Re: New Member

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Welcome to the list! I know how terrible you must be feeling. I

REALLY hate cold weather. I grew up in PA, & moved south to get away

from the cold, but I've found Nashville is just as cold in the winter

as PA! And it's difficult when the people around you just don't have

a clue as to just how painful this condition is. My husband tries to

be understanding...sometimes he can look at me and tell I'm really

hurting, and he'll make me go to bed or take a hot bath in Epsom

salts. I could be in the middle of writing an email or getting

something to eat, and he'll make me go to bed, with a heating pad. He

also encourages me to take my Fiorinal #3, which I hoard for the

really bad pain. I'm on morphine, but it doesn't seem like it's doing

anything at all. I suppose I'd be feeling a lot worse without it, tho, lol!

This is going to sound insane: I've got a 10' python named Mickey,

and he KNOWS where I hurt. I don't know if the painful areas are

warmer to the touch, or what, but he will wrap around me (gently) and

ripple his muscles, giving the greatest massages. It sounds unreal,

but it's true! He was only 6' long when we got him, and I was

terrified of him, because he bit everyone in the pet shop. Several

people bought him, then returned him because he was unmanageable. I

bought him as an early birthday present for my husband 11 years ago,

and he turned into a BEAST! He bit several times, &

wanted to take him, terrarium & all, & just put him on the doorstep

of the reptile shop overnight, which would have killed Mickey. I

covered the cage with a blanket for a few days (I wasn't about to

kill a $250 snake!), & he did a complete turnaround. But I refused to

go near him. Then one night I was lying on the bed, in terrible pain,

and felt something on my back. It felt like a huge massage. I felt a

tongue flick my face, & saw it was Mickey! After that I lost all fear

of him. He is so gentle with me, has never bitten me in 11 years, and

if I need a good back massage, I take him out and let him go to work.

(He also wraps around my legs & ripples) Snakes are tireless, and

he'll keep it up until I'm feeling better.

My oldest son is showing signs of fibro, but he keeps " blowing me

off " when I try to get him to do something about it. His doc just put

him on Cymbalta, so maybe that will help. He's got a whirlpool

bathtub (I get to house-sit for him the week after Christmas,

yippee!!!.....oh, and I have to take care of the dog, too, lol! He's

a huge boxer named Tigger, & he thinks I'm his mommy). But he gave me

a whirlpool attachment for my tub, and a TENS unit, and has a friend

who gives really great massages, and sets me up with him once in a while.

My youngest son recently told me he has fibro, and his insurance at

work won't cover the PT he needs. Also, he broke his ankle while

riding motocross. The break was pretty bad, he was out of work for 6

weeks, and now his foot is turning inwards & he needs a special

insert for his shoe so his foot will turn back to its normal

position. He's on Lortab, which he doesn't really like, & can't take

while he works (he works for a Chevy dealership, doing body work).

He was an ADD child, and really got out of hand once he hit 2. His

father thought it was cute for him to smoke marijuana when he was

2...he'd have Jerry pass the joint between his friends & encourage

him to take a " toke " . Bob also gave him beer. This happened when I

wasn't around (usually upstairs nursing my daughter, who was a

preemie & needed a lot of attention). By the time he was 8 he was

sneaking joints on a regular basis, drinking, and then got into Bob's

cocaine stash. (I didn't find out about all this until a couple of

years ago) He was selling it to friends (one time he got angry at his

father and took a gram of coke & sold it to a neighbor for $30). Then

when he was 17 (by that time I had divorced Bob, & Jerry was living

with him because I couldn't find a large enough apartment...I still

didn't know about the drugs & alcohol, he hid it very well) he

started smoking crack. His father got him started on it.

He'd dropped out of school a couple of years before...in fact, no

school in the area would take him because he was so out of control.

I'd had him locked up in juvie a few times, hoping to scare him into

better behavior, but it didn't work. I even got to the point where I

was going to give him up to a foster home. Then on the day of the

court appearance I took one look at him and just started sobbing. I

couldn't sign the papers and give my child away, as horrible as

living with him could be. He got mixed up with Bob's friends who were

stealing cars & stripping them, selling them for drugs. With all the

drugs & stuff, he never got caught by the police. He was stopped for

a few non-moving violations, like tail-light out, etc. He'd lost his

license (for unpaid parking fines, & they impounded his car) but he

gave his brother's license #, which he'd memorized. didn't find

out until his insurance rates went up, and he filed charges. Jerry

got probation, but he got stopped again & used 's license #.

This time he went to prison for a year. He said the place was full of

drugs, and there was a lot of temptation, but he wanted to go clean.

He was actually baptized in prison, and kept clean. My daughter had a

small son who adored his uncle Jerry, and that's the inspiration

Jerry used when he was tempted to try crack again. & I went to

see him in prison, but his father never tried, not once in that year.

When he got out, he got a place of his own, has been clean for 8

years, and has stopped drinking as well. (tho he does have a few cups

of beer when he's at a party). He saved up enough money to pay his

fines, get back his license and car. He also paid his lawyer's $7000

fee with no help from anyone else. He worked 2 jobs at once, plus

moonlighted in his free time to do all this. I'm really proud of him

for the way he turned his life around. He'd robbed his father blind,

but NEVER stole from me or his sister. He hates his father, who was

an abusive alcoholic drug user who beat him, kicking him in the

stomach when he was down on the floor (this was while I was at work,

& Jerry never told me). But now his body is feeling the effects of

the abuse, which he really regrets. He's got a heart of gold...when

my daughter was in danger of losing her home, he took out an $8000

loan for her, when I was sick last summer he came over with food &

gave me money for meds. When I tried to pay him back, he said " I

won't take it. You're my mother and took care of me all my life, now

it's my turn to take care of you! " That made me cry.

I guess anyone reading this is wondering why I'm writing all this,

but I feel like I have to write it. I feel so proud of all my

children, all of whom have fibro. Yes, even my daughter has it. She

took Ultram for a year for her pain, but had to stop when she became

pregnant again. She's in a lot of pain as well, especially her back.

She won't take pain pills (other than over the counter) because she

works, & does a lot of driving with the children in the car & doesn't

want to endanger them. Her husband is good about lots of massage, and

she has a lot of will-power. She's a very upbeat woman (It's hard to

call your children men and women....how did we get so old so fast??

I'm 53, but don't feel like I am!) and all her life I told her she

was pretty and smart and could do anything she wanted when she grew

up. She dropped out of school (the middle school she attended was one

of the first in the nation to have problems with guns &

weapons....one day they had a surprise search & came up with 158

weapons, including knives, handguns, rifles & shotguns. They actually

nicknamed the school " the National Gun School " . She quit, with my

blessing, after the search. She got her GED, works for a home

improvement company in a high position, and is an excellent mother

(she treats her step-daughter as her own. In fact, Noel, the step,

calls me Grandma!) and her husband adores her. But some days her pain

is so bad, she calls me crying.

I really regret that I've passed this awful condition on to all of my

children. Their ages are 33,31, & 29 ( is the youngest). I'm

praying my grandsons don't end up developing this syndrome as well.

But, that's out of my control, and perhaps, if they do, by the time

they do there'll be a cure or treatment. All of my kids have great

attitudes, which they tell me they learned from me. I don't remember

being an especially happy person, tho I tried to hide my problems

from them. But I always encouraged them in whatever they were

interested in, and never ever put them down for their interests.

Well, I really went off topic here....tho all my kids have fibro, and

snakes really do give good massages, lol! Take care, and don't give

up. My back is burning right now, and I'm thinking of taking Mickey

out. It's so tempting. Yeah, I'm gonna do it, right now!

Take care, and know that we care about you. And don't feel you have

to limit what you write. Type away, and let us know your thoughts and

feeling. It helps a lot to " purge " .

Hugs,

cyn

PS, I've got Mickey & he feels wonderful!

At 02:08 PM 12/13/2005, wrote:

>Hello,

>I'm new here and have been for a few days.....

clmerritt@...

FSG co-moderator