fibromyalgia symptoms

Lowchens and children

18 Months On From My Diagnosis With Fibromyalgia

Posted on by MummyWhisperer
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I’m so sorry, it’s been sooooo long since I wrote about my Fibromyalgia.  I feel especially guilty having been selected as one of the Top 16 Fibromyalgia Blogs worldwide.  I totally meant to blog as I went, but it just didn’t happen.

But I have GREAT NEWS, so maybe it’s been more important that I focussed on myself for a while.

I hope that the information below really encourages people with Fibromyalgia or other similar syndromes, to keep on.  For the first 6 months of trying things, it really felt like I didn’t make any progress at all.  But then it was like a domino effect and suddenly I could feel a difference and got feedback from my body.

Now a days if I look after myself I get immediate feedback from my body.  If I don’t, I get immediate feedback.  It’s simple.

 

My Symptoms

Mum with energyI can move in the morning without a shower – I still always shower first thing as it’s become a habit, but it’s great to not have to have cold showers for the pain.

I have a small flare once a month.  I hardly have any other flares now, as I’m much better at pacing.  The depression does come on during those days, but only lasts about 2 days and I can shake it off.  It’s pretty all consuming when it arrives, but I don’t fear it now as I know it will go.

I have no chronic pain (the kind you don’t want to get up in the morning with, which is apparently worse than arthritis).

I no longer have the weird itching pain in my back near my adrenals.

I haven’t had my hips burn or a big blood bruise in a long time, and if I ever get an ache in my hips I use one of our salon products by Arbonne called ‘Body Gelee’ and it disappears really quickly.

The last big pain that was in my left shoulder and neck went last week – woohoo!

I still have aches and pains, but that is much more bearable, and I’m pretty sure that I will be able to clear those within the next year.  Sometimes I get pain in my head, especially at the back (which is where all this started from in the beginning), so that is the priority to focus on next.

I don’t get a full nights sleep yet, but I get a lot more and I’m not chronically tired.

I still get Fibro fog, which is frustrating, and I get hurt when people don’t understand and think that I’m making excuses.  After all they say ‘everyone forgets things’.  The only way around it is to not overload myself, and be very clear each week on my priority of To Do’s.  I also don’t work on reception at the salon too much, as it’s tricky for me to manage the diary.

I’m back on the probiotics for my stomach since going on holiday, but part from a rather nasty flare up for 3 weeks just before Christmas, I’ve been IBS/stomach pain free.  I have found peppermint tea and ginger tea really helpful though, so it’s possible that I’ve been managing things with those.  Sometimes it’s so subtle you don’t notice that you still have a problem.

I didn’t manage to drop all the weight that I was hoping too, but I am now a ‘healthy weight’ and there is plenty of time to do more next year.

I can now go to Pilates AND walk the dog or go shopping on the SAME day.  This degree of normality means that I can pretty much get away with looking like a ‘normal’ person – people don’t notice me carefully managing what I attempt to do over a couple of days.

I can stay up past the kids bedtime, although not every night and not past 10pm too often.  I do get tired; it’s not a normal tired, it’s a ‘please let me drop from exhaustion’ tired.  And I try not to work or carry on through it.  Sometimes there is no choice obviously, as the kids need feeding, the house needs sorting, but we’ve got some good support now, and I’m much better at asking for help.

I still struggle with the fact that I ‘don’t look ill’ and people often forget.  When they forget they don’t give you much leeway if you are down, tired, or in pain.

 

What have I done

Chance for a cuppa
Cup Of Tea and a chat is good for the soul

Remember to read my old posts 6 months on and just a few months on, and straight after the diagnosis as those were the first things that I did.

I gave up sugar in my tea and replaced it with xylitol.  Then I gave up biscuits.  Obviously I still eat cake!  If I have a couple of bad days back on the biscuits I will get pain in my bones straight away.  It took a long time to get round to it.

Around this time last year we had our first meeting about creating Espiritu Salon And Spa.  I must admit I thought that it was crazy to be doing that with two young children and Fibro and there have been times where it felt like it had done for me.  But it’s such a relaxing place, that it seems to be just as good for me as for our customers.  Plus I think that having a passion for something is really good for me.

Since January I’ve had 1 day a week with Little Dimples as well, which has made me much happier, and since Easter I’m beginning to reduce the working until midnight to only once a week, and make more of the school runs.  To save time with work I focus on listening to my intuition and it never sees me wrong – hmm that is a blog post in itself isn’t it – I’ll write that one soon (ish!).

Surprisingly our house is now busier than it every used to be.  A lovely friend of mine moved in (on and off) in October as she is in a ‘Nomadic’ stage of her life, and then in January we got an Au pair.  It is busy, but the kids love it that way, and frankly we need the help and support with life being so busy starting up a new business.

I ended up publishing my 2nd edition of my book myself, and putting the paperback version and my 2nd and 3rd book aside for a while.  After all there is only so much one person can do.  Sadly I have waved goodbye to a large number of my stats and readership as well, which was a hard pill to take, but again a necessity.

Because of being so busy I no longer have time to go to the woman’s groups or meditation days, but I meditate 3-4 times a week, and always have a relaxing bath for an hour on a sunday morning.  I can definitely tell the weeks when I don’t get to do this.  (I personally use a Shamanic form of meditation, but any kind will help).

I’ve pretty much given up TV too.  OMG she’s a freak you say – I know, that’s what I used to think about people who didn’t watch TV!  But I don’t have time – I play with my kids, keep up with friends (not enough), look after myself and work.  Watching TV doesn’t give me the results I need for the length of time it takes.  I’m quite liking silence now too!

I also have a lovely soft super king bed (not an expensive one), and good pillows to support my neck and always turn off my phone at night to stop myself from playing on social media too long.  To get to sleep I normally play solitaire on my iPhone (in airplane mode), but sometimes I use an app by Hemi-synch that uses binaural beats to help us get a deeper level of sleep.

I’ve actually cut back on the supplements I was taking.  I think that in a way they became too much for my system as well.  I still take:

  • Valerian/Kalms sleep, 5 Htp and Magensium/Calcium at night
  • Vit D3 if it’s not sunny
  • Cherry Active if I’ve done Pilates and walked in the same day

Instead I’ve bought a juicer, and have found it to be great to give me energy.  I don’t just add fruit, I make sure that there is lots of green stuff in there too.

I’ve also reduced the stress on my body from the products that I use on my skin and switched to using Arbonne from top to toe (we use and sell these at the salon) – they are very pure, botanical and free of parabens and cancer causing chemicals.

I’ve been doing Pilates once a week since the beginning, but a few months ago I increased to twice a week to make sure that I never missed a lesson due to ‘circumstances’.  This has made a big difference, so I will post about it separately.

I don’t ever wear tight clothes, it’s either very soft jeans, leggings, or dresses.  Same goes for boots.  I suspect I’d have pain again if I wore uncomfortable clothes, but it’s just become a part of who I am.

We went on holiday again, this time at Easter rather than February – the sunshine makes an INCREDIBLE difference to me.

Lowchens and childrenI decided to reduce my load by stopping taking paid blogging work.  Then went and did another one, and ended up with a dog.  But oh my is she cute, and all that cuddling must be good for me!  A year ago we got 2 gorgeous Norwegian forest cats, I’m sure that they have helped too – they certainly helped my kids to sleep better, but that’s a long story for another time 😉

I stopped looking at all the support forums as I frankly found they scared the shit out of me, and that I really needed to stop worrying about it so much.

I became really grateful to the Fibromyalgia as I realised that it had improved the quality of my life massively, even if it felt restrictive.  It was like a guidance system to how I actually wanted to be – I didn’t actually want to run, or eat crap, or over work, or ‘keep on keeping on’.

I did some healing/therapy work on myself to ‘let go’ of the story of having Fibromyalgia.  Does that make sense?  I’m nearly at the stage where I don’t think that I need it any more in order to guide me to living a happy, healthy life.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that I over did it, and will never again be able to ‘push on through’.  I can now be stressed by not just the world, but too much sound, light, people, mess, junk food or chemicals on my skin – pretty much anything.  I’ve tackled my stress junkie habit and I look after my body – it’s not such an awful punishment.

I haven’t had as much pampering up at the salon as you might think (this sooooo needs to change!).  But I have had a few big treats like facials, massages or reflexology, and lots of little ones like having my hair washed or a manicure/pedicure.  I honestly believe that if I had done this all along I would never have become sick with the Fibro.  I can see now that it’s all very well doing big ‘healing’ of past traumas etc, but it’s also important to take care of ourselves day to day.

I’m getting much clearer on who I am, what I do or don’t want to do, and what my boundaries are (by the way, my blog has just been selected as one of the Top100 on dealing with Bullying).  I had a bad habit of people pleasing, and wanting to avoid conflict.  This is probably the toughest bit, but it’s step by step.  Having the Salon/Spa is wonderful, as it’s made it clear to me what I’m really good at (and what brings out the worst in me).

People say I’m looking really well.  I do feel well and I feel hopeful.

 

Will It Work For You?

If you have Fibromyalgia or something similar and this is the first post of mine that you have read, make sure that you read this summary here.

The key to tackling this illness is to listen to yourself and your intuition.

You will have to tackle everything I have tackled.  BUT.  Take it one step at a time.  And bear in mind they might be slightly different steps.

Keep going for a while, even if you don’t get much improvement.  Remember the domino effect I described – sometimes it takes a while for your body to react.

So you will need to look at your nutrition, but might need a different diet to myself.  You might have a different primary cause of the Fibro (Fibro is always secondary to something else), so you might need different drugs/supplements to give you the initial relief.  You’ll definitely need to do exercise and I really recommend taking the Cherry Active; but maybe you need a different one, although I personally don’t think that anything extreme like running will ever work – you will just make things worse.  Sleep is a priority, but you might just stick to the Hemi-synch app.  You’ll definitely need to reduce your stress levels, but different people like different methods for doing this; for example CBT and Shamanic meditation have been great for me, others use the ‘spoon’ method of pacing (you have so many spoons to use up a day), others have deeper therapy work, there are all sorts of options.  Don’t forget your hormones as well – this is a much bigger effect on some people than others.

Be gentle on yourself – chronic pain is exhausting, depressing and frankly life often doesn’t seem worth it.  I feel lucky that I had 2 kids that gave me a reason to get up in the morning, otherwise frankly I wouldn’t have bothered.  If you don’t have kids, find a REASON, find something to motivate yourself.  There will be something.

If you are reading this for a friend, remember to be gentle with them – there will be big changes to be made in their lives and it can take a while to get their heads around it.

Decide that this is going to guide you to a healthier happier life.  And I’m sure it will.

Big gentle hugs to you all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dangers of positive thinking

My Progress: Fibromyalgia a couple of months on after diagnosis

Posted on by MummyWhisperer
Dangers of positive thinking
Good news, Bad news

 

I thought you might like to know how I’m doing with the whole fibromyalgia thing?

Lots of people have asked how I am, but it’s really difficult to say in 1 sentence, and I feel boring if I describe it in full.

I’ve learnt loads more about it and have created a static page which I’ll use to list the things I discover and all my posts about FMS.  Please pass it onto anyone you know with FMS, as it’s a tricky syndrome and it helps for us to connect with each other.

And I’ve definitely made progress, but also taken a few steps back as well.

It kind of depends on the day, I’m pretty much two different people at the moment:

 

 

Good Day Me:

Happy Mum
Happy Days when I can pick up my daughter

I’m up, and once I’ve had a shower I’m pretty perky.

Curly Headed Boy thinks that I look healthier and happier than I did before.

Life is much easier now I’m not trying to work as well as look after two young children, plus sort out my health and I know that I can pick up the paying side of my work again when Little Dimples does to school in 1.5yrs.

I’ve cut down my social media usage, and it’s really not so bad; I realise that there was panic about ‘always being around’, which was daft.

I’m just blogging about once a week, and my stats don’t seem to have gone down (stats are mega important to us bloggers).

I’ve started actually reading books again, which is lovely.

I’m getting time to make sure that the most important things are done (i.e. kids) which has reduced my stress levels loads, and I’m getting a chance to take some time out to think about those long questions like ‘who am I now’ etc.

I’m grateful I was diagnosed so early, so it hasn’t become too entrenched, and I’m sure that with some determination, lots of investigations and some trial and error I’m going to atleast manage it, if not sort it out totally.

My right arm doesn’t hurt any more, so just my left arm, back, neck, shoulders,  jaw, chest pain, left/right leg and both hips to solve; it’s a step in the right direction.  (I reckon this is down to the Amitriptyline).

The Dr increased the drugs, and am hoping that my left arm and chest pains will follow suit really soon, which would mean I can pick up the kids without pain.

My IBS is managed with greater strength Optibac probiotics and a nearly healthy lifestyle (IBS is a symptom of FMS and mine got worse when I became ill).

I’m really glad the surgeon decided that my TMJ (jaw pain on right hand side) wasn’t worth operating on and that a mouth guard wouldn’t work, plus the drugs have reduced the pain and clicking a lot and I can chew most things now.

The Fibro-fog has improved with a bigger better quality dose of Omega 3, 6 and 9 and I’m finding the alarms work well on the electronic calendar.  I have a snazzy small filofax so I can take my To do’s with me everywhere.

I feel stronger with the weekly studio (machine based) pilates classes and better quality vitamins (I wasn’t taking the full recommended dose).

Plus the Pilates guy does something called Osteolates (Mixture between osteopathy, pilates, and acupressure) which is fab for the myofacial pain (basically being in pain in the Fibro trigger points, sets the rest of the muscles off).

I’ve found the meditations using Shamanism (basically meditation to drum music) really helpful to reduce stress and worries and rediscover some of the ‘new age me’ that has taken a bit of a rest.

I think that my sleep is slightly better quality on the Amitriptyline (people with FMS don’t get any level 4 sleep) and I’m less affected by the full moon (I also have loads of ideas for sleep problems here if you suffer too).

The doctor agreed to checking my Vitamin D levels and as I was low (should be 75, was 42), they have given me a 2 month prescription of Vit D3 liquid gell capsules (best type); shame you can’t get a holiday in the Caribean on the NHS!

He also agreed to check my hormone levels as my periods were messing around a bit (very long) and it’s definitely not the perimenopause or PCOS causing the problem, so I don’t have to add anything else to the worry list.

I’ve found out that the FMS is due to the Thalamus gland, so the behavioural kinesiology (Resonance Repatterning) that I’ve been using to tackle the emotional/mental causes has been definitely aiming at the right direction, and I’m less confused by the huge number of symptoms to work through.  (The thalamus gland affects the pain signals in the body, so basically we feel more pain and there is more Substance P in our bodies than a normal person).

I’ve also found out that we produce more lactic acid more quickly than most people, so I’ve added Magnesium to my list of supplements in the morning and bottles of deep freeze to my bathroom cabinet for when it’s really bad; this is how come the amount of exercise we do is limited, as we can also injure ourselves more easily and take longer to heal.

I’m really ‘lucky’ that the Big Hairy Northern Ones contract was terminated early, as just by doing the majority of the school runs, I’ve been able to rest a bit more than I would usually have done which is helping me recover.

Ironically having young kids is helpful because the constant picking up of stuff and putting things back in the right place warms up my muscles and makes the rest of the day easier; the problem with Fibro is that you must move even though it hurts, otherwise it hurts more (you just can’t move too much, it’s a tricky balance).

I’m decluttering my house even more than I used to, as everything needs a place and the ‘system’ needs to work so easily that even the family understand it when I’m at my worst.  So things are looking pretty good around the house.  Give me 6 months and even my photos will be sorted; result!

I reckon I’m lucky that my diet was already pretty healthy, and I wasn’t using many products with chemicals in them due to my rosacea and probably only needs a little revamp and a good detox at some point, otherwise my symptoms would probably be worse (sugar, chemicals and preservatives are not FMS’s friend).

The Dr has referred me for some CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) to help with pain management, and my first assessment was with a woman who has FMS, so she was great and reckoned that by teaching me some ‘pacing’, I’ll be able to avoid flares more easily.

I’m overwhelmed and enthusiastic about all the support and ideas I’ve been getting off so many people.

I’m sure that this journey will help me reinvent myself, and reach out to even more Mums with my books than before.

I’m at last remembering to take care of myself much more than I used to; I know I tell you lot to take care of yourselves, but I might not have done it enough myself, you know the old saying ‘Healer, heal thyself’.

I’ve got a plan and I’m working through it slowly, step by step, to a more balanced lifestyle and I’m trying to treat the Fibromyalgia as a guide, rather than an enemy.

 

 

Bad Day Me:

Exhausted Mums
Yukky

Christmas was awful for Fibro-flares, even though I tried to take it easy, get everything prepared beforehand and the Big Hairy Northern one always cooks Christmas dinner.  One flare was mainly just pain, but the other was a full on depressive yukky downer.

When I have a flare up God it hurts, apparently Fibro pain is worse than Rheumatoid arthritis (how they know I don’t know); it certainly doesn’t even notice ibuprofen.

My head is fuzzy, and I mourn the previously competent woman who could remember things and not rely totally on an electronic calendar with alarms.

I’m exhausted; I just want to hide under my duvet and not get up.

My hips burn and I wan’t to itch them, but then know I will get bruises the size of a dinner plate.

My knees hurt so bad when I’m getting up and down from the floor that I feel like an 80 year old and find it difficult to play with Little Dimples or use the washing machine and tumble dryer.

I’m meant to be eating healthy food, but that is stuff like nuts and whole foods, which hurt my  right jaw like hell to chew.

My eyes are really problematic in the mornings and evenings, which is helped by my new glasses, but worrying as it is probably related.

This and the fact that I’m sometimes a little unsure of my balance and spatial awareness and have to take my drugs early to avoid a hangover, makes night driving and going out socially impossible; I was never a big socialite, but it makes me feel left out.

I’m scared that I’ll get crippled with it and bed ridden like the people I read on the forums; in fact I’ve banned myself from reading them now as they terrify me with stories of stronger and stronger drugs that eventually don’t work.

I’m terrified of getting ill, because that will mean a flare up in the pain, plus the likelihood that the rest of the household will get ill and need taking care of, so I’ll get tired and get more pain.

Curly Headed Boy isn’t taking the added responsibility well, or the fact that I just don’t have the energy to ask FIVE times for something any more.

I’ve realised that although I wouldn’t change the fact that I was a ‘young carer’ it’s not the choice I would have made for my children, and I worry about the affect on them.

I was falling asleep with the children at least 50% of the time, but since doubling the drugs I hardly ever get back down again to see the Big Hairy Northern One; that can’t be good.

One of my friends dumped me the week after my diagnosis because I did something a bit flighty and very fibro.

I feel like a wimp when I keep having to explain that I can’t do something.

Then I feel angry because people haven’t taken the time to understand that I’m limited in what I can do because I ‘look OK’.

Plus sometimes I feel that people expect too much of me because I’m normally so sorted and know all this psychology stuff; I’m not allowed to be grouchy or grumpy or make a mistake.

I miss the freedom of running even though I was rubbish at it, because it was so easy to fit into life and helped me keep my weight in check.

The Pilates is boring, but I know it’s helping, so I keep going.  I’d prefer a dance class, but know it would kill me at the moment; even aqua aerobics crucified me for a week and I can’t go in a pool unless it’s warm enough.  (Hopefully I can add Tai Chi or Yoga soon)

I’ve put on a stone in weight, I’m not yet at an unhealthy weight, but I’m gutted after all that hard work before losing weight and worried whether I’ll be able to keep it in check with all my limitations.

I wish I had a Mum who could sweep down and pop me in a duvet, play with the kids for the day, whilst making a stew and tidying the house (my actual Mum wouldn’t have been able to do this bless her, even if she was still alive).

I’d like to cry most of the day, but have so far only broken down in front of Little Dimples once, who was so kind I was gobsmacked.

I don’t understand why it’s not possible to do a big declutter/tidy of the house AND walk the dog.

I used a pedometer to try and maintain a steady pace each day and find that whereas I used to be able to easily work up to 10,000 steps in a couple of weeks, my body is now crucified by Lactic Acid over 5000 tiny steps after a month of trying.

I’m irritated by people finishing my sentences for me as I desperately search for the words that have disappeared into the recesses of my head; audition and anaesthetic are not difficult words after all.

I don’t tweet, I don’t Facebook, I don’t phone, I just hibernate.

I’m scared of trying things incase it makes things worse, and depressed about a life limited and controlled by an illness.

My second assessment with the CBT people the doctor referred me to was with someone much less qualified, and I could have basically chewed them up and spat them out; God help them if that’s the kind of person they think can help me.  I think that my problem is that physical pain is so tangible, that I’m finding it much harder to deal with that emotional/mental pain.

I have no plan, I just hope that when I wake up tomorrow, this flare will be over and I’ll be back to ‘Good day me’.

 

 

They are quite contradictory people aren’t they?  They aren’t really agreeing with each other on much!

I reckon I’m just about more ‘Good Days’ than ‘Bad Days’, but only just.

Hopefully in my Spring/summer update it will be a different story.

Remember to pass my blog onto anyone you know with Fibromyalgia please (and if they are close to you, maybe read my FMS page and other posts so that you can understand them more too).

 

 

 

 

Back Pain

A Hidden Pain and Silent Fog: Fibromyalgia

Posted on by MummyWhisperer
Dangers of positive thinking
Good news, Bad news

 

I have some news.

It has good bits and not so good bits, but that’s life heh!

It explains why I’ve been a little quiet (but you may not have noticed).

It explains why I’ve been a bit flakey and unreliable (I hope you haven’t noticed).

It’s also about the next 6 months

 

 

 

 

What’s been going on?

I’ve been struggling with ‘back pain’ since January, which just seemed to get worse and worse.  I’ve tried a very experienced Osteopath and her Physiotherapist, then an Acupuncturist.

I also started looking at potential emotional stressors, as my opinion is that there is always an emotional/mental aspect to an illness, as well as a nutritional/environmental/genetic/physical reason (I’m going to someone who does a form of behavioural kinesiology that I used to be a practitioner of).

Back Pain
Photo from NHS website

But it got worse and worse, and then I realised that I had gone from just a general tired lethargy to being properly depressed, isolated, feeling hopeless and miserable, as the pain was excruciating.

So I went to the doctor.  It took me a while because of the receptionists and ridiculous booking policy.  But I got some anti-inflammatories, that helped to turn the pain levels down.

I was so frustrated with myself.  13 years ago when I had a lovely little Reiki practice, I used to be able to turn a bad back (one that needed surgery) around in under 3 months.  I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t fix myself.  Of course this didn’t help!

I was also beginning to worry that I didn’t have a bad back, because my Dad died after 6 months of a bad back from cancer.

Then I decided to try a Pilates studio who did a mixture of Pilates and Osteopathy called Osteolates, which at last seemed to make a dent in the pain.  After I had to go back to the doctor for more pills, the Pilates guy had a talk with me and told me to go back and get more help.

The doctor listened and then said ‘have you heard of Fibromyalgia?’.

And so it is a few weeks later after some tests that I now understand, not just why my back hurts, but also why my tummy has been worse and I needed the probiotics and why I’ve gone from being quite organised, to being so flakey that I can look at my diary and STILL double book something.

 

What’s Fibromalgia?

Fibro fog
Picture from Craig Martin Illustrations

It’s the nerves basically being over sensitive and feeling more pain.  They aren’t sure what causes it.

For me it is pains down both arms, hips, legs, across my shoulders, right hand side of my back, left hand side of my neck, sometimes head, right hand side of my jaw, and a feeling of something trapped behind my left hand shoulder.

It’s really bad in the morning, and I HAVE to have a warm shower to get moving.  It will ease off by mid-afternoon, but is awful in bed at night, so has disturbed my already disturbed sleep.

Others have it a loss less, and it’s more of a tingling or lack of sensation in hands and feet, which is scarily reminiscent of MS.

Some have it a lot more and can hardly work or move with it; I’m very lucky this is not me and I’m focussed on improving my symptoms, so that I don’t end up debilitated by it.  (It’s not however a degenerative or terminal illness luckily).

I also have had a return of my old IBS symptoms and worse sleep (they don’t know if sleep is the cause or bad sleep happens because of Fibromalgia).

Worst of all is the fibre-fog which had me forgetting 2 appointments with a health visitor, and Curly Headed Boy one day telling me off for being so disorganised.

At first I was a bit shell shocked as it seems a much more complicated thing to tackle than just a bad back.  I’m also not very keen on ‘labels’.  But now I’m getting my head around it, I think that Im much better off knowing, as I can now make some changes.  I’m really lucky my doctor was aware of it and open to it, because many aren’t.

 

So my plan?

Time to stop for a whileI’m backing off work big time for the next 6 months:

  • Paid blog posts are too much effort if you do them properly, they also add to the list of ‘To dos’.
  • I’m still on facebook and twitter; but I’ll be around a lot less
  • I have an existing client who I will continue to support as she doesn’t need weekly help, but I wont take any more on.
  • I won’t be publishing the second edition of my book or the paperback.
  • I won’t be finishing my new book ‘Lose Weight the healthy way without diets or bootcamps‘.
  • This also takes the pressure off finding a nursery for Little Dimples (which has been disastrous).

I’m going to play more with the kids and have tea with mates more.

I’ll keep blogging once or twice a week because I love it and doing my monthly Lifestyle feature for Radio Verulam.

The doctor has just started me on some pills to give me better sleep and help with the pain.  They are actually a mild-antidepressant when taken in bigger quantities, so I don’t think I want to stay on for too long.  But a break and a chance for my body to recover seems like a good idea.  Apparently it also confirms the diagnosis, if they work (which after one night I’m pretty sure they do).

The dentist has referred me to the hospital to see if they can help me with the jaw pain.  Apparently my teeth are wonderful, which must be down to the little water-spray gadget I got from Britmums live, as I’ve always been rubbish at flossing!

I’ve improved enough to start going to the Pilates classes at the studio (rather than 1to1’s), so I’ll stick with that to keep my spine moving and get my core stronger.  Non-pounding exercise is meant to help a lot, so I need to gradually add 3 more things per week.

I’m going to start ‘meditating‘ once a week, which is meant to be great for stress (which escalates the pain dramatically); but I’ve found a fun way, which I’ll tell you all about (it’s slightly wacky!).

I’m going to meet with a few other people who also have it to swap stories and ideas on how to tackle it.

I might look at hypnotherapy to improve my sleep as I had it once at 26 and it lasted brilliantly for 10yrs.  I know loads about sleep improvement, because I’ve had so little for so long, but it would be easier to just sleep!  We’ve also moved the beds around in the house and bought me a new bed to make it easier.

The doctor is going to put me down for some CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) which is meant to help loads with dealing with the pain.

I have a huge belief in the power of nutrition, so at some point I’m going to have to face a big change in the way I eat; probably once some of the other bits and pieces are in place.  I have been a big fan of the Food hospital on channel 4 and they definitely had both eating plans for improving neurological issues and also inflammation (which are the main symptoms).

I’ll keep up with the kinesiology to dig up any emotional/mental aspects, which I suspect are from a long time ago.

 

Sooooo …

I’m sorry if I’ve not always been very ‘present’ recently; it’s been because of the pain that I got bored of mentioning and the fog that has clouded me from the world.

If you need me I’m always here at the end of my blog/facebook/twitter and I love to help, so it will ‘help me to help you’ (hows about coming over for a cuppa instead?).  So never feel bad about asking.  However, I’m not going to look for people to help.

If I don’t get involved with your event, charity, project or other thingy, it’s not because I don’t love you, it’s just that I’m taking some time out for me.

I was a bit embarrassed that I’ve gotten myself into such a state, but it’s daft to worry about that right?  At least some of you Mums out there will see what can happen when you keep trying to juggle all the balls, just because you’ve been able to in the past.

Luckily I never pretended I was perfect, and hopefully my blog posts about my improvement (the power of positive thinking and all that), will help other people.

If you know anyone with one of ‘those’ illnesses which are difficult to diagnose like Fibromalgia,  M.E. or CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), then you might want to point them in this direction for a while.  I’d also love to hear of any blogs that you know.

Hopefully at the end of all this I’ll be a lot stronger and ready to take over the world with my books again!

 

Update: I’ve set up a page to record all the useful information and people that I find in my fibromyalgia journey.  I’d love to hear more from fellow sufferers either here or on that page.