Hey everyone,
I didn't get posting yesterday as I was in too much pain to do anything yesterday and couldn't really think about what to put.
I was planning on talking about fibro fog yesterday, but I have decided to talk about Flare ups instead. I think this is a very good topic as people tend to forget that even though we may have good days, it doesn't mean we won't have flares.
What is a Flare Up
A flare up is when our body has taken more than it can cope with and our pain is heightened, our fibro fog is worse and our fatigue is more than normal.
Causes
There are many things that will cause this to happen:
Too much exercise can be a huge factor
A traumatic experience; death of a loved one, an accident, loss of job
Sickness; Having the flu or other viral infections can be triggers
Changes in the weather; extreme climate changes are often a trigger
Hormones; Pms or Menopause can often trigger a flare
Lack of sleep; changes in sleeping routine or sleep disturbances can be a massive contributor
Treatment; changes to medication, or other treatments such as physio or other physical treatments
Travelling; any forms of travel can affect your body, such as sleeping in different bed, long distances in car, plane or other forms of transport can cause the body to stiffen and may cause your body to weaken and flare up
How to prevent flares
There is no actual prevention from all triggers as some cannot be controlled. However there are ways to keep track of yourself and your body and try to ensure that the ones you can be deterred or decreased.
One thing I find really helpful is a diary. You could keep track of things like weather, pain, activities, sleep pattern, food intake, medication. Just taking a few minutes each day to write these things down may help you to ensure that certain triggers don't happen.
For example, my current flare up is due to 4 days of excessive walking. Thursday I walked toby for over half an hour, friday I did the same, Saturday I took him to the beach and then walked him in the evening as well, Sunday I walked him twice also. Sunday morning I already felt more tired and my pain was higher than normal, but I continued on regardless, cut to Sunday night and I am in so much pain I cannot get to sleep, I lay awake all night and ended up sitting with Thomas having a cup of tea at 4:30am. I finally got over to sleep around 8am and woke up around 12 in horrendous pain, I could hardly move. Had I paid attention to my body on Sunday and rested instead I wouldn't have ended up in so much pain.
How long does a flare up last
There is no real rule of thumb on how long a flare up will last, for some cases they can last a day or two, sometimes a few weeks. My most extreme flare up was while I was still going through the diagnosis process and I would say it lasted the better part of a year. Some people can last for years in a flare up and just feel like it is the norm for them to be in so much pain. I started to think that I would never have a normal life again when after 18 months I was still having more bad days than good. In fact going out one day caused me to be in bed for the rest of the week. I was so grateful when I started having more days were I could feel normal again.
How to treat a flare up
So far the only thing I find helps is a lot of rest. I do generally use heat patches or hot water bottles on the most extreme pain places, but this will only ease the pain slightly until you move the heat away and then it will be back so it is not a permanent treatment. I try to spend most of my rest time lying down but with pillows propping me in different angles as I find that lying flat on the bed hurts me more. Sadly as there are not proper cure of this illness as you know and treatment is just about medication and managing the symptoms.
If you have any other ideas of how we should treat a flare up, please let me know in the comments as this would be really helpful to other people as well.
I have to say one of the hardest things is trying to get people to remember that although one day we may be able to get up and go and do something doesn't mean the next day we will be able to again. I have found so many different times that people in my life have compared days were I have been out of the house and yet not able to do it on another. It has taken me a long time to get over this actually being hurtful. I have got to a stage now where I just take a deep breath and remember that I don't always know what is going on with other people in their private lives, so I cannot expect them to know exactly what is going on with me and how my body changes from day to day.
Anyway, I hope this has all made sense, as right now my head is getting really sore looking at the computer screen and I am not actually able to think straight now. So I am going to go and rest for a while.
I am sending you all loving hugs and praying you are having a lesser pain day.
Love you all,
Lyndsey xxx
Tuesday 29 April 2014
Sunday 27 April 2014
Happy Sunday Everyone
Hey my beautiful friends,
I hope you are all having a blessed Sunday.
I am doing ok, didn't have the best sleep last night, and woke up in a lot of pain. Ended up staying in bed until nearly lunch time. From about 11:30 I was just lying watching Youtube that passed a little time before I had to get up and go to my inlaws.
So had a nice wee walk with hubby, toby and my nephew. Poor kid just isn't used to the distance we walk lol, got half way and he was begging to go back. Funny he couldn't quite fathom that it would be the same distance home if we kept going than if we went back the way lol, but kids are kids so we walked balk and chilled for a bit. Had some lunch and watched guff on tv. Then before heading home at dinner time toby and I nipped out for another we walk. So that is me done for the day, my brother in law will do the other walks tonight.
Tonight I am spending the night editing some videos, and possibly doing another few. Have you seen my Youtube Channel? It is all about beauty :-) with health related stuff as well. I have, however, been a little stale with getting my health videos up. I have a few ideas though so hopefully this week I will get back to posting more. Do you guys watch beauty videos? Do you enjoy watching stuff on Youtube? I have to say I would be totally lost without youtube, from I stopped working I was watching youtube videos all the time during the night and it gave me the inspiration to start my own. But anyway, I won't go in to that too much. This isn't about that.
Anyways my lovelies, it is bed time now for me, I am getting really really sore now, my wee bones are aching. I am hoping that this blog will help you guys as much as it helps me. I have really found that talking about my life actually helps me get through it.
Obviously I haven't gone in to all the details of my illness fully but I will, with each day I will talk about different things. For instance, tomorrow I would like to talk about what it is like to live with the constant tiredness and the challenges I face with that. I will go through other things like fibro fog, the other sicknesses it attracts, the lack of social life, the loss of relationships, how it feels to have to leave work, how my faith in God helps me through each day. I have so much more but right now I cannot even think straight so I am signing off for now.
Love you all so much, sending you gentle hugs.
Lyndsey xxxxx
I hope you are all having a blessed Sunday.
I am doing ok, didn't have the best sleep last night, and woke up in a lot of pain. Ended up staying in bed until nearly lunch time. From about 11:30 I was just lying watching Youtube that passed a little time before I had to get up and go to my inlaws.
So had a nice wee walk with hubby, toby and my nephew. Poor kid just isn't used to the distance we walk lol, got half way and he was begging to go back. Funny he couldn't quite fathom that it would be the same distance home if we kept going than if we went back the way lol, but kids are kids so we walked balk and chilled for a bit. Had some lunch and watched guff on tv. Then before heading home at dinner time toby and I nipped out for another we walk. So that is me done for the day, my brother in law will do the other walks tonight.
Tonight I am spending the night editing some videos, and possibly doing another few. Have you seen my Youtube Channel? It is all about beauty :-) with health related stuff as well. I have, however, been a little stale with getting my health videos up. I have a few ideas though so hopefully this week I will get back to posting more. Do you guys watch beauty videos? Do you enjoy watching stuff on Youtube? I have to say I would be totally lost without youtube, from I stopped working I was watching youtube videos all the time during the night and it gave me the inspiration to start my own. But anyway, I won't go in to that too much. This isn't about that.
Anyways my lovelies, it is bed time now for me, I am getting really really sore now, my wee bones are aching. I am hoping that this blog will help you guys as much as it helps me. I have really found that talking about my life actually helps me get through it.
Obviously I haven't gone in to all the details of my illness fully but I will, with each day I will talk about different things. For instance, tomorrow I would like to talk about what it is like to live with the constant tiredness and the challenges I face with that. I will go through other things like fibro fog, the other sicknesses it attracts, the lack of social life, the loss of relationships, how it feels to have to leave work, how my faith in God helps me through each day. I have so much more but right now I cannot even think straight so I am signing off for now.
Love you all so much, sending you gentle hugs.
Lyndsey xxxxx
Saturday 26 April 2014
Welcome to my blog!
Hello everyone,
I decided that I wanted to start a blog to talk about my life with my chronic illness. So I guess I should start by telling you a little about me:
My name is Lyndsey, I am married, have been with my husband for ten years. I am a Christian. We have two fur babies. I have just recently turned 30 and for the longest time I have lived with Chronic Pain and Fatigue.
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in November of 2012. It had taken me many years going to the doctors and asking for help for my pain, my constant illnesses etc before something was finally done about it. I first started experiencing severe pain when I was 18. The doctor sent me to physio and gave me pain killers, this went on for years, I would go back and forward to the doctors. I have taken so many different medications that most ended up being ineffective. There were a few times over the last 12 years that my pain would get so extreme that breathing would actually hurt, I would spend days crying and yet still tried to go to work. I remember a point were I hadn't slept for a week and yet I was still getting up every morning and going to work. It was horrible. Those periods lasted a few weeks at a time and then eased, however I lived every day in pain, just more manageable. It was two years ago around this time that my pain started getting really bad again, I was working as a care assistant in a nursing home, I was happy, I loved my job and although it was hard going it was the most rewarding thing ever. It was in june of 2012 that I went off on sick thinking all I needed was a few weeks and I would be fit and ready to go back to work, well one month rolled in to two, then three and so on. I was getting worse not better. The doctor was trying all sorts of medications, different combinations and dosages, nothing was helping.
I had also been having severe pain in my shoulder, it seemed to be coming from right under my shoulder blade. I could not lift my arm up, I could not carry anything in that hand because the pain was so excruciating. I knew this was separate to the over all pain I was going through, it just wasn't the same at all. I remember during that summer waking up one day and not being able to move my head, I stayed in bed the whole day, but the following day I couldn't take it anymore and went to the hospital. Well that was a total waste of my time and energy. I sat for 3 hours, I was treated like a druggy by the doctor who saw me, even though by this stage I had been for an X-ray and they were able to see that there was something going on with my spine and he knew I was waiting for an MRI. He literally said to me 'What do you want me to do' I burst in to tears, I thought hospitals were supposed to be helpful.
Anyway, after a few months of pain and back and forward to the doctors, I was having coffee with a friend and she asked what my symptoms were and told me that they all sounded so similar to hers and that she has fibromyalgia, well I looked it up and sure enough I had majority of the symptoms. So I went to see the doctor again and asked did they think it could be this, I was referred to a rheumatologist and within two months had a diagnosis. I was still trying different combinations of medication, last year I had a nerve blocker in my shoulder, which helped that for about 5-6 weeks. It hasn't been as bad since, though it does play up a lot. I have been on patches for pain, but recently just had to stop them as they were causing allergic reactions and I was tearing my skin apart. So I am back on tablets trying different dosage and combination once again.
It is so hard because each individual is different and not all medications work for everyone. So it is all trial and error.
Anyway, as some of you may already know, last year I started a youtube channel. I was in a very dark place because my life had become so limited and I couldn't really get out much. So I started talking to a camera. It made me feel like I had company. I decided I wanted to incorporate beauty as well as my illness in to it, as I needed people to know that I may have fibro but that does not define me. I am fighting it, I am not letting it win. So twice a week I upload beauty videos, and once a week I upload a video talking about my illness. Although I am thinking of changing it to every other week, as I wanted to do this blog instead. I also have a channel were I Vlog most days just to share day to day living with fibro.
So I am hoping to be able to do this everyday and talk to you guys about life and battling a chronic invisible illness. Tomorrow I will talk about living with fibro, daily life. As I think I have rambled enough for today.
Sending you all massive hugs and love,
Lyndsey
xxxxxxxx
God Bless you all. xxx
**** Edit: I should have also added that I have battled an Underactive Thyroid from my late teens as well as arthritis in my wrists. Anyway I will talk more about these things in more of my posts. ****
I decided that I wanted to start a blog to talk about my life with my chronic illness. So I guess I should start by telling you a little about me:
My name is Lyndsey, I am married, have been with my husband for ten years. I am a Christian. We have two fur babies. I have just recently turned 30 and for the longest time I have lived with Chronic Pain and Fatigue.
I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in November of 2012. It had taken me many years going to the doctors and asking for help for my pain, my constant illnesses etc before something was finally done about it. I first started experiencing severe pain when I was 18. The doctor sent me to physio and gave me pain killers, this went on for years, I would go back and forward to the doctors. I have taken so many different medications that most ended up being ineffective. There were a few times over the last 12 years that my pain would get so extreme that breathing would actually hurt, I would spend days crying and yet still tried to go to work. I remember a point were I hadn't slept for a week and yet I was still getting up every morning and going to work. It was horrible. Those periods lasted a few weeks at a time and then eased, however I lived every day in pain, just more manageable. It was two years ago around this time that my pain started getting really bad again, I was working as a care assistant in a nursing home, I was happy, I loved my job and although it was hard going it was the most rewarding thing ever. It was in june of 2012 that I went off on sick thinking all I needed was a few weeks and I would be fit and ready to go back to work, well one month rolled in to two, then three and so on. I was getting worse not better. The doctor was trying all sorts of medications, different combinations and dosages, nothing was helping.
I had also been having severe pain in my shoulder, it seemed to be coming from right under my shoulder blade. I could not lift my arm up, I could not carry anything in that hand because the pain was so excruciating. I knew this was separate to the over all pain I was going through, it just wasn't the same at all. I remember during that summer waking up one day and not being able to move my head, I stayed in bed the whole day, but the following day I couldn't take it anymore and went to the hospital. Well that was a total waste of my time and energy. I sat for 3 hours, I was treated like a druggy by the doctor who saw me, even though by this stage I had been for an X-ray and they were able to see that there was something going on with my spine and he knew I was waiting for an MRI. He literally said to me 'What do you want me to do' I burst in to tears, I thought hospitals were supposed to be helpful.
Anyway, after a few months of pain and back and forward to the doctors, I was having coffee with a friend and she asked what my symptoms were and told me that they all sounded so similar to hers and that she has fibromyalgia, well I looked it up and sure enough I had majority of the symptoms. So I went to see the doctor again and asked did they think it could be this, I was referred to a rheumatologist and within two months had a diagnosis. I was still trying different combinations of medication, last year I had a nerve blocker in my shoulder, which helped that for about 5-6 weeks. It hasn't been as bad since, though it does play up a lot. I have been on patches for pain, but recently just had to stop them as they were causing allergic reactions and I was tearing my skin apart. So I am back on tablets trying different dosage and combination once again.
It is so hard because each individual is different and not all medications work for everyone. So it is all trial and error.
Anyway, as some of you may already know, last year I started a youtube channel. I was in a very dark place because my life had become so limited and I couldn't really get out much. So I started talking to a camera. It made me feel like I had company. I decided I wanted to incorporate beauty as well as my illness in to it, as I needed people to know that I may have fibro but that does not define me. I am fighting it, I am not letting it win. So twice a week I upload beauty videos, and once a week I upload a video talking about my illness. Although I am thinking of changing it to every other week, as I wanted to do this blog instead. I also have a channel were I Vlog most days just to share day to day living with fibro.
So I am hoping to be able to do this everyday and talk to you guys about life and battling a chronic invisible illness. Tomorrow I will talk about living with fibro, daily life. As I think I have rambled enough for today.
Sending you all massive hugs and love,
Lyndsey
xxxxxxxx
God Bless you all. xxx
**** Edit: I should have also added that I have battled an Underactive Thyroid from my late teens as well as arthritis in my wrists. Anyway I will talk more about these things in more of my posts. ****
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