Fibromyalgia – It’s Only Arthritis

I remember when I first heard about people having Fibromyalgia and hearing others who say it was “Only Arthritis.” Okay, to be honest, some people even said it was “Only in their head.” Yes, sadly, I do remember those statements.

Since then there has been more information available about the condition, though not enough to findOnly about it. Fibromyalgia is real, and it is a sneaky condition, not classed as a disease, rather a syndrome.

a cure. There is one thing I’ve learned for certain, there is no

 

I say it is sneaky, because there is no way for a person with Fibromyalgia to know from one day to the next just how they will feel. Planning for special events or outings is nearly impossible and too often makes one feel like the stick in the mud when they hesitate to agree to do something with family or friends. How does one RSVP with the express desire to say “Yes,” to something, when the day it is held their body screams, “No?”

Worse still is the fact that many people not only suffer from Fibromyalgia, but it often has a companion illness that is equally miserable called, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFS. It’s like getting hit with a double whammy.

When I first heard about Fibromyalgia I remember one woman who struggled with the pain and eventually ended up using a scooter to get around. As it progressed still more she started to withdrawal from activities. There was another woman within our social group who also had Fibromyalgia and she insisted attitude had a lot to do with how the condition progressed, and she was determined not to let it get the best of her. Unfortunately, within a few years she, too, started to withdraw from the group.

Today I have three special people in my life who suffer from Fibromyalgia some with CFS.  I spoke

with them recently to learn more about how the condition has impacted their lives, but also how far treatment may have come since the time the two women mentioned in the previous paragraph first started with their symptoms.

For their privacy, I am only using their initials. KW has probably had Fibromyalgia the longest, having been diagnosed in 2005, though it is not unusual for a person to struggle with the symptoms for many years before actually being diagnosed. Still having it the longest, it seems from our interview, she has run the gamut of doctors looking for anything that would help.

“I’ve been to a Neurologist and a doctor for chronic pain,” KW explained. “I was instantly put on anti-depressants.”

                As far as other meds, KW has found that often the side effects of the drugs are worse than the Fibromyalgia.

                “I’ve also seen a Rheumatologist and a Gastroenologist,” KW continued. “I just wanted to know it wasn’t all in my mind, that I wasn’t going crazy.”

                MG was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2008 and she agrees with KW about the side

effects of the medications used for the treatment of the condition. “There’s weight gain, dizziness and more fatigue,” she explained. “They didn’t work.”

                The third person I interviewed has had the least time to become adjusted to the life-changes forced on her. GO was only diagnosed this year though she suffered longer before finally getting the official diagnosis. The adjustments to her have also been monumental.

                “I can’t do the things I once did,” GO confessed. “I can’t work in the flower garden because my knees hurt. I can’t wash windows because my arms hurt. I can’t go for long walks anymore. I have to go shorter distances more often when I can.”

                GO has also learned that when she does too much one day, she will pay for it the next.  She has known disappointment when planning a special family events, only to awaken the day of the events to find she can’t join in. She’s missed out on special time with her grandchildren, and that has hurt her the most.

                One of the things all three of these women have learned is that they must use their time wisely.  “I have to prioritize things. Do what I can, and accept what I can’t get done,” says MG.

                “I’ve learned to rest when I needs too,” said KW. “My family knows and understands how important that can be.”

                There are a lot of fads and hype out there about Fibromyalgia. MG warns people not to believe in the promises of quick cures.  “There isn’t a pill, diet, cure or ‘quick fix’. You have to find what works for you.”

               

                For more information and honest answers it is recommended going to the National Fibromyalgia website at: www.fmaware.org.

The Eary Bird Gets the Worm

Read on and you'll get the title.

Good Morning! I think. What I’m trying to say is it is early. Very early for me.  I just couldn’t sleep. I was in bed, eyes closed, but my mind was running in circles.

Why? You might wonder. I had too many thoughts that I needed to get in order. First was a plot for a story. Another story idea to jot down for future reference. However, it was the other thing that forced me to take a long hard look at my life. More accurately, my health.

This entire episode may have started last evening when I found a health site on the web that seemed to be created just for me. I know I’ve thought that before, but this described me perfectly. Well, my health issues, that is.

Do I dare list them all? Oh well, I was accused of TMI before, so here I go. I have bouts of IBS, and now I may understand what has made my bowel so angry. Okay, that was a joke. You can laugh.

As well as IBS, I have been extremely tired lately, I also have bouts of dizziness, and the doctor recently told me I’m anemic. Apparently, as I learned last night, these conditions may all be linked. Even the dreaded hemorrhoids I have. Yikes they are a pain in the butt!

Seriously, none of this is a joking matter. However, joking is the only way I can handle the embarrassment and shame caused by these conditions. If I allowed these things take over my mind, I’d be depressed all the time. By the way, I also learned depression and anxiety are also linked to these conditions.

So what to do?

Of course, the video and article I was reading had a point – a selling point. They were selling these state-of-the-art probiotics. They didn’t exactly call them state-of-the-art, but you get my point. These pills were a combination of all the most needed probiotics to stay healthy.

Funny thing, though. A friend recently told me about Kefir, another potent probiotic you usually drink. Instead of running out to buy the ingredients to make my own Kefir, since he told me it was easy to make – I ran out and purchased a simple over-the-counter probiotic. I took it for several weeks.

I honestly didn’t think they were doing anything. Until I ran out of them. At that point I realized my IBS symptoms had lessened while I was taking them and came back with a vengeance when I ran out. 

Perhaps, there was something to this whole thing. I then purchased one of those flavored Kefir products you find at the grocery store and started drinking it in small amounts. That was only the other day so I’m not certain what it may be doing inside me.

To be fully honest, my IBS was so bad last week I resorted to taking medication for it. You know that minty, chalky liquid stuff. That, of course, creates new problems of the opposite sort. I realized taking the medicine was just masking my symptoms and I shouldn’t be taking it over long periods of time. 

So, it was important I figure out what I was going to do next.

I dreaded the thought of going to the doctor. Seems every time I do that I get put on another medication. I’m on 13 prescriptions already! Please, there must be an end to it. I know there is – but, I’m talking about a different ending. One where I continue breathing. And I’d rather not suffer through life until I stop.

Back to the search results from last evening. There was a great deal of information. It was almost as bad as a history lesson. Yet, many of the things being said rang a bell. It told of the changes in our “healthy diets” through the years.

The final result – before the sales pitch – was what we should already know: we eat too much sugar, refined flours and over-processed foods.  Simply stated, the closer to the earth and its natural form the better. It warned about soft drinks and too much coffee. I can live without the first; but my coffee! 

I’m not too sure about that.

Not to worry, they say, once all this healthiness kicks in, one desires less coffee. That is something I have to see to believe. I know I’m not alone. Have any of you counted the number of coffee posts you find on social media? Probably more than wise cracks about the government and pet photos combined.

So, as I sit here drinking my . . . ah, my coffee, I am going to confess that I fell for the sales pitch. Through sound reasoning I decided to give the risk-free month a try. Sound reasoning sounds so much better than impulse buying, don’t you think?

So now you laugh! I hope you at least smiled at some of my jokes.

More seriously, I need what they are offering. I realize no pill of any kind, whether it be from the doctor or from some company that heralds claims of getting rid of most the worm-like bacteria inside, is going to be the cure all for my ails. I know I will have to make my best effort at eating the right foods. By the way, they say we need a little of those worm-like things, just not as many as we have.

I will be shopping mostly from the outer isles of the grocery store as the experts (Doctor Oz and associates) suggest. I will eat fresh when possible, where tolerated. I will try to do away with processed foods, sugar, artificial stuff and refined flours. But I will not stop drinking my coffee! A girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do. My motto, I will give up my coffee when they pry my cup from my cold dead fingers. (That may be someone else’s motto too.)

Once again, being honest, I have already cut back on coffee do to all the digestive issues I’ve been having, so I’ve got a head start.

This will be a challenge. My body is so used to many of these things, it craves them. In fact, lately when I eat healthy my body actually rebels. That is when it feels like Rocky and Mr. T are duking it out inside me, and all the hot air from their trash talk is. . . Well, you get the picture.

I’ll be back in a few weeks to fill you in on the results of this challenge I’ve set up for myself. I hope it will be good news. If not, I’ll admit that too.

Until then, I’ll be back with other articles. For now . . . maybe I should go back to bed. I’m not used to writing at 4:30 in the morning. It’s the freaking middle of the night, not morning! Now that I’ve gotten this off my chest, maybe I can sleep.

Tears When There is No Reason to Cry

I was sitting here this morning getting ready to begin the next chapter in my novel, when I felt the corners of my eyes start to feel wet. As my eyes welled up with tears, I tried to figure out why. I mean, what do I have to be sad about? Or, possibly I’m feeling sentimental about something. As I thought, I decided I was not feeling sentimental. I was feeling sad. But why?

This feeling fortunately only lasts for a short time. I can usually concur it by focusing my mind on other things, which is funny when you consider the fact that I wasn’t focusing on anything in particular when I started feeling blue.

Okay, let me get to the depth of this. I used the word “blue,” above. It’s a word we have created to lighten the heaviness we may be feeling in our hearts. Those who suffer from depression hate the word “depression.” I mean, to depress something is to squeeze or apply pressurize on something. It is not a pleasant feeling. It feels like you are having the life literally squeezed out of you.

My way of dealing with depression is usually with my sense of humor. An example might be, just thinking about what I wrote above about squeezing. I might picture the time my husband tried to squeeze into pressure stockings. Since the knee and thigh-high stockings always slid down and cut off his circulation, he decided to try the pantyhose type stockings. The picture of the experience never fails to bring a smile to my face. I only wish we’d had a camera handy at the time because I’m certain we would have won America’s Funniest Videos.

However, anyone who suffers from depression knows that humor may only be a mask for depression. Let’s make it look like something it is not by putting on a huge smile that does not reach to our hearts.

Recent news shows that humor doesn’t always work.

I know far too many people who are depressed, which is even more depressing. Some of those people have a far more serious problem than I do. Some of them have real reasons to be depressed.

I should know better than to make that statement. I mean, a person can be depressed for no reason. Like me, this morning. So, while it may be true for someone to tell a person who is depressed that they have nothing to be depressed about, it may be a very untrue statement.

Why the contradiction? Because depression isn’t always about the things around you. It is about what is going on inside you. It has been found that depression is an imbalance in a person’s brain. There may be no visible influence from the life of the person who is depressed. They are literally being squeezed from within by an unseen force.

That may sound like some kind of science fiction plot, but it is not fiction. It is happening to too many people. Many of those people are saying they simply have the “blues,” or wearing a mask to disguise what they are feeling because they might be judged for feeling like they do when they have no reason to feel that way.

I personally have found prayer to help me. As a believer in God, I know He is stronger than anything going on inside me. I also know He has promised a better life ahead.  We just have to be patient until that time comes.

One has to look at that belief a little deeper so they don’t get any ideas about speeding up the process. While it might seem logical to end one’s life so they can move on to the perfect life that is promised, that would be taking control out of God’s hands. He is a God of perfect timing. He knows when it is time.

A non-believer may feel they just want to end the feelings that are so overwhelming. Feelings that seem like they are going on forever. But I try to look at it as not using a long term solution for a short term problem. However, for too  many people it may not seem short time.

To the believer, it is. One day if we are able to look back, the time we struggled on this Earth will be like a speck of dust and that speck will get smaller and smaller as eternity passes.

I’m not saying that depression is any less difficult for a believer than a non-believer. I’m just telling how I try to look at it.

Now there was a very telling word in the last sentence. “Try.” I have no way of knowing if one day my way of handling depression may no longer work. Knowing that depression is as much, if not more an imbalance in the brain, than outside influences, means the possibility I may one day give up.

That is why I have been open to my husband, family and friends about the disease of depression. I tell them that while I may have it under control for now, there could be a time I won’t be able to handle it. It happened with my father and from what I heard my grandfather, too.

This brings me to another sad point about the disease. It can be passed down from generation to generation.  That proves to me that the depression I feel is strongly influenced by an imbalance, since it is unlikely that the outside influences that effect my life also affected my father and grandfather. It also means it could one day happen to my sons and granddaughter.

My other solution, as I said, is to make certain those I love understand this disease and how it might one day impact them. I also have a strong group of friends who are there when I need a little help. I trust that if the time comes I cannot overcome depression alone, they will see that I get outside help.

I pray constantly that it is something that will never happen. Just as I pray for anyone else going through this problem. It is serious and it can be fatal. But it can also be overcome if we all take the time to understand a little more and be ready to get or give the help that is needed.

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#PamGarlick