It' Been A While

It's been a while since I lasted posted and wanted to catch up tonight.

I started swimming again because walking around the neighborhood in Florida at this time of year is just too darn hot.  I tried to go slow. Not sure what that even means.  I just started swimming around and using my legs and arms and it felt great. I probably swam for around 20 minutes or so.

After a few days I thought, Wow! this is going to be a piece of cake. Wrong!  I woke up in the middle of the night and my arms and legs were screaming with pain.  Sort of like when you had growing pains as a kid only much stronger and constant. The only relief is to walk around and keep moving my arms.

I finally just took my pain meds (tramadol) even though they keep me awake because I can't take anything else.  I can't take aspirin or advil because I break out in hives.

So the night was a short one, and now I am extremely careful to not overdo in the pool, but I will not quit!  I will not give into this as long as I can keep moving.

Today was a great day and my pain is manageable again. 

Until Next Time :)

I May as Well Laugh

My husband is out of town this week on business so I decided I would do a few home projects while he was away.  That was my first mistake.lol

I painted the grout throughout all the tiled areas in our house about 4 years ago so I thought I would freshen it up this week.  Bending over and crouching down is not a good thing for fibro sufferers as you are probably using muscles you wouldn't normally use.

I knew when I started this project that I should go slowly (which is difficult for me as I used to charge through everything) so I worked on it about a half an hour or so.  I could feel the muscles running up the back of my thighs being used but I had no idea how much until I woke up the next morning practically crippled.

The muscles hurt so bad that even the Tramadol didn't completely numb the pain.  Fortunately it lessoned during the day as I walked around but the thought of continuing with my grout project wasn't looking too inviting.

So here it is Tuesday and I haven't finished the grout yet!  I did work on a small section yesterday but am paying for it today.  I will get it completed but it will take the entire week to do that.

This is the part of the fibromyalgia that frustrates me the most.  You don't know what you are doing to yourself until you wake up the next day and can barely move.

When I woke this morning (due to pain) I could feel all the muscles around my rib cage and my thighs.  I was so uncomfortable lying in bed that I was forced to get up even though I could have slept longer.  I can't figure out why my ribcage is so sore unless it's from sweeping out the garage.  Good grief!

It's almost comical really.  I try to have humor in it because it looks like it's here to stay so I may as well laugh about it.  It's so absurd to have this much pain that I can't help but laugh because it's like someone is playing a terrible practical joke on you all the time.

Until Next Time. :)

I Have Joined the Living

OMG, I cannot believe how much better I am feeling now that I have my sinus infection under control.  I get up and actually have interest and energy to do something. Hurray!

I still can't walk.  I can get from point A to point B, but actually walking for exercise is not happening.  Honestly, who would think this foot thing would still be a problem all these months later.  Anyway, I am swimming now just to keep the body from getting too stiff, bringing on fibromyalgia problems.

I use one of those "noodles" to hang on to and kick my legs back and forth not only to keep the circulation going, but hopefully to loosen whatever it is that keeps my ankle stiff and making it hard to walk. 

I tried just swimming around the pool without any floaty but the days following were killer on my back and shoulders as it was just too much for me all at once. Gotta go slow which is a hard thing to do in the pool as you can't really feel what you are doing to yourself.

I hope each of you had a good 4th of July.

Until next time :)

Is Fibromyalgia Causing This?

Most of the time I can deal with the pain that I get from having fibromyalgia.  I don't like it.  It has certainly affected how I live my life, but I am beginning to get a handle on what will make it worse.  Or so I thought.

I have been dealing with the after affects of fracturing my foot for nearly 4 months now.  I still can't walk and beginning to wonder if I ever will again.

My doctor told me that the tendons may need to be stretched after wearing the boot for 3 weeks, but even he thought there was no way I could have that much of a problem in such a short amount of time.

Now I am wondering if the fibromyalgia is causing this horrific pain.  I don't say that lightly either as I have worked every day on stretching out the tendons on the top of my foot as well as the one running up the back of my knee.  I used to be able to sit on my legs and now I can't as the pain sears through me.

The pain is so intense that if I work on my foot for too long I actually get physically sick.  I have had lots of pain in my life, but nothing that compares to this and no matter how much I work at it I still can't walk.  It feels like the tendon is so tight that it's going to snap in half.

I went to my chiropractor the other day and he did adjust my ankle and told me the tendon was very rigid.  I felt instantly better for about 10 minutes then it tightened back up again.

I believe that there is a very good chance that the pain is increased considerably because of fibromyalgia.  There is no other explanation for it that I can see.  Who has this much pain from wearing a "boot" for 3 weeks?  I hope to find out when I see my doctor on Tuesday.

I don't know what I can do differently and the pain is still very real to me even if it might be magnified by my illness.  I would like to think I might walk again.

Until next time :)