Life With Fibromyalgia And Hashimotos Thyroiditis 12.20.2014




I really had no plans to write this but I noticed a few people were reading an update of mine from 2011 on this very topic and I just couldn’t let that happen. Believe me, not much has changed but I thought I owed it to you to at least change the date and update you with my thoughts.Hashimotos Thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease of the thyroid. Many people have this condition in conjunction with other illnesses.

Having Fibro and Hashimoto still sucks. Big time.

No surprise there, right fellow sufferers? My number one complaint is not having any energy and if one more person tries to tell me to exercise more (including my new Rheumatologist) I will want to slap them silly. I should have stayed with my old Rheumatologist,  he loved me best but I just couldn’t go see him in the city anymore. I didn’t have the energy to take

 

trains and buses and taxis and walk up two flights of stairs and down two flights of stairs. It’s not as if I dropped him, he was so sweet and understanding, Fibromyalgia did.

I now see a not so nurturing Rheumatologist in town and her motto is basically “Get over yourself and exercise.” She must know my mother.

I KNOW exercise is good for me, for us, but it sounds better than it is. Fibro Flare, really? I hope you have more discipline than I do because I need tips on how to haul my hurting rear out of my bed and on to the treadmill.

Anyone?

I KNOW it is not good for us but I COULD stay in bed 24/7 because of the exhaustion. Couldn’t you?

View image | gettyimages.com

I’m on Savella twice a day, I was given a choice between Savella and (Fibro Fog, can’t remember the other one’s name but it is widely used and known to put on weight) so I chose Savella. It helps. Is it a cure, ha ha ha. NO. There is no cure, as we all know.

I’m now considering myself LUCKY that I got these illnesses when I was 50 when I hear stories of young when who get these illnesses in their twenties. I feel for you young ladies, I truly do.

What’s the worst part (parts) of Fibro for me? No memory and no energy!

No memory. None, Nada, Zilch. It scares me to pieces. It really does. I go upstairs to get a sweater and as soon as I go up a short set of stairs I am turning around in one room and then another NOT KNOWING why I came upstairs.

View image | gettyimages.com

Yes, it freaks me out. Anyone else have this too? I need reassurance.

That, and having no energy except for one or two errands ( if I am lucky) every day or every other day. Buy the way, between hearing loss and forgetting I have young adult children (especially my daughter) who still makes me feel like dog shit when I don’t remember what she told me. “I TOLD you that…” and she may be referring to a year ago or two weeks.

I feel bad about myself as it is, but wow, I feel worse after one of those angry, “how stupid ARE YOU? looks.”

Researchers say they made a discovery about nerve pain, but to tell you the truth, it’s just words on a page. There has been no further development to HELP US. If you have found something, please let me know.

As for now, do the best you can, give each other support, I’m here, lots of Fibro Friendly people are on-line. Some of my best friends started with a now defunct Fibromyalgia group but we have stayed friends, close friends. (There is no image for a group of people in pain and smiling, I tried.)

I wish you all good health, good luck and better things to come in 2015.

With love and empathy,

Always.

 

“What Music Do You Work Out To?”

Image via Wikipedia

Non-Work Out Music?  Sure.

Oh, be serious, not EVERYONE works out. I am not speaking just for myself but on behalf of some friends of mine…..well, we don’t work out at all. We walk. I can’t honestly say this is a work-out though it is well-intentioned but speed walkers we are not. We stroll, we talk, we share and we don’t listen to music but to each other. It’s our time to be with each other, when the wind is a gentle breeze, when the sun is not intense and when it is not cold out. Are we particular when we want to walk outside? You bet! Besides, I am the most particular since I have a chronic pain disease called Fibromyalgia and usually I have to conquer my aches and pains to even get out the door. It isn’t easy.

If I was to walk alone or use the treadmill ( LOL) the songs I would listen to would be “Story” by Sarah Ramirez (from Grey’s Anatomy), a 1980’s song by the group, Red, whose name I have forgotten entirely and possibly anything upbeat from the Beatles, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Simon and Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I am stuck in the 1970’s with my taste in music and when CD’s were not born yet and I listened to records, over and over again. Unfortunately, my chubby body is still stuck in the seventies as well! The best thing about being in your fifties, is image matters less and quality of life matters much, much more. Enjoy your life, whether you work out or not.

My Fitness Routine In The Winter

17 February 2007 10:11am

It’s winter time in the Northeast. Actually, it’s been winter time since Thanksgiving and it will probably last through April. We’ve had snow every two days; snow that does NOT have time to melt before the next 18 inches of snow comes piling up on top of it. We have been bombarded with wild, hysterical snowstorms and ridiculous amounts of snow for months.

My exercise during these long winter days and nights are the following: leaving my warm and cozy bed, wrapping myself with a soft, white, bathrobe, slipping on my beige UGG slippers and going downstairs on the carpeted steps to the kitchen. Once downstairs, I exercise my arm by opening the refrigerator, pulling things out, making something to eat: most likely fried eggs and cheese. I then exercise my jaw muscles to eat ambitiously, and drink YooHoo or flavored club soda.When I am finished I put the food items away back in the refrigerator.

I then prepare to go back upstairs, clutching the banister on the staircase, snacks now hidden in my plush pockets and pull myself up the stairs, take off my bathrobe, and climb back into bed. I cover myself with four comforters and then I use my fingers to: turn on the television, watch the Cooking Channel, reach for Raisinettes, check my computer and turn the lamp off so I can take as long of a nap as humanly possible.
Next day: Repeat.