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This will show our fight with Fibromyalgia, so others can learn that it's real. |
This blog will chronicle my battle with Fibromyalgia, sometimes comparing it to the battle my wife, Kenzie  has with the same illness. Many don't believe it's an actual illness, though its existence is recognized more and more in the medical community. I'm hoping that by shedding some light on what it can do to a person we can make others aware that it is indeed real, and that it can hit anyone of any age at any time. It's not deadly, by any means, but it can drastically change your life. It can be a real and aggravating pain in more ways than one (pun intended). MANY more ways.
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| The chiropractor thought it was a tight muscle pressing on a nerve, and so did my primary care doctor. But each morning of the past week was worse than the one before. With the meds out of my system by morning, I had no defense against the pain, and I couldn't take any until I got to work. I can't drive after taking them. At least at this point it was this past Saturday and I didn't have to miss work again. I went to the ER that afternoon. The outcome was one I wouldn't have thought about, and certainly not one that either Kenzie or I would have expected. What was it? Sacroilliitis. Yep. You got it. My form of the pain she sometimes gets when her sacroilliac pops out of joint. Only mine doesn't pop out, it just continues to get more and more irritated at the joint itself. We never gave a thought to the idea that we could both end up with the same pain. It actually has us smiling at how alike the fibro has hit the two of us. Mostly different pains, then this one comes along and really makes us a pair.  THe doctor gave me a steroid injection right into the joint, and a prescription for a pain pill I can use 3 times a day. Thank goodness someone found the problem. I'm already noticing a difference. Another week or so, and I should be pain free, and only have the physical therapy to finish the comeback. Thank you, Lord, for getting to the root of this before the pain got to really be too much for me. |
| Well, I got my answer. It's not fibro. It's real. I didn't think it was fibro; nice to know my hunch was right at least. Third visit to the chiropractor didn't help. I took today off work due to the pain, and called my primary care doctor. I think the Lord had a hand in this one, because my doctor just happened to have an opening this morning, at 10:15. I had to rush a bit (that was only 45 minutes after I called), but I wasn't about to lose this chanvce to get some answers and get rid of this pain! Now, after a quick update exam on my diabetic situation, I have a pain pill as a first step. I've only taken one, so we'll see, in a week or so. I hope this thing kicks in fast enough for me to go to work tomorrow. Trust me: there ARE situations where almost anyone would rather be at work than facing certain situations, especially dabilitating physical pain ones. Hopefully I'll have more to report soon. |
| Hopefully I'll find out soon. The last 24-48 hours have been extremely painful with a type of backache I've never had before. Right on the left end of my waistline in the back there's a muscle that, according to my chiropractor, is knotted up and pressing on a nerve. She's worked on it twice in the past week, and another session is scheduled for Monday afternoon. The longer I walk at one time with this thing hurting, the more it hurts. Just bending over to pull up my slacks is extremely painful, and every step with the left foot sends sharp pains through that pressured nerve, both up the left side of my back and down the inside front of my left leg. And today, getting ready to go to church, a new wrinkle hit. That pain spread directly across my back, right at the waistline. Heating pad has it feeling better as long as I'm laying on it, but as soon as I get up, all the pain is back. And the pain has gotten bad enough at times that I've felt like throwing up. Needless to say, this crazy pain has stolen my appetite; the only thing I've tried eating today is the ever-excellent solution from generations ago, the tried and true chicken noodle soup. I'll be having a second bowl later on. And this crazy pain has also made it a bit difficult to breathe when it's at its worst as well, making me not want to inhale deepy since that can press on the stupid thing too. I'm not sure about going to work tomorrow at this point since it hurts to walk more than 15 feet or so at a time. We shall have to see. Obviously, more to come. |
| The last 24 - 36 hours have really been bad for me with the Fibro. My back has been hurting in a new spot, on the LEFT, just above the waist, and it was constant. No position would get rid of it. Laying on my back made it slack off a little, but it still didn't stop. Thankfully I was worn out enough last night that I fell asleep despite the pain. It wasn't much better this morning, just a little. One thing that for some reason helped it was carrying a case of printer paper to the car from the store this afternoon, then into the house.That took the edge off of it, but it's still very much with me. I don't expect it to go away any time soon, but whether or not it does is in the Lord's hands, not mine. And now that my right leg has just started up with its own form of pain, I guess I'll be dealing with both of them for a while. Hopefully that will be all that acts up for the day. But with Fibro, one never knows... |
| I wasn't hurting too badly when I got up for church this morning, or even when I walked from the parking lot into the church for the service at 10:45. But things changed quickly when I walked back OUT of that building about noon and back toward my car. Every step I took down the 8 or so front steps of the church back to the driveway my knees killed me. Most of my time today will be in the house, but I do take the dog and cat out every few hours and each time I've done that so far the cold has immediately made the knees, and sometimes another joint or two flare up on me. And it shows in the house, too, if I stay seated here at the PC long enough then get up to go somewhere else, my knees and legs will bug me. I'm thinking things will stay that way till I've been indoors consistently for a number of hours late tonight. Obviously we'll see. I'm just glad these are the only pains I have right now. |
| Here's another one I should have listed in here some time ago. . On the days I get active from the time I get up, whatever the time, things move pretty well. But on the days where I don't have to be that active right off the bat, somewhere around three hours or so after getting up the fibro fatigue kicks in and tries to get me to take a nap. Usually if I can get myself to get more active it will back off, but if I don't I can end up taking that nap. It's not a given, but it can get pretty close. That's what I'm facing right now, so I think I'd better finish this one and go get my haircut. That should help back it off. We shall see. |
| ... in a way, that's good. Why? Because I don't need any new pains with the holidays coming up. Cripes, I"m still looking for a good opportunity between the weather, my energy level and the pain to put the outside Christmas lights up. The past couple weeks have been pretty 'normal' for me. The usual leg and back pain, with the arms and joints coming and going. That's become my norm I think. And overall, that's not so bad. There are still plenty of others, Kenzie included, that are hurting worse than I am. The only thing that's really been different was last night. I didn't feel much energy. It was like it was taking a lot of effort, and silent energy to just stand on my feet while Kenzie and I talked in the kitchen. And I'm not used to that sensation - of simple things like standing feeling like I either didn't have the energy to do it in the first place, or that the act of doing it was draining my energy even faster. Sheesh. To this point I chalked it up to the cold weather, but we'll see what happens this coming week. We're supposed to be warm enough to get only rain, but it's supposed to rain all week long, off and on. It'll be interesting to see what that change does to the pain and energy levels. Obviously, I have to wait and see.  |
| The intent of this blog, and the efforts of both Kenzie and myself, has been to spread the word about Fibromyalgia to the public so that others who may have it and not know it can finally find out if it is what's been behind those strange pains they've been having. Last night we saw a new commercial specifically about Fibro. My first thought upon seeing it? "It's about time someone thought to use this method to help get the important word out." It felt good to know that someone who knows Fibro is real has finally put their money up front to help in the fight to spread the word. I'm not saying this is the first commercial about Fibro, but it is the first we've seen, and we're glad it's out there. |
| My apologies to all of you for not being here more during October. A lot's been going on, both at work and around here, but that's a whole other story, and out of the scope of this blog. Needless to say, I'm here because our nemesis has never really left. My legs and knees have some days better than others, but more often than not it's felt in recent weeks as if the pain never really goes totally away. Nice, huh? At least I used to get that kind of reprieve. Thankfully those hectic days I alluded to at work can do a pretty fair job of keeping my mind off the more common side of the pain, the usual ongoing muscle tightness or knee aches, and the only things that get my attention at those times are the new, or extra-strong pains. The ones I hadn't had before, or a familiar one at about twice the previous levels. Tonight it's the tight leg muscles, knee aches that won't go away, AND a new one. One I've had only about 3 times before. A different kind of back pain, in a different spot. The kind where no position you try is comfortable, even in bed. The kind of pain that just won't go away. Where you really need to be dead tired to get to sleep unless you have a medication to help you. Thankfully, my Nortriptylene does that very nicely. THese pains have been with me about 36 hours, and all but the new back pain for about 5 days before THAT. And these wild temperature and climate variations we've had lately have sure NOT helped matters in that department. We'll just have to see if things continue this way as the temps drop for part of next week. My thanks to those of you who have wondered where I've been, and made a point of asking. My apologies for worrying you. I shall do my best to be here a tad more often. All of you take care, and I'll see you a bit later. |
| I've had a lot going on the past week or so, but one thing has been consistent, even bringing back past "memories", for lack of a better word. The Fibro. An extra busy couple weeks at work due to the preparations for special things that need to be done at the end of the 3rd quarter of the year, and the additional task of training a new member of our programming group meant hectic, occasionally longer than usual days at the office. That, of course led to worse traffic driving home because I wasn't getting out in front of the busiest part of rush hour traffic on those days, and that led to less time to get anything done around here, and sometimes getting to bed later than I'd planned. Sheesh. In that same time, the fibro has consistently reminded me of, and confirmed two of the basics: you feel the pain more when you're tired, and the chilly, damp air can set it off as well. I've hurt more in the evenings than usual some days, and those days usually turned out to be when I would also feel myself heading for an early shut down. And the very few cooler evenings we've had so far have set off the pain in my knees. Those two things, at least, are predictable. The cooler evenings are gone for now, supposedly to return later next week. We will see if they do. Overall I do better being chilly than when I'm too hot, but the knee pain is the one thing that runs counter to that statement. See you all next time. |
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