Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
Good morning! I am... well, really, I'm dragging, but that's normal given circumstances. Here's hoping we each get some Wellness Now! Yeah!
So.... Mom's discharge yesterday. Yeah.
Only I end up in these situations.
I had this convo at the hospital yesterday. Mom's discharge paperwork was sloooow...
Mom: I am getting up!
Me: Mom, I will find out what's taking so long, but stay in the chair!
Mom: (starts to stand)
Me (at door of her room): Mom, so help me God, sit down or I will duct tape you to that chair myself!
(In hallway a second later...)
Nurse: You must be her family.
Me: Her daughter. I have power of attorney, too.
Nurse: I'm her nurse. I told her I'd put her in restraints if hse didn't obey the doctor's orders. Do I have permission?
Me: Hell yeah.
Nurse: Oh good! We're on the same page!
Mom (distantly hearing this): I'm sitting, I'm sitting! (cuss cuss cuss)
Nurse to me: Don't worry, we're getting her out of here as fast as we can.
Me: Yeah, a lot of hospitals have that reaction to Mom.
Nurse (pats my shoulder): Honey, I believe you.
And fifteen minutes later, yes, Mom was outta there. OMG. Nurses make the WORST patients. Even other nurses say so. Seriously, she's barely escaped with her life *again*, and she's all go-go-gadget. Ugh.
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So what can we each do today to help our wellness, emotional-mental-physical?
Well, first of all, count blessings. Yes, I dropped a gallon jug of laundry liquid and it landed on my toe, but... I have the problem of a washing machine fo my own! Of laundry liquid! Of shoes that for once I wore indoors, so I didn't kill my foot!
OK, bad example.
We have internet. We have computers and phones. We have each other. Not small blessings at all:-)
That's better.
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And there's this link to a touching little series of illustrations made by a guy who wanted to show "things no one taught me"... Warning: very sweet. https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/2279/Artist-Inspires-With-Stuff-No-One-Told-Me-Illustrations
Think you're all that tough? OK, so I'm waiting the other day for Mom to get thru her procedure... and suddenly this golden retriever in a black vest shows up. Of all peopel in that waiting room, he led his handler/owner to me. The dog is a trained Comfort Dog. A therapy dog who didn't bond to any one person but responds to emotional need in general, basically. The handler said he lets the dog have some leash room, and then lets tthe dog lead him to whoever needs fur therapy most/first. Yep, I was all over that big old furry dog petting him, and the dog just stood and said, "Yep, that's right, let it out." I swear, it worked way better than medication. :-)
More US presidents have birthdays in October than in any other month. (Which, if you count backwards, tells you what was going on around the New Year, hubba hubba). John Adams, Hayes, Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and DDEisenhower.
In addition to being Breast Cancer Awareness month, btw, October is also National Cookie Month. :-) Yes, that's real. Go. Find a cookie!
Oddly, btw, the months in which most presidents die? June and July. Month in which no US President has yet died? May. I can't believe someone actually figured that out... Wait, no, I'd do that if I was bored. *sigh*
October's name derives from the Latin word for Eight. Yes, it's our Tenth Month. See, Rome had no January or February, and those sixty or sixty-one days sorta.... well, the calendar and seasons didn't work out a lot, is all I'm sayin'. A lot. So December was the last month to them, too, while being th etenth, not twelfth. Ow. Brain sprain.
Data on January (from the two-faced god of openings/closings ending/beginnings, Janus) and February vary. Some say the ROmans had them all along from an early period, yet we see that their new year consistently began on March 1, with ltitle mention of those other two months,w hich allegedly did exist. In fact, the ROmans until Julius Caesar had their date-calendar and the seasons so out of whack that they'd insert a month of 23-24 days every few years, or not, and Julius Caesar apparently hated the untidy nature of that. He imposed a twelve-month 364-day calendar (later replaced in the West by the Gregorian calendar).
February, btw, has its origins in what may have been a word referring to a purification ritual. I say "may", b/c it wasn't strictly Latin, but possibly came from another language of ancient Italy. So the whole month got referred to because of this cleansing rtiual, according to modern thinking. Reality? Probably, they didn't worry about winter having months, except for bookkeeping! Life began agian when spring arrived (March) as that was when soldiers went to war, and farmers went to the fields, and so forth. However, that only works out to a point, as Mediterranean climates vary, and Rome itself actually saw rain rather than snow more often than not.
***
And on that pointless point, I wish you a well weekend, for you and your loved ones.:-)
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62F overcastYesterday Janice and have now spent a total of 15 hours cleaning out Mom's place, we called a junk removal company to pick up and they came in three hours.This is a hard lesson to learn. Dad always said life goes on and be careful what you leave behind. My sister and I will not leave behind for our family to deal with like we had to. Pictures without names, clothes no longer worn,...
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I swear, one more glitch in my life's matrix, I'm taking red pill and blue pilll and seeing what happens!
Leo: your mom sounds like quite a character. It's nice to get some empathy on her huh?! Hey, I am interested in what kind of state service you received to get her into that apartment that has once a week check in? I may need that kind of thing at some point, and have been wondering what things are available.
Miki: OMG, race? wow...i haven't been on here to follow what you've been up to but i am sooo inspired that you are in a race. when you have time, do tell? how long is it and how long have you been training to get your body ready when you have fibro? awesome, go go go girl!
Ida: I understand the loneliness thing. Since all my friends burned out coming to see me, it has been hard. I like your coloring idea. I get anxious too. I need the rest and distractions so I am working on getting something I enjoy to do on the weekends/evenings when work is not filling the void. Any ideas, gladly welcome anyone :) Glad you were able to see your grandkids though....hang on to that memory when you start thinking of being alone ;)
Bobbi: I understand that all over body pain. I find myself icing something every weekend and alternating with hot baths or hot showers to loosen up my arthritis. The combo seems to work really well. Also, my pain management doc just gave me this incredible new patch called "Flector". I can't take nsaids so the patch is for inflammation. I put it on my low back that has spondylosis after driving a long distance and it was magic!! Just fyi. OH, and you might check "You Tube" for that homeopathic documentary. If it doesn't go to netflix or amazon, someone may have already taken an unauthorized video of it. I often find things on you tube like that.
Fantod: Oh, the kitty litter days! I had one of those self cleaning ones and still the cats found a way to make it horribly dirty and track it everywhere. I am glad I just have a dog now, sorry! Good for you for having the energy for your projects and enjoy the evening with your neice :)
AJ: apple pie now AND ravioli!! I'm comin' over, that's it!! hehe. Glad you are exercising self soothing ;) p.s. i'm still picking at my fingers, but i'm working on the dbt to help it.
Bluesky: that hubby, well, any hubby, difficult aren't they? i remember when my ex would do that. he would work all week or be away on a trip and then go golf all day and be gone until evening. headscratcher. maybe if you weren't around when he was he might understand how it feels? she laughs evilly :0 probably why i am divorced! well go do something for yourself, you deserve it!
Twinmom: Pumpkin patch, how fun!! try not to wear yourself out too much and i hope you get some pain relief with something at least at the end of the day with an epsom salt bath or the like.
Milily: good to see you on here. you sound good. i remember a time when you were so sick from the mold, you could not function, so i am glad to hear you up and about even if in pain. I myself am laying a pack of ice right now, then will be off to a 20 minute hot shower. I often feel a lot of pain right before a storm and we have that horrible humidity here too. I keep the a/c on to take the moisture out and it helps.
Well, girls, I'd love to see all is well, and I am feeling stronger, but, I am literally starving. With nothing but barley soup to make and berry muffins, I've got to last until next Thursday. I don't even have money to uber to the food pantry. If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to them. Yesterday, I broke down and called 211 and they gave me catholic charities number, but they are closed on the weekend. Hopefully monday I can get a hold of them as I hear they bring food boxes. It's hard for me to admit this to y'all, so please keep in confidence among us. My income was cut in half after June and with being ill, I have run out of resources. I have called all the support groups and there is nothing but catholic charities I have found. I had a patient advocate that also found absolutely no transportation for someone under 65 that does not have cancer. I am trying to stay positive but I ahve some really down days. I am hoping and praying my part time disability pay will get approved as that would solve everything, but I am not very hopeful at this point as the case manager is not asking me for current income. She's only doing the minimum, so that tells me she's just pushing it through knowing it will be denied. The only hope is that, I am getting a bit stronger (when I was forcing myself to eat and drink) and I have work lined up at the end of the month. At end of November I will be flush, but until then, I am scraping by. Well, enough about me. I am whining now. and probably TMI for y'all. I guess I just need to vent.
Back to practicing my mindfulness and grateful list: I feel my feet, they are cold, feel the soft sheets beneath them, I am okay at this moment. I have my cute dog laying in her bed (she has food gratefully), I have peace and quiet, cool air, and no obligations.
Have a great weekend y'all!! xoxo, JP
Glad I watch those cooking shows where they take whatever left in fridge freezer pantry and make stuff. I found a can of kidney beans and made red beans and rice with chili powder. Then found some frozen bananas and cooking banana bread. I don't have sugar or oil or butter so this will be interesting. I'm gonna use jam and blueberries and the creme brulee liquid creamer in lieu of milk and sugar mixed with almond milk. Then tomorrow found some tomato sauce and padte...italuan friend in college taught us to make homemade sauce so ill spice it up with fresh garlic and onions. Let's hope my stomach holds up. I'm also going to puree the blackened red peppers, add it to the sauce along with packets of sour cream I had left over. I saw Rachael Ray make it and it looked delicious! Sort of a vodka sauce. Ill use it for the pasta i found and potato gnocchi i forgot in fridge :)....So. I will not go hungry! Anybody have leftover stories with creative cooking?
Fantod: thx for the info..very valuable as you know sometimes I have intractable rib and anywhere back pain due to multiple injuries. My insurance is pretty goid so ill ask her to fill next time. I'm on opioid right now so I don't keep going back to ER for pain shots. After 14 visits this year, I had had enough! It's helped me stabilize. I've also doubled my protonix and the inflammation has gone down. No more tummy cramps yay! Although I still get herd and stomach upset, I am trying to balance alkalinity in my diet as Leo suggested.
Ok sorry for hogging post y'all! I was just so dang excited over my culinary finds
JP, I'm one of those people who cook with whatever odds and ends I can dig up. I call it the kitchen sink. I also use leftovers as pizza toppings and call it the kitchen sink pizza lol. There are some banana egg pancakes that my husband likes to make. Instead of flour you use bananas. I don't have a recipe, but I think you can google it.
Angela, I use apple sauce too.
Gee, today ended being much longer than I ever imagined. We sat down for a budget meeting and discovered we went over last month and will go over this month too due to the plane tickets we are buying. Then sat and argued about future money plans. Ugh.
Finally we headed out and went avocado picking and came home with a whole box of them. We have so many, we could open a small fruit stand. We discussed trying to find a grocery store who would buy them. JP, wish I could give you some!
Came home to hubby finding out that a few of his kite surfing buddies were throwing a going away party so we headed over to it. I had to strap on a knee brace, though, because my knees were already killing me. The host's house was on a hill with a spectacular view and we sat on the deck and watched the sunset. I tried to stay seated but it was hard because it got crowded and people kept taking my seat. Plus, hubby kept asking me to get up and walk with him to the bon fire and other things, no matter how many times I tried to tell him my knees are bothering me. Anyway, came home to see knees are the most swollen I've ever seen them. They aren't as bad as I've seen some people's knees, but it still doesn't feel good. Laying in bed with cold packs now before turning in. See you all Sunday morning. Hugs
My granddaughter sings for church today, so I'm going to the late service. It's 3 1/2 hours until I have to leave for church, and I'm showered and ready to go already. I sure wish I didn't wake up so early.
Good day to everyone. Go Packers!
I am up early today and hurting so bad :( hoping my pain meds work for me today some days they do some they dont
I am suppose to go to mom and dads and get caught up on laundry today but not sure its going to happen. I will see how i am in a bit. I do not plan on any cooking or baking the way im feeling!
I seem to have caught my granddaughter's virus. I fell asleep before church, and woke up with a sore throat, body aches, and a headache. I went to church anyway to see my granddaughter sing, but I was sure glad to get home as now I have the chills.
Fantod, Oh I've had days like yours chasing after one thing or another while you're juggling life in between. Hopefully today will be easier on you.
Blue, I would be crushed also if my hubster said something like that to me. But it's the unsaid things that he does that moves me most. Like the other night my hubby woke me to make sure I was okay, in his sleep. Those subconscious thoughtful things he does. Another time he was trying to catch me from falling, with a catchers glove he had on in his dream. I know My hubster isn't much on the sweet talk. But he makes up for it in other areas. And then there are times I remind him to use his filter.
Anyways, I hope it's that your hubby had a hard time communicating his thoughts...aka, forgot that you too are a part of the equation.
Ida, I would be burying myself in stuff to do also to distract my mind. But you are amazing and I know you will do great.
Milily, I'm glad you have the cottage to look forward to. And I'm sorry the fibro beast has found you to beat you in your sleep. Mine has been keeping my sleep from me. And toss me this lovely cold to boot. Nice of him, huh?
Take today off, recoup and enjoy all that the day can bring you. We too are having a heat wave...and the bugs are going nuts outside.
Well, folks...we thinks we solds it. The investor came and is wanting to put in a offer contingent to when we can get our taxes done to buy a new home ourselves. (insert girly squeal) It's happening! Our realtor upped our asking price so that we can walk away with the price better than we ever thought we could get. And this all happened off market. It's strange, but I know God had his hands in on this. No way this could just happen in less than a day. Crazy, but cool.
Now for the fun part, house hunting. I think fun part that is. And I've got to break the news to my family. My mom loves this area we are living in and she's going to be heartbroken I think. Even though we'll be moving closer to her. Nothing in my family is ever normal, LOL.
Big hugs to all who are reading today. And I hope I didn't miss out on anyone else.
Everything is getting better with me, I am recovering from carpal tunnel surgery still, can't do any pottery at the moment...
Woke up today so exhausted, took an hour to get out of bed. So just laid there with the cat.
Of course the cat is in tune with naps! https://s19.postimg.org/4hd3qzm9v/cat.jpg