Raise awareness about chronic illnesses by understanding their impact, symptoms, and the importance of support and education.
When you wake up in a fibromyalgia flare—with that feeling that you can’t move, as if a 500-pound weight has been dropped on you in your sleep—you can’t help but wonder how you can possibly face the day. On mornings like this, the best thing you can do is limit your activity and rest. Still, even as your body takes the downtime it needs, feelings of guilt or other negative emotions can make days like…
I wish I had been prepared for the impact of what was going to happen in my life from chronic illness being newly diagnosed. Realistically. I had a firm belief back then that I could limit the impact by choosing a specific job and as long as I was engaged mentally, it didn’t matter if I was hindered physically. I didn’t think of the radius pain has. It never occurred it would get worse, complex…
Fibromyalgia has some pretty distinctive sleep disturbances associated with it not to mention comorbid sleep issues. It is one of the key factors in the syndrome… our inability to attain refreshing sleep. I wrote a post about it here. So it interests me that they have done some recent research in this area. One of the important things about our sleep dysfunction is that since it isn’t presenting like regular insomnia the treatment likewise has…
Chronic muscular pain may be linked to a previously unknown principle for how pain signals are transmitted in the human body. This is shown by Umeå University researchers Tuija Athanassiadis and Karl-Gunnar Westberg, in collaboration with Canadian associates, in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More…. Muscles have sensory organs called muscle spindles. Their task is to inform the brain of changes in muscle length. Muscle spindles,…
Pregnant women with fibromyalgia (FM) experience significant pain, fatigue, and psychological stress, symptoms that are often misdiagnosed or undertreated as a normal part of pregnancy, according to a pilot study by Karen M. Schaefer, D.N.Sc., R.N., assistant professor of nursing at Temple University’s College of Health Professions. Her research, the first to look at the impact of pregnancy on women with FM, was recently presented at the 2006 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal…
Immediate treatment by a physiotherapist, bypassing a waiting list, can reduce problems with recurring low back pain, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Many people suffer from low back pain, and most get better. However, those who suffer from long-term pain can find that their work, everyday, and leisure activities are limited to varying degrees. Given that long-term pain often requires extensive treatment, it is important that the pain be treated at…
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…
There are times with Fibromyalgia that I exceed my walking limits. It is actually difficult sometimes because the limit changes. It can be a short distance one day and a decent distance the next. There was a time when I had to run all over campus to get professors to sign my thesis to get it processed. I ran around everywhere looking for everything. Too much. I was in immense pain. I would sit down…
This is of concern to me due to my low blood pressure issues and dizziness. And it makes me wonder. Especially since my doc mentioned I may have POTS. So the study is looking at the Baroreflex response. Without it we would stand up and get dizzy and could faint. It is mechanism in the body that tries to regulate our blood pressure. The response involves nerves in the blood vessels near, in and around…
If it means significant restrictions to your daily activities, then, according to medical and government guidelines, yes, you have a disability. This may challenge the ability stereotypes you might have absorbed from the media, where disability is usually linked to the need to use a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury or limb impairment. This might get you wondering about what exactly the definition of disability is, how do we usually understand it and…