Hello There,
I decided to start a blog to talk about Fibromyalgia. I know there are a great deal of people out there just like me who suffer from this illness and this is my effort to reach out to people. We can build awareness, share resources and fight this battle together.
I was diagnosed with fibro a year ago, although I sense I have been suffering with this for 2 years. I was in a car accident 3 1/2 years ago, which resulted in a neck and back injury and it has never healed. Over the years I've developed several other ailments that have made daily tasks difficult. My injuries left a great deal of soft tissue and nerve damage, which I seek various weekly treatments for. Funny, how life changes so quickly...one day your a healthy 25 year old woman, happily married with two children and working at a job you love and the next your life is flipped upside down.
But hey, Life happens. And life goes on. Somedays are harder than others and somedays, even the slightest tasks, like getting up out of bed in the morning can be daunting at times. You have to build the courage to fight. Fighting is not easy. Especially on the days when you feel like you have nothing more inside of you to give. After all, giving up is always easier than pressing on. And it is so difficult to have hope when your medical doctors fail to provide you with the necessary resources to help you.
Knowledge is power and if you want answers, you have to be proactive and seek them out yourself. This is both time consuming and exhausting. I can not tell you how many hours I have sat infront of my computer researching symptoms, ailments, medical studies, treatments, exercises, vitamins and herbal remedies to try. Shortly, I will be posting links to the best resources I have found through my internet searches.
Mind you, I live in Massachusetts and am looking to network with local people, I open this blog to anyone who would like to contribute and I thank you for doing so.
Respectfully,
Holly ;)'
Good words Holly. The fight is real all about it.
ReplyDeleteI have been diagnosed with Fibro now for 5 years and being a man that was no small effort to find a doctor who would sit down and see what was going on. The shipped me to the hospital countless times due to the chest pains I had.
The medications and vitamins only work on me for so long and the side effects come in. I have seen what happens to some of the people who become pill factories chasing one ailment after another. I try to stay as pill free as I can. The best medicine is exersise and meditation for me its yoga and walk/run the worse I feel the harder I need to push. That being said the times I am weak from the condition I do need the meds as I can't seam to get the program going, I look at this as a vacation.
One thing that helped me with energy was 5htp and after telling my doctor she gave me some Savella. Savella works like super 5htp in keeping the seratonin in your body longer. So far so good.
It is a fight and everyone needs to find there own path that is best for them. Hope this blog finds insight for us all.
Rich
Richard, Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI too, have tried to remain pill free and only a few months ago gave in to trying some remedies. I've been in chiropractic treatment since the beginning of 2007, I see an acupuncturist and a massage therapist on occasion. However, the most help I have found is through local anesthetic injections that I receive at a pain clinic...although this relief is only temporary, the 2-3 weeks it lasts for are a wonderful!
I had tried Savella and no results came from it. I now take Lyrica and it may help little, but it fogs my brain and makes it difficult for me to concentrate and focus. It is difficult when Rx drugs leave you with the same symptoms are the illness itself. I am also on baclofen, which helps with my severe muscle spasms. I had been suffering from severe heart palpitations and since starting the baclofen, I have had great improvements and have had much less pain and pressure on chest cavity, although it still aches no less.
Holly
Holly and Rich,
ReplyDeleteI hope we can keep this going. I am extremely isolated thanks to fibro -- I hope to find people to connect with about the emotional as well as the physical problems we go through. I've probably had fibro all my life, but was diagnosed 12 yrs. ago. I am taking meds, because without tramadol (ultram) for pain... I also have chronic/serial migraines, which are my biggest problem. They cause me to miss lots of things, which is very painful and makes me very lonely. I'm on disability, which creates its own limitations, but I'm so glad it's available!
Keep writing! I do get out to do as much as I can daily (I walk @ 1/2 hr.), and I have created a little work for myself helping people care for their animals -- I love doing this, but it takes all my energy! Not to mention I'm talking to animals, not people... Any suggestions on achieving balance? I do find mindfulness meditation and my walking outdoors extremely helpful, but yoga too painful. T'ai Chi is good -- when I can find a class in a warm enough room.
I'd like to become as pill-free as possible, too -- any comments on how you cope with symptoms when not using meds? thanks so much!!!
Holly H. in RI
Hi Holly in RI,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing. I really appreciate your honesty and your absolutely right, we need to address the emotional component as well, as the physical and emotional go hand in hand. Holly, I will reply to your question above shortly. There was some information I came across recently pertaining to that and we all know everyone's fibro is a little different and things effect them differently. In the meantime, I have posted some links on the bottom of this page, where I have found useful information.
Holly & Rich,
I plan to post at least once a week and will make an honest effort to keep this going, but I need a participative audience.
You can email me on anything you would like to talk about/write about at: holmoore@gmail.com
Hi, Holly, Rich, et al,
ReplyDeleteI hope Thanksgiving was a good day for everyone. I really have had a lovely day -- the heck with a migraine and "the aches!" Holly RI