So there are a lot of issues with sleep and fibromyalgia. I also have other chronic pain and vertigo, but seriously since I was young sleep and I have not been on speaking terms. Yes, this is how I look when I sleep. Child-like and innocent and buried in glitter. Here are some of the random things you can look forward to with fibromyalgia and sleep: Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much…
Time for another post about Fibromaygia for Awareness month. Fibromyalgia is more than widespread pain Primary symptoms Primary symptoms are the areas used to diagnose someone with Fibromyalgia because they happen to a degree in all of us. Chronic widespread pain Yes, there is chronic widespread pain. It is often the symptom people think of. Yes, we have pain. All the time. And we can flare up with a lot more than our baseline pain as…
It is fibromyalgia awareness month once again. Remember fibromyalgia awareness day falls on May 12th. I’d like to start the month with a little fibromyalgia humor. Sadly, it is also all true. When you have fibromyalgia Sleep is the delicious nectar of the gods that is denied you Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More…. Too much sleep? That’s a flare The last time you had no pain was before the Big Bang Doing…
I can tell you for me it was a relief. I had symptoms for years but being undiagnosed is difficult. You have to deal with it all but have no treatment, no label, and no real understanding of what you should do. I was coping well at the time after having gone through a few years of difficulty coping. I didn’t have chronic migraines yet. I had learned to pace and moderate but I wasn’t…
At a recent appointment with my naturopath, to the wonderfully named Dr. Love, the topic of recurrent muscle pain flares came up. Anti-inflammatory interventions and nervous system calming remedies had not broken the cycle of muscle pain I experience. My pain predominantly occurs in my upper back/shoulder blades on either side and my glute muscles/SI joints. Even though I stretch and strengthen, which helps, I have not broken out of these painful cycles. My naturopath…
My husband and I have decided the time is finally right to start family planning – or as right as it ever will be! For most (hetero) couples, this might be as simple as throwing out the birth control pill pack and spending more time in the bedroom. Of course, many otherwise healthy couples face fertility challenges that shouldn’t be minimized. But for anyone living with chronic illness, the starting point for trying to conceive…
I recently began reading Toni Bernhard’s wonderful book How to Live Well with Chronic Illness. I was inspired to write this post after reading a section in her book where she outlines her ‘not-to-do list’. Bernhard rightly points out that it takes a great deal of self-discipline to stick within the restrictions imposed on your body by chronic illness. In my own case, I’ve found that most of my self-growth has come from recognizing, accepting,…
As most fibromyalgia patients know, there are no approved tests to diagnose this chronic pain condition. A new study has taken science a step forward in this direction. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have identified a brain signature that is able to predict fibromyalgia with 93% accuracy. Functional MRI scans were used to compare brain activity in 37 fibromyalgia patients and 35 healthy controls as they were exposed to multiple sensory sensations (visual,…
A few months later my husband graduated with 2 BS degrees in Finance and we were ready to start our life for real. During the first 5 years of our marriage, he had been completing his undergrad full-time and working full-time. This had left us a bit distant and out of touch with each other. We were really looking forward to some re-connecting and had scheduled a week of “vacation” together while he graduated and…
I am a mother and I am a daughter. I am a father and I am a son. I was busy living my life, and one day I got sick. I went to the doctor and they ran test after test after test and could not figure out what was wrong with me. I am a student and I am a teacher, I am a grandchild and I am a grandparent. Finally, they gave me…