Hot and Cold Therapy for Fibromyalgia Pain

Good day!  Is it just me or does anybody else with fibromyalgia ever feel like you are on a rollercoaster?  I have learned quite a few pain management strategies over the years as an Occupational Therapist and have had many opportunities to put them into practice in managing my fibromyalgia for the past 10 yrs.  I can go for a period of time managing my fibromyalgia symptoms quite well and then “bam” I feel like a mack truck hit me.  For instance like this past weekend I know I have been working many hours recently in a new chaotic environment, eating more sugary junk and then add some extra family stressors.  I was feeling more painful all over with increasing daily headaches but was caught off guard with a screaming headache that escalated and increased the domino body pain effect during the middle of the night on my weekend with guests sleeping over.  After using cold gel wraps, taking aspirin and biding my time, the pain began to ease to a manageable level.  My body was sending me a wake up call that I had once again been using to much adrenaline for everyday living.  I took the time to listen and took an extra nap and went to do the elliptical machine at the gym while watching a motivating and life giving program. I took time to pray and give it all back to the Lord.  In the end I felt much better with increased energy.  Now if I could just consistently remember to practice Isaiah 40: 31 “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint,” (NAB).  I would truly feel better and have more energy.  As I get older I realize there is so much wisdom in God’s word.  My prayer for you today is that, you would stop to smell the roses, wait upon the Lord and be renewed in strength and energy and know His peace for that is where real pain and stress management takes place.

 Please take the opportunity to visit our website at LivingLifeUnlimitedLLC.com to check out the awesome Elasto-gel packs that can be used for hot and/or cold therapy.  These are not your typical hot and cold packs. They are soothing and great for pain relief.  They provide pain relief for tight aching muscles, painful joints and headaches.  Take caution if you have sensation impairments. As always it is recommended you first check with your doctor before starting a new treatment.  Ease your fibromyalgia pain today with a soothing Elasto-gel product.

 Have a blessed week.

 Chris Antolin

[Via http://llullc.wordpress.com]

Reviving My Wild Streak

With all the crazy things that have happened in my life over the past two and a half years, my life has been a whirlwind of problems and emotional baggage I’ve still been trying to sort out.  I usually don’t notice this between Calculus problems and washing dishes, but some days I have the rare moments when everything becomes clear and I can see how much I’ve changed, usually the for the worse; today I had one of those moments.

My boyfriend, after being laid off from Midway Games, and then a 6-month stint at a financial company (which made him miserable), he is finally back to doing what he loves: working in the video game industry.  At Midway, he was in a group that kept relatively normal hours, so his current job was my first exposure to the insane hours that most people in video games work.  I was pretty lonely already, being home with the cats all day, my friends still in school, but these hours have brought me to a new level of misery and loneliness than before.  I’ve been going crazy, making demands of him that he be home on time at least one night out of the week, and being mad at him when he ends up having to stay late.  And then today, when I was venting to my mother on the phone, it occurred to me “where did all this come from?”

I could just say that it’s my trust issues or abandonment issues causing internal turmoil, but that doesn’t quite sit with me over this issue.  My boyfriend is the only man in my life I’ve never had to worry about losing (except death) and I know he’s not trying to deceive me, but is optimistic about when he’ll get out of work. So what is causing all the pain I feel?

I’ve realized that during all the horrible luck and illnesses I’ve had that I’ve become too attached to him.  I used to be such an independent, care-free person, and now after years of needing his compassion and care for survival, I’ve forgotten how to live without it.  I’ve decided to break away a bit from him, start doing some of my own things again, being more of my own person.

I feel in some way, this will bring us back to where we should be.  When we first started dating and I had my plans of being a writer (now on hold while I sort out brain fog), in that time before my life had been tossed around, I remember thinking we had the perfect relationship because we could both be separate and together.  It was the perfect relationship for both of our careers and it was the perfect relationship for the wild-independent me that needed both distance and intimacy.

Starting tomorrow I’m going to try to go out and explore the world, try new things, meet new people, and hopefully recover that small part of me that got left behind.  This is going to be difficult since fibromyalgia does it’s fair share of keeping me feeling sick and indoors, but there is also the small hope of diminishing the spell fibro has cast over my life by slowly reclaiming the pieces of my myself it stole.

[Via http://sententiaviridae.wordpress.com]

Super Size Post...by Lisa Harmon

“I have ARRIVED…” Kenai, 2 yrs old

Kenai is a habitually stoic sort of fellow. Recognizing what he wants or feels is more often than not a subtle affair. Slight changes in ear position, the pitch of a whine, the length of a sigh is about all the explanation you get. You have to be paying attention and you have to know him. Well. However, there are times… In this pic here he had been trotting around playing in the other room, then suddenly the unmistakable thunder of Kenai on a mission was heard (from afar) and he vaulted into that position. “I am HERE and I want OUT to play!” It would seem indoors was not satisfactory. He’s had his playtimes early in the morning while the ground is still frozen, in an attempt to avoid the melt-mud. By dark yesterday the snow was about half gone, and now we have a butt buster skating rink that once was a driveway! Slippery! “Brown” doesn’t have to pay much mind to such things as terrain, endowed with immense snowshoes for paws, complete with claws to dig in if needed. His more narrow footed, clawless, and balance challenged human is another story… I skirted the garage to the “potty patch” this morning–snow pack is easier walking than sheet ice. Hence, we did not have our play time right away in the morning. I was hoping for a little softening of the slush. Only problem: the living room toy box simply would not do anymore.  My subtle, quiet natured brown bear was in an overt mood. Being amazingly slow to become insistant, when Kenai does get in a mood about something, I usually give him what he’s after. So long as he’s not ill-tempered about it, anyway.  Wonky Kenai is the fault of me and the fibro/fatigue: I’ve neglected the exercise and interaction too long. Usually 2-3 days is all the laying about he can take. He has a remarkably patient disposition, so when he’s gotten in a mood, it’s been a long time building. out we went.  He wanted some seriously intense exercise. Nothing was supposed to interfere with our games I discovered, including the camera. When I pulled it out of the pocket he gave me a look. “Are you at it with that camera again! Give it a rest and play with me!” I was hoping to get maybe one really fabulous pic of him, but he refused to co-operate. Anytime the camera went into position, he flashed me the look, complete with donkey ears. Still hoping for a snappy shot, I had the bright idea of picking up something he could chase. That usually brings out the boy wrinkles and expectant bright eyes. Donkey ears is what I got. “QUIT with the camera already!” He was plenty happy to chase the magnolia seed pod, but he was not interested in posing, not in the least.  If you’ve ever wondered what manly annoyance looks like in a self-possessed Great Dane, well here you go: Guess that’s the closest I’ll get to Kenai’s Picture of the Week today; the sight of an indignant snort. I put the camera away and started to play. But his snorty attitude got a little snotty, and he started swatting at me instead of running around. Hum. We had a flashback to adolescence for a moment, when he thunked me with his chest and walloped my sorest leg with a good hard swat. He knew it was too hard, too, and gave me a look of “what ya gonna do about that”. You can tell when they do it on purpose. Just for that, I left him in the kennel. I walked away, all the way into the house, yippee yip apologies unresponded too. Oh I was coming in to get BB for a romp, but Kenai didn’t know that. I always tell him I’m going to bring BB out, and he waits patiently without yipping. All he knew was he got rangey and I left him all alone for it. He hates to be alone, btw, so that “punishment” counted big time. I asked Mom to let her boy out when she got the chance, and went back to find an ever so happy to see you boy. Beebs was out the door shortly, and the Brothers Grin had themselves great gobs of run-with-me, circling the kennel. I’ll go in and out of the kennel, moving back and forth according to who’s not playing hard enough to wear themselves out. We three had a good time, and their happy meters were all pegged when it was time to go inside. *** You can see Beebs is looking better than a couple months ago, but he’s lost a bit of weight the past couple weeks. Both boys have me pinned between a rock and a hard place about their diet. The rock: they need enormous amounts of food to gain and hold weight, roughly 8-10 cups of calorically dense Eagle Pack a day. The large amount has a tendency to put enough undigested carbs in their guts to be a breeding ground for “bad” bacteria and yeast. Intractable diarrhea follows. The hard place: they may not be digesting some nutrients well enough, but they over absorb minerals like giants are prone to do. If I give them enough food to gain muscle, it makes their bones and joints hurt, putting them at risk for skeletal problems. If you are a veterinary nutritionist or work for a dog food company, would you explain our plight at work, and tell the boss I’m not above begging for help? This is not an uncommon situation with giant breeds who have malabsorption issues. These two just seem to be extra difficult. We’ve been struggling with the malabsorption for almost 2 years, and confounded every vet we’ve seen. I would love to have a dog food company develop a high calorie, low carb, low macro mineral kibble! That would solve the problem, wouldn’t it? Something with an absurdly low calcium/phosphorus content, with nearly no grains/startches, so they could have 10 cups without bacterial overgrowths or risks to their bones and joints. We need someone both brilliant and pugnacious to come up with a food for the Brothers. Know anyone? *** Before I forget again (who me?), I wanted to paste in a comment by Jenny from the Wobbler’s page: I just wanted to let you know that I am starting a facebook group as an offshoot

from the yahoo NeuroDogs group. Please join us to discuss wobblers treatments

and recoveries and to share your stories. So much for so many to learn from! Now

we can be found under the Neurodogs name on both yahoo and facebook. Those sites would be a great thing to check out if you’ve got a dog with Wobblers or other neurological issues. Wobbler’s is a disabling, and potentially life threatening disease, caused by deformities in the cervical spine. Big time hard to treat for many dogs. I thank God my experience with it was limited to a mild case in my late brother’s dog. It can be a devastating diagnosis, as response to treatment varies from dramatic improvement to even worsening symptoms. My heart goes out to anyone whose beloved pup is afflicted with Wobblers. So as not to end on a sad note, here is 24/7 BB in all his glory: (who else can be relied on at all times for a good chuckle?) If you can’t laugh at that, there’s something profoundly wrong with you!! He and I have a new game: thunk a chunk. I was walking along with him the other day, and my boot inadvertantly hit a patch of snow from underneath. Some of it sprayed, having been a very dry sort of snow. But one chunk held together and went rolling. Ka-Swat!! BB squished it, then started watching my feet for another chunk to thunk. If I’m standing still kicking at snow, thunk a chunk is a variation of whack-a-mole. But if I’m moving around, it’s an even better chance for chase. Ever the opportunist, he’s become a downright pest anytime my foot gets near the white stuff! If I’m not kicking it, he’s licking it and eating the stationary chunks. I have created a monster! Oh but it’s so much fun…   

[Via http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com]

long time no weird

Well Hi!

I haven’t popped in to write for such a long time…

After Christmas I was too busy having the best holiday ever!  And unfortunately didn’t get a chance to write about how great I was feeling. I had my bestest, longest run of good health I can remember for a long time with just a bit of fatigue now and then. It really helped to have Trusty about and we spent a wonderful week together with all three princesses. I miss them, especially cooking meals with trusty at night and tucking all the girlies in to bed with hugs n kisses before flomping in front of a movie together with a glass of wine:) just like a real life family.

Now I’m emerging from the shittiest week of shitty health that I can remember for a long time. I have been so exhausted and hurty all over. I hate feeling like this and watching the days drift by me, not being able to do the things i want or need to do.  I have had the deepest foggiest spootiest brain fog and spend the days sleeping, crying, feeling all alonesome and wishing this crap would end. I think I am starting to come out the other end today (eww, sounds like my disease just digested me and shat me out, feels like it too) I can think and write a bit, did a little bit of cleaning in between naps though my body is still hurting and aching like I have flu or something. I have snotted a lot and put loved ones through the wringer once again, the people who stick by me deserve medals, i tell ya!

Hope to write more soon when I’m back to ‘normal’

m:)

[Via http://littleweirdy.wordpress.com]

The Placebo Effect: Do We Care Why it Works, as Long as it Does?

Placebo (definition) – any dummy medical treatment; originally, a medicinal preparation having no specific pharmacological activity against the patient’s illness or complaint given solely for the psychophysiological effects of the treatment; more recently, a dummy treatment administered to the control group in a controlled clinical trial in order that the specific and nonspecific effects of the experimental treatment can be distinguished.

Placebo Effect – any effect that seems to be a consequence of taking a placebo, the change is usually beneficial and is assumed to result from the person’s faith in the treatment or preconceptions about what the substance was supposed to do.

I have a question for you. If you have migraines 3 times a week and start taking feverfew capsules to prevent them, do you REALLY care whether the reduction is caused by the feverfew or the placebo effect if you start only having one a month? If it works, does it matter WHY it works?

Isn’t feeling better, having less pain, a good thing no matter what the cause is? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and doing a lot of research on different types of “Alternative Medicine.” Since I don’t have access to prescription medications any more, I’ve been looking for other ways to treat my fibromyalgia symptoms; trying things like herbs, aromatherapy, stress reduction, etc.; and I’ve found some things that help me.

So here I am, going along my merry way; drinking catnip tea to help me sleep, and ginger tea to reduce my pain and inflammation, adding nutmeg to my food to reduce my depression; and someone says, “You know, that stuff only helps because you BELIEVE it does, not because there’s anything in it that does any good. It’s all the PLACEBO EFFECT.”  Hmmm, that made me stop and think.

I’ve done my reading, checked on possible side effects and interactions between the things I put into and on my body, checked the research when I could find some, and tried tiny amounts to see how my body would react before I added something new. (By the way, if herbs don’t have any therapeutic effects or active ingredients, why is there so much information available on possible side effects and interactions? Even the National Institute on Health has a section for herbs now.) I’ve experimented, and these things make me feel better. Do I really care whether they make me feel better because they’re providing an active ingredient that biochemically reacts with my body or because I THINK they’ll make me feel better?  No, I don’t think I do, but the question brought up some other interesting questions.

(NOTE: This is just an example. I am not suggesting that you replace your blood pressure medication with celery.)

If I eat celery to reduce my blood pressure, and my blood pressure drops by 10 points, does that 10 point reduction have less of an effect on my health if it’s caused by the placebo effect rather than by a biochemical reaction? Does a 10 point reduction that’s caused by taking a prescription medication reduce the stress on my heart more than a 10 point reduction caused because I THINK the celery will reduce my blood pressure?

If I drink a cup of catnip tea before bed because I think it will help me rest better and wake up with more energy, does it matter whether it works because of a biochemical interaction with my body or the placebo effect when I DO wake up feeling more rested and energetic?

I don’t think it does. I think that the effect is much more important than the reason behind the effect, and if drinking catnip tea makes me feel more rested and energetic; or eating celery reduces my blood pressure, I don’t really care WHY it does it. (Besides, I’ve never woken up with a medication hangover from drinking tea, or gotten woozy from eating a vegetable, and I surely have from taking medications.)

So what do you think? Does it make a difference why you feel better, as long as you do?

(None of the information/opinion provided in this post is intended as medical advice. If you are interested in trying alternative therapies, you should consult a qualified practitioner.)

[Via http://wendyburnett.wordpress.com]

Soaring With God

“Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

In the past few years, I have developed an interest in birds. God used birds to help me through my own “empty nest,” and I have found that bird watching is something I can do despite my physical limitations.

One of the things I appreciate most about birds is their ability to soar and glide so effortlessly. At times they seem to fly simply for the pleasure of it, and they are beautiful and entertaining to watch.

With my new interest in birds, this verse has become even more meaningful to me now than in the past. I have struggled with depression for many years – sometimes for legitimate reasons and other times for no known reason at all. On my most intense days of depression, the heaviness is overwhelming and all I can do is to trust God, knowing that these feelings will pass and are not based on the truths of His Word.

In those moments, I need to remind myself that God can lift me up out of the heaviness and into the heights, soaring just like my birds. That may be difficult to believe when the depression or pain is so intense, yet every word of God proves true. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in me (Ephesians 1:19-20). That power can bring me out of the depths of despair and into the heights of renewed energy and hope.

My body may not be swift, agile, and graceful like the birds, but my spirit can be lifted as God renews my strength. When I see birds flying in the sky, I take heart and remember that I too can soar, for I have a God who performs miracles (Psalm 77:14).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that your Spirit lives within me, raising me to new heights of endurance and perseverance, and bringing joy and peace in the process. Carry me on your wings today. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bronlynn Spindler is a wife and mother of three grown daughters and lives in Fredericksburg, VA. God’s grace and strength give her the ability to deal with chronic back pain, depression, headaches, and fibromyalgia. You may view her blog of devotionals at www.aplaceofsprings57.blogspot.com and

contact her at spindler@….

[Via http://chronicillnesspaindevotionals.wordpress.com]

The fibro strikes back

I’m currently a physical wreck, brought on by the recent period of hypomania I just went through. It only lasted four-five days before I managed to knock it on the head with dear old Seroquel, but it was more of a severe episode than usual and kind of noticeable to people around me.

For a couple of days I completely forgot to take my medication–all of it. Even the thyroid pills and the birth control which I take to suppress my INCREDIBLY PAINFUL AND LENGTHY PERIODS. Needless to say, this worries me a bit because my thyroid is still swollen so it really wouldn’t take much to set it off again. Also, annoyingly, I’m on the rag and it HURTS.

An even more annoying development was the awful crawly feeling I had over my entire body that lasted several days and had me convinced that I was infested with fleas. That was deeply unpleasant, to say the least.

The lack of sleep and total loss of appetite, whilst completely unnoticed by me at the time, did bad things to my body. By about 11pm on New Year’s Eve rolled round, I had really bad chest pains, my heart was racing, and I felt as though I could barely breathe. I remember looking at myself in the mirror and thinking ‘If I don’t sleep tonight, I’m going to die.’

Cue the Seroquel, and close to fifteen hours of completely unrefreshing drug-induced sleep. That’s the downside of Seroquel, for me. It knocks me out, but it doesn’t seem to take me into healing!mode when I sleep and consequently I’m in a pretty shitty fibro flare and have been since I woke up yesterday.

Back is spasmy, knees are killing, tendons in my hands and ankles are Not Happy Jan, nerve pain everywhere, but particularly in the tender points at my elbows and knees–they’re always the worst. My right shoulder feels like it’s been pierced by a spear, and as for the rest of me, well, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. However, I no longer feel like I’m about to drop dead from a heart attack, so I suppose that’s something.

I spent yesterday in bed reading, as I was too sore and too sedated to do anything else. I am contemplating a trip into the city today to buy another book, but I will be taking my awesome collapsible cherry cane with me because it’s more than likely that my back and hips will start to protest if I do too much walking. They’re protesting now, alas.

Apart from all that, though, I’m in a good mood, which is nice. But it’s more than likely that my mood is going to start to go UP & UP & UP again. I can feel it starting to lift right now, and I can tell that despite the aches & pains & the painkiller fog I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight, so I think I’ll be knocking myself out at about 9pm tonight to see if I can nip it in the bud.

I hurt too damn much to risk a repeat of the past couple of days.

[Via http://jeneli.wordpress.com]