RE: ( Caroline )My wife was just diagnosed, and we are moving. Any advice is most welcome.

[Guest guest]

Hi Caroline,

I know what you mean about the bed buddies... I make them and sale them, and

I call them my snuggle buddies lol I use corn in mine, seems to hold the

heat longer, and I could not make it through the winter time without them. I

use a lavender misting spray to spray on them after I heat them in the

microwave...and they help me out a lot.

I do dragon/tiger chi gung, its very smooth, easy, and fluid....keeps the

muscles loose so to speak. As for water therapy, hubby bought me one of

those spa2go hottub's for Xmas this yr (they are inflatable and heat and

have tonssss of bubbles) and it has really been great. It was sooo much

cheaper than the other hottubs, and I got it for less than $700 (making 4

monthly payments on it) you can use it indoors or outdoors...heats up to 104

Hugs,

K.

-- RE: My wife was just diagnosed, and we are moving. Any advice

is most welcome.

First of all, my condolences to your wife for losing her friend. The news of

Ms Bhutto's death has affected many people, but it is far worse on your wife

than on the general public.

Have you thought of listing your antiques on eBay or uBid? You would need to

get a storage temporarily if you were to do this, it takes some time to set

it up, but at least you would get the money they are worth. If you have

quite a few items you know to be valuable, this is probably the best way to

do it. I know it requires a bit of work, and you might not be willing to do

it all, but I have no other suggestions except freecycle. If you join your

local freecycle you can list the items you want to get rid of, and usually

you will have more than one offer to take them within a very short time. The

'takers' have to arrange to pick the items up themselves. You arrange the

time and place with them.

Although a lot of doctors do prescribe 'regular excersise', those of us with

fibro must be very careful as to which kinds and how much excersise we do. A

lot of us use water therapy, some use gentle yoga, and there are a few other

things people use as well. Excersise for us does NOT mean joining a health

club and going all out on the treadmill and other machines. Overdoing the

excersise can easily bring on a flare.

Sleep is very important. Most of us have meds prescribed by our doctors. It

is almost impossible to get enough sleep without them. Bear in mind that

even with the proper number of hours of sleep, we do not reach the deep

stages of sleep, and many of our problems stem from that. If your doctor

would prescribe a sleep study for your wife, that is a great place to begin.

A lot of us also use various kinds of pain medications for the pain. Again,

even the strongest meds will not usually take away all the pain.

Your wife will need to experiment with other forms of pain relief as well. A

good mattress is critical. I love heat in most forms to help with my pain. I

take long, hot bubble baths...(aromatherapy also helps me, but some are

allergic to the herbs and oils). I cannot live without my back buddies and

bed buddies. These are basically cushions of different shapes and sizes,

filled with rice, flaxseed or other things (mine also contain herbs) that

one heats in the microwave and places on the various aches and pains.

Sometimes a good chiropractor can be a big help as well.

Your wife is lucky to have such an understanding and supportive husband.

Many of us deal with disbelief and skepticism from our families and friends.

This makes it all much harder. Your wife will also need a very good doctor

or team of doctors, who REALLY know and understand this condition. They will

begin a regime of treatments and medications which can help the various

symptoms. Unfortunately, this is all that can really be done at present, to

treat each symptom individually.

I'm sure you will get a lot more helpful advice from the other members of

the group. I am so sorry you and your wife have to deal with this monster. I

have had these things...I have CFS, MPS, IBS and several other things that

often seem to go hand-in-hand with FM...since 1972. At least there are more

options now, and doctors who know about these things. I might as well have

lived in Siberia when I first became ill.

Best of luck.

Peace and Love

Caroline

> I need to be brief because of all the work we need to do to move on

> January 7th into senior housing. This is major major stress and my wife,

> who is 55 and formally quite energetic, was just diagnosed with Fibro by

> an allergist. We are relieved to finally have some kind of diagnosis, but

> she is feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by the move, and of course,

> there is all the pain. We have to pare down a small house's worth of

> stuff to fit into a 1 bedroom condo. It's a lovely green building and

> it's worth all of this, but I am worried that Barbara (I call her Babs to

> amuse and annoy her. ) is just going to go over some edge with all of

> this.

>

> A brief tragic aside. My brilliant wife was friends with Benazir Bhutto

> at Harvard, even went to Pakistan with her to tour the country. The

> assassination has caused her greater sadness than she ever anticipated.

> It's all over the news, even NPR. She just has to feel what she feels, I

> know. It's just very disturbing.

>

> We have people helping us and will have professional packers and movers

> but are not anywhere where we thought we'd be by now and have so little

> time. The sorting through old things and old memories is so much harder

> than we thought it would be, as is the selling. We posted a holiday sale

> on Craigslist and a moving sale and have sold very little. We have given

> away big bags of stuff and will give away much more. I'm willing to get a

> storage unit, but Barbara would much prefer to sell the things we no

> longer need and have a fresh start.

>

> What I know about Fibro: the best things to do are to get regular

> exercise and to get help to get restorative sleep. It sounds like people

> use all kinds of different methods and substances to control their pain.

> When there is time, I will read through all the posts and find out about

> all of this for my wife.

>

> For now, any advice or suggestions about how Barbara can manage this

> awful stress, which is exacerbating the pain, and/or any tips about pain

> management for the short term are most welcome, as are any thoughts about

> us making it through this move with our sanity intact or about selling

> antique and vintage furniture and collectibles are equally welcome and

> please write to me privately if this is off topic.

>

> Bless you all,

>

> Charlie

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1. While it is wonderful to share our experiences with everyone on the list

as to what treatments do and don't work for us, pls always check with your

dr. Some treatments are dangerous when given along with other meds as well

as to certain health conditions or just dangerous in general.

2. If you are in a difficult situation (doesn't matter what it is) pls don't

be afraid to ask for help. It is the first step to trying to make that

situation better.

3. To unsubscribe the e-mail is:

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4. Also, it is not uncommon for more than one member to be feeling bad at

the same time when it comes to flares and b/c of that potentially take

something another member says the wrong way. And that includes the things

that one member may find funny (even if it's laughing at fibro itself) even

though we who deal with illness whether one such as fibro or multiple

illnesses try to keep a sense of humor.

5. Pls let's be gentle with each other, and if you are having a bad day pls

let us know so that we can do our best to offer our support.

Have a nice day everyone.