start work at 6am so I can't workout before work, which in the past has been what's worked for me....instead I've been trying (using that word very loosely here) to go after work. The problem is that by the time I get off I'm soooo friken tired and the pain has really kicked it up a notch and the last thing I want to face is doing something physical. I've got a free weeks pass to a local gym that has a warm pool as well as a cold pool and it sounds like that might be helpful from what Cinders has done. so thanks Cinders I will definitely try that out this week.
I've thought about a tens unit,but haven't gone so far as to purchase one, it's on my question list for the rheumy though. Like I've posted before, our jetted bathtub and our new heated mattress pad have gotten me through alot of rough days! yea!
It's so nice to hear someone else's experiences and what does and does not work for them.....that's why I started this blog in the first place....so thanks Cinders for your comments!
I have a link to Cinders's site in the left hand column of this blog, check it out it's really good!
later,
Hobbz
I'm not so sure that I've listed all of the meds that I take daily, thus far. I've mentioned them separately but here goes the list....
-CYMBALTA 30mg daily. This is a "two-fer"....it does double duty helping with depression as well as pain control. I love it, it did wonders for my pain.
-TRAMADOL 50mg every 4-6 hours...technically I should only be taking four a day but usually it's more like 5 with extra strength TYLENOL as well
-AMITRIPTYLINE 50mg at night, which is also a mild anti-depressant, but I take it to help me sleep.
those are my fibro meds....I also take DOSTINEX twice a week for a pituitary tumor, PRILOSEC daily since my inactivity with the fms has contributed to me blowing up like a whale (whole different topic), and last but certainly not least I take MAXALT for frequent migraines.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a walking pharmacy here....ack. I like the idea of a morphine patch, if it would cut through the pain in my legs...but that's a big step and one I don't want to be taking while I'm working. The good thing is that I can bring all of this info to my rheumy appt in March and see what he would suggest. I know that the lady that referred me to this doc. said that they experimented until they found the right medication fit for her....so that sounds very promising.
Next on the hit list is EXERCISE which goes right in line with my weight. I'm really struggling in this area right now, and I'm not sure what the block is for me. I've been losing weight with the help of a bariatric doctor and have done quite well. But I've taken a break from it for the last month or so, in order to get my head into the right place to make it all work together and stick for good. I'm done with going up and down all the time, and it sure as hell isn't helping my body any. Exercise is my biggest obstacle right now. It seems sooooo hard to stay on track and keep up the motivation. I start work at 6am so I can't workout before work, which in the past has been what's worked for me....instead I've been trying (using that word very loosely here) to go after work. The problem is that by the time I get off I'm soooo friken tired and the pain has really kicked it up a notch and the last thing I want to face is doing something physical. I've got a free weeks pass to a local gym that has a warm pool as well as a cold pool and it sounds like that might be helpful from what Cinders has done. so thanks Cinders I will definitely try that out this week.
I've thought about a tens unit,but haven't gone so far as to purchase one, it's on my question list for the rheumy though. Like I've posted before, our jetted bathtub and our new heated mattress pad have gotten me through alot of rough days! yea!
It's so nice to hear someone else's experiences and what does and does not work for them.....that's why I started this blog in the first place....so thanks Cinders for your comments!
I have a link to Cinders's site in the left hand column of this blog, check it out it's really good!
later,
Hobbz
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A new day dawns....
So a new day has come and I'm not feeling so "rant-ish" today; Lucky for you! LOL
Today fms has brought complete and utter exhaustion, which isn't all that surprising given everything I have on my plate right now. I'm trying to just ride it out and to identify it as it is....and for today all it is is fms. It's not me, just the disease. It was VERY hard to get out of bed this morning, and when I did everything just hurt....but here I sit and its early evening and I made it through the day, with my wits somewhat intact.
The good news is, and I don't think I've posted this yet, is that I have an appt. on the 19th of March with a rheumatologist, here in Anchorage, who specializes in FMS. Yea! I'm really hoping that he can help me manage the disease better than I am now, since I'm really struggling right now. I heard about this guy through a lady that works in the same building as me, obviously she has fibro too. I'll update you on the results.
I'm also still struggling with my torn back muscle, which if memory serves, I mentioned a few posts back. The frustration is it takes so much longer for muscle's to heal with fibro....it's a long and slow process....heat and Tylenol are good friends. I also bought a couple of those adhesive warming patches. I'm not entirely sure that they help fix the muscle problem, but it sure does decrease the pain, so I give them 2 thumbs up. I'm open to any and all suggestions though.
I'll keep it short and sweet (debatable) and sign off....I'm just trying to get into a habit of posting regularly.
until next we meet!
hobbz
Today fms has brought complete and utter exhaustion, which isn't all that surprising given everything I have on my plate right now. I'm trying to just ride it out and to identify it as it is....and for today all it is is fms. It's not me, just the disease. It was VERY hard to get out of bed this morning, and when I did everything just hurt....but here I sit and its early evening and I made it through the day, with my wits somewhat intact.
The good news is, and I don't think I've posted this yet, is that I have an appt. on the 19th of March with a rheumatologist, here in Anchorage, who specializes in FMS. Yea! I'm really hoping that he can help me manage the disease better than I am now, since I'm really struggling right now. I heard about this guy through a lady that works in the same building as me, obviously she has fibro too. I'll update you on the results.
I'm also still struggling with my torn back muscle, which if memory serves, I mentioned a few posts back. The frustration is it takes so much longer for muscle's to heal with fibro....it's a long and slow process....heat and Tylenol are good friends. I also bought a couple of those adhesive warming patches. I'm not entirely sure that they help fix the muscle problem, but it sure does decrease the pain, so I give them 2 thumbs up. I'm open to any and all suggestions though.
I'll keep it short and sweet (debatable) and sign off....I'm just trying to get into a habit of posting regularly.
until next we meet!
hobbz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)