New Attitude

So I said I might bring fibromyalgia back to the blog once in a while, well here it is. Yes I still have FM, yes I still have pain & fatigue and other symptoms but a lot has changed at the same time.
After not finding a medication that will work for me, just the occasional hydrocodone, which really doesn't relieve the FM pain just the other pains from arthritis, etc., I was partaking in many support groups both online and a local one here in Charlotte. I even started several groups myself, and my blog was solely about FM. I thought this is great to be able to share with other people who actually understand what I am going through and whom I can talk to. I thought this was very therapeutic until I noticed that my symptoms seemed to be getting progressively worse. I just blamed the FM as a progressive disease, which the doctors say is not. Well I decided to take a break from all of my FM groups and I stopped going to my local support group and something amazing happened--- I started feeling better! I have always believed that you take in the energy of what surrounds you, and if I am grouped with a bunch of people that are in constant misery, then I am going to feel it too, also being the somewhat empath that I am, I do feel what others feel. Oh I'm not cured, in fact I am in extreme pain right now as I type this, but yet I feel great! I know this can not make sense, but it does to me. I hate the pain, but I accept it and I have to live with it and I'm ok with that.
I haven't given up on my fibro friends who need my support, for them I will always be here, and I will always advocate for fibromyalgia awareness. I still drop in on my online groups about once a month to check in and say hi because I am still one of them-I just choose not to write about it everyday and about how life sucks and how I wish I would die-- No- I don't feel that way. Life is good! I am happy and fortunate to have what I have in this life and path that has been chosen for me.
The mind is amazing- creative visualization works- you have the power to control how you choose to feel.
BTW- I am also seeing a reflexologist who might have something to do with this change too but I think I need to take the credit for my mindset, because only I can control that.
Always smile, think positive, spread that positive energy to those around you- it is amazing what can happen.

Today is a Yellow Day

I have developed a system to keep track of how I feel on any given day. It is a very simple system, since I am not good at journaling and going into details about, for instance, what I ate the previous day that is causing my symptoms to act up today, or any other detailed research as to my symptoms causes on a daily basis. I have decided to start small-this does not explain why my symptoms are worse on certain days it basically just shows how I feel on that day.

I print out a monthly calendar and I use color coding to determine how I feel on a particular day. I call it my Fibro Scale and it is very vague; Green for a good day, Yellow for a so-so day, and Red for a bad day. It really doesn't tell me much except how many days I was green, yellow or red. For instance in the month of February I had 4.5 Green days, 12.5 Yellow days, and 11 Red days. So far this month I have had 1 Green day, 10 Yellow days, and 6 Red days, and I think I may consider today a Yellow day.

This really doesn't explain much but I think it is good to keep a record of so you can perhaps show your doctor or if you are trying to get disability this may be helpful so that they can see how you feel on a monthly basis.

I hope to move into more detail eventually as to the causes, but for now I like the way this color coding system is working for me, I just wish I could have more Green days.

Another Bad Day

Today is a very bad day. I usually say I feel like I have been hit by a truck but today I am going to say that I feel like I have been hit by a 3 locomotive train, not that I know what that feels like, and of course I would be dead if I had been hit by one. Anyway I guess I just try to compare it to what I think it would feel like. I am having trouble typing this right now. I would never wish this illness on anyone, yet there are so many people suffering from it. WE NEED A CURE! Although many think it is associated with the muscles, I think it is more of a neurological thing, just because of all the other symptoms that I have too; tingling, numbness, sensitivity to being touched, burning sensation on your skin, etc. I just hope that this big flare up ends soon, I don't know how much more of this I can take, and Thanksgiving is this week and I want to be able to enjoy it with my family. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I love doing all of the cooking. We'll see how that turns out-stay tuned...