Last week and even the week before, I had some very strange knots that appeared in my upper, right shoulder blade/back area. They seemed to have spread havoc to many other areas, including my head, neck, back, and hips. There were a few days of forced rest starting last week Sunday. I am not sure what triggered this. I seemed to have been doing great for many months now, mostly, until the Mirena installation in February. Then I had a painful mammogram done in March that probably didn't help matters. It seems a bit far-fetched that these two, painful but quick procedures could have ruined such a great run, but with Fibro, you can never tell what might lead to a flare-up. Perhaps the weather and some other factors may have combined into a perfect storm or something. I do still strive to eat more produce and choose healthy foods more often than indulgences.
Anyway, I've been using my TheraCane massager a lot, which seems to help ease the knots and referring pains a bit. I also did some yoga at home to see if it would help, since it usually helped a lot when I went to yoga class with pains. I had to take a couple of days off unpaid to rest last week, but I'm sure not driving and having to think about work was the right thing to do. I'm due for my biweekly massage tomorrow. Last time, there we so many awful lumps and knots along the right side of my back, I couldn't believe it, but it did explain all the pain and problems I'd been experiencing lately.
Oddly, I think the fibro fog is still affecting me, since I managed to make two mistakes that added a lot of unnecessary driving/car riding time both yesterday and the day before. Nothing major, but stupid mistakes nonetheless. Long car trips are a little tough on me because of the immobility, but I think the stress of the mistake was also contributing a bit to my pains.
I'm still doing my best to keep up the hip stretches, stair climbing, and other activity to help keep my muscles warm, loose, and healthy. I'm a little frustrated though, that despite my climbing 4 floors of steps every work day, at least once a day, but usually twice a day, since early February is still all I can do at one time. I expected to be able to progress and do 5 floors after a few weeks, but I still get very fatigued at the third floor, then push myself to do the fourth and final floor, sometimes stopping or going very slowly, just to make it. I literally feel like I have used up all the energy available in my legs by the time I'm at the fourth floor up.
Another weird thing I notice while climbing stairs is that my mind frequently gets confused and I frequently almost miss a step but luckily hesitate to prevent falls. Does this happen to other fibromites? I'm hanging onto the rails and going slowly, but every once in a while, it's like a skip or a glitch in my brain and I'm unsure what my foot will do and if I'll land the next step properly. This is while I'm looking at the stairs because I cannot risk not looking. I also don't go down on the stairs because my knees buckle too frequently. I am on the disabled list at work to skip fire drills. With an entire building of people rushing me, I would surely fall if I tried descending 8 floors of stairs. On top of that, I can't risk a flare up from the stupid drill. If my life was in danger, I'm sure I could manage to go down the steps because it would be worth a flare-up to survive, but for drills, I'm not risking a flare.
In other news, I've begun to revise my WRAP and the more I worked on it, the more I've been completely rethinking the structure of it. When I'm done, I hope to have a simpler, easier to read format, but there is just so much information and detail that I keep getting stuck and making the revisions more sweeping, which is delaying the progress. I've set a goal to get this done by the end of the year, but I've also set a lot of other goals for this year, so I don't want to arrive in December with a mad, impossible scramble to get things done. That would be creating stress, and I'm not about that at all. I do realize I've taken on a lot of goals, but I think it can be done. If not, I'll have learned something about my abilities and scale things back for next year's goals.
The weather is finally looking more like Spring this weekend. I hope you're all doing reasonably well and looking forward to some warmer weather.
One last note, if you donated to my friend's dental fund, THANK YOU! You are wonderful for donating! Also, if you shared a link to the campaign with your friends or readers, THANK YOU! You are great to help someone in need.
If you haven't done either of these things, please consider doing one or both. Do something nice for someone less fortunate. Doing something nice for someone is therapeutic and can make you feel good. I do what I can to help you all by sharing details about my life. This is a great way for you all to pay it forward and feel good about helping my friend Dee (aka "Line") get her teeth fixed so she can eat. Many chronic conditions, medications, stress, and poverty have caused her teeth to get loose or damaged and she is unable to eat much solid food, which is further hurting her overall health. She's been through hell and it's not even over if she can get these teeth fixed.
Even a small contribution or even just sharing the link is really very helpful for her cause. A donation of just one dollar is very much appreciated, and you can remain anonymous if you like. You can also skip the fund and donate via PayPal if you have an account. Here is a link to her GoFundMe campaign with all the details. She's also updated with a few videos that explain her situation a bit. I would be very grateful if you can show just a little love and do something for my dear friend, Dee. Although she is very giving, she hates to ask for help, but this is really her last hope. Please give it some thought and see if you can help her in any way. Earn some good karma for yourself. THANK YOU!
