Re: Re: Introduction ~ Cat

[Guest guest]

Dear Cat,

Would that I could skate for an hour, or even 15 minutes for that

matter. I do good if I can walk 2 miles a day walking the dogs. For the

last couple of weeks, I have been in too much pain to even do that. I

hardly get out of bed except to throw something together for supper. My

kitchen sink is running over with dishes, and my washing machine picked

today to quit working. What else could possibly go wrong?? You are

extremely active for a person with fibro, and I would encourage you to

stay as active as possible. I was faithfully walking my dogs 2 to 3

miles a day until the first of January when I developed tendonitis in my

left knee that landed me in bed for the better part of a month. And I

just have not seemed to have the energy since then to get moving and

back to walking. But I am making me out a written schedule for time

tomorrow to accomplish everything I want to do, with plenty of rest

breaks in between. Hope you find the list as much of an inspiration as

I have.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

[Guest guest]

Thronberry@... wrote:

>Dear Cat,

Hi Sharon,

>Would that I could skate for an hour, or even 15 minutes for that

>matter. I do good if I can walk 2 miles a day walking the dogs.

Well two miles a day is exactly what my acupuncturist recommended

when I was coming back from being off the ice for 8 months straight.

I felt so terrible I could hardly function. I had accupunture for

5 months and gradually *forced* myself to do something. It started

with 15 min. walk per day and I started skating 20 minutes. Over a period

of months (using music to push through the pain and oh my leg muscles

screamed) I managed to get back.

If I take a day off (we all learn to take rest days right) then it is hell

to get back. If I do too much I have to take a week off. This is not

going as smoothly as I like, so this week I am starting over again to try

another regime.

I am into all sorts o silly things and one thing I read about (maybe 7 years

ago) was the ER4YT diet. I am an O and am supposed to get vigorous exercise.

So I would train 5 days a week and take 2 days off. The father of that

author told me to do less each day. That was about 5 years ago. I was

complaining of fatigue then. I wish I would have listened. Now I am going

to have to figure out something which will not result in over-training and won't

allow the pain to come back.

The very worst thing for me is to not get enough sleep. I know you all are in

the

same boat. Sometimes I sleep for 4 hours, and am awake for 3-4 and then sleep

4

more. Of course the day is totally ruined. Then I exercise a little and have

to

take a very hot bath or shower and then use my Shiatsu machine on my back and

legs and shoulders.

Well - POOF - the day is almost over and I haven't done a thing except my

physical

therapy. This is getting to be a bit of a drag, needless to say. ;-)

>For the

>last couple of weeks, I have been in too much pain to even do that. I

>hardly get out of bed except to throw something together for supper.

I went through that for 5 months. I couldn't do a thing until after I had

had two acupuncture treatments a week for a couple of months. I actually

almost would cancel my appointment because I felt so bad, but I made

myself drive there. I would ALWAYS feel better afterwards.

Well five months of that I am so far behind in utilities and phone bills we are

broke. So I am doing yoga until I get more money, whcih will be months from

now.

If I didn't get the acupuncture, I would still be in bed. I got very lethargic

and depressed form lack of activity. In was a terrible vicious cycle.

>My

>kitchen sink is running over with dishes,

my husband came home for months and did the dishes after his job.

I am surprised he hasn't left yet.

>and my washing machine picked

>today to quit working. What else could possibly go wrong?? You are

>extremely active for a person with fibro, and I would encourage you to

>stay as active as possible.

Well, I wasn't always that way. This past year has been h*ll.

two years before I developed severe asthma and 3 doctors and a huge

amount of experimenting with drugs and I finally didb't have

constant bronchitis or pneumonia ! I finally was able to cut out those

meds last summer. Now this !

You see I didn't know I had something which is this debilitating . . .

I was wondering if it was old age . . . I am only 54.

I would recover from a relapse and then go back at it. Relapse and then

get sick. Have stomach, or liver pain, My liver points on my feet

and hands hurt like crazy, and I had no idea what was wrong with me.

Thought I had NASH for a while because of elevated liver numbres and

I got those back down with herbs and acup. and couldn't for the life

of me figure out what was wrong. My acupunt. thought it was

menopause weakening all of my organs. I don't think she has heard

of FibroM but I haven't been back to talk with her about it.

>I was faithfully walking my dogs 2 to 3

>miles a day until the first of January when I developed tendonitis in my

>left knee that landed me in bed for the better part of a month.

I was reading about how many people with FM have knee problems.

Major bummer. As I sit here now my shoulders are killing me.

My knees don't feel very good, but I can still walk. But my feet hurt so

bad I can hardly get up in the morning and that never goes away.

P*sser ain't it!

Actually the only time I do not feel as much pain is after I have done 30 min.

of aerobic exercise. After I stop it comes back but at least I get

some relief for a short period. But for the first 20 min. my legs scream

so bad, but now I know what is wrong so I just keep going.

I am not sure how long I can tolerate the stress of this tho.

It is a catch22 - exercise is stress and stress makes it worse I read.

>And I

>just have not seemed to have the energy since then to get moving and

>back to walking.

It is extremely hard once I back off the exercise to get back.

I now am going to have to do something every single day, if even just

a 15 min. walk not to let myself get too lethargic and stiff and locked in

home like I was.

I was always trained to take rest days, but now I will have to do

less each day but do " something " each day. It is a strain to

worry about not being to exercise again if I take a day off.

>But I am making me out a written schedule for time

>tomorrow to accomplish everything I want to do, with plenty of rest

>breaks in between.

That sounds like a great plan.

I have tried to get just ONE project done a day.

Today I got a load of wash done and wrote two checks.

Ha ha ha. I am smok'n' ;-)

>Hope you find the list as much of an inspiration as

>I have.

It is really great. I had really bad rib pain for months

and the acupuncture helped, but I thought I was crazy.

I came to read about all of the rib pain and I couldn't believe

my eyes. I thought I had cancer or something.

You should have seen my internist . . . she musta thought I

was trying to apply to get some money or something she acted so

suspicious . . . I had have my own business for years and now can

barely function. As soon as I get a bunch of data together

I will be Fed-Ex-ing her some bedtime reading material.

;-)

thanks for your note. Love your tag line.

>Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

Cat

^. .^ ~ Optimism is magic !

[Guest guest]

Dear Cat,

You and I are about the same age - I am 53. I quit taking my Zyprexa

Tuesday night, and am paying dearly for it in terms of sleep. For the

last 2 nights, I have gotten exactly 2 hours of sleep a night, and

literally feel like I am a walking zombie. Then yesterday, my Meds by

Mail arrived (B IG huge package of them), which gave me another 90 day

supply of Zyprexa, and I almost had a weak moment last night. I guess I

should flush all of the Zyprexa down the toilet, but am not that

confident in my ability to quit taking this med. It is pure, living

hell to lay there and toss and turn at night, knowing that you could

open that bottle and take one little pill and probably sleep the rest of

the night. But this is one of several drugs I take that causes weight

gain, so one-by one, I am going to try to eliminate each of them. By

doing it one at a time, I will be able to tell which one(s) cause the

pain to escalate back out of control again. Once I start sleeping

without the Zyprexa, I plan to eliminate the Celebrex that I take for

the arthritis in my spine, as well as the tendonitis in my knee. l did

not know that Celebrex even caused weight gain until I started reading

the info sheets they send with each drug. I usually just toss those, as

I have been on all these medications for years, but yesterday decided to

do my homework and actually read them, and the Celebrex does list

" unexplained weight gain " as one of the side effects.

Take care, and don't overdo with your skating.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

[Guest guest]

Thronberry@... wrote:

>You and I are about the same age - I am 53. I quit taking my Zyprexa

>Tuesday night, and am paying dearly for it in terms of sleep. For the

>last 2 nights, I have gotten exactly 2 hours of sleep a night, and

>literally feel like I am a walking zombie.

It is bad enough to not get enough sleep, but with the FM it is total grief.

I can sympathize as my symptoms really flare up without adequate sleep

:-(

>Then yesterday, my Meds by

>Mail arrived (B IG huge package of them), which gave me another 90 day

>supply of Zyprexa, and I almost had a weak moment last night.

Are you okay today ?

>I guess I

>should flush all of the Zyprexa down the toilet, but am not that

>confident in my ability to quit taking this med. It is pure, living

>hell to lay there and toss and turn at night, knowing that you could

>open that bottle and take one little pill and probably sleep the rest of

>the night.

This might not work for everyone, but I take melatonin, which is

responsible for making us sleepy. I have just plain ones and occasionally

I take the capsule which has melatonin and other herbs: Valerian,

Hops, Chamomile, Licorice, Fennel. It's call Herbal Slumber.

Without melatonin I would not be able to sleep. I would fall asleep

for a couple of hours and then not be able to get back to sleep.

The more sleep I did not get, the harder it was for me to sleep.

They come in 1 or 3 mg tablets. I suppose I am to take 1-3 mg. a night.

I had to take 3 tablets for a long while and I am cutting those back.

Today I bought some sub-lingual ones to put under my tongue at night

if I wake in the middle of the night. I'll see how that goes.

I also have eliminated all coffee and caffeine of any sorts. That did

seem to help when I stopped that about 6-7 months ago.

>But this is one of several drugs I take that causes weight

>gain, so one-by one, I am going to try to eliminate each of them. By

>doing it one at a time, I will be able to tell which one(s) cause the

>pain to escalate back out of control again. Once I start sleeping

>without the Zyprexa, I plan to eliminate the Celebrex that I take for

>the arthritis in my spine, as well as the tendonitis in my knee. l did

>not know that Celebrex even caused weight gain until I started reading

>the info sheets they send with each drug. I usually just toss those, as

>I have been on all these medications for years, but yesterday decided to

>do my homework and actually read them, and the Celebrex does list

> " unexplained weight gain " as one of the side effects.

You might be able to find some alternative healing practices which you

can do yourself to replace medication. These things work for me

but I have no idea of whether it will work for you.

The only thing is that I hope you get some relief!!!

>Take care, and don't overdo with your skating.

Thanks - I am going to try to watch that. I had errands and shopping to

do today with my hubby before he left for work. Generally if I don't get my

exercise in the morning I am worthless and it is almost 2:30 p.m. here.

But I am going to make myself get up from this computer

and go for my walk before it gets any later.

I will read the rest of the posts on the list probably tomorrow and write

some more then.

Hang in there.

Cheers, Cat

^. .^ ~ Optimism is magic !

[Guest guest]

Dear Cat,

Have been having computer problems all afternoon and evening, and am

just now getting started on my 100+ messages. So I may be up for a

while, although I did just finish sleeping for about an hour... fell

asleep on the couch watching t.v. Like you, I also take Melatonin,

though not on a regular basis. But I am getting ready to take a couple

now to see if they will help tonight. Mine are the 300 mg. tablets, and

they usually help me sleep. Don't know why I didn't take any the last

couple of night.... like everything else that I don't think of, will

blame it on the fibro fog.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!