Seems like nothing has changed but when you look back, everything has changed updates for June, July, August, Sept, Oct, Nov.....

Greetings friends!  Has it REALLY been since MAY that I've updated my blog??  UGH I'm terrible I know!  So here comes a big update on what's been going on........

June, July and August proved to be busy with the kids and their variety of events.  School was out for the summer and that meant daily volleyball practice, camps and games.  That in itself keeps me on my toes.  We spent nearly everyday at the school for volleyball and a couple times went on trips related to the school volleyball program.  My daughter has such amazing dedication to the sport.

In July I tried to start exercising again- I was doing great for the first week, walking 3 miles a day on the treadmill at the gym.  I set out to try and be more active, try to drop a few pounds, if nothing else, just walking a bit.  After a week of doing this I was in so much pain and I couldn't walk!  I ended up at my chiropractor, IN TEARS because of the pain in my hips.  My right hip was the worst, with burning pain and literally every time I took a step it felt like it was locked up - it was terrible!  I had some acupuncture, some cold laser therapy and an incredibly painful adjustment on the first visit.  It felt so much better after that, I could actually walk out on my own with much less pain.  After two days of this treatment I was so much better but you better bet I wasn't getting back on that treadmill!! FORGET THAT SHIT!  I continued with this course of treatment for 3 days and the pain was finally gone.  The Dr said it was my bursis in my hip flaring up from lack of use to sudden over use - whatever, I wasn't doing it again!

August 12th school started up again which also meant I went back to work with the kids going back to school.  I love having the same schedule as the kids during the year and the summer off to be with them.  Even though the pay working at a school is crappy, it's better than nothing and gives me a schedule to follow, otherwise I would literally not do much of anything day in and day out - that I know!  It's hard sometimes to get up and go to work, really hard, but I do it because I know it's what I need, not only for the income I do get but for the schedule to follow.

September was a non-eventful month just getting back into the swing of a normal schedule everyday. I was extra tired trying to get back to waking up early and working all day but that's nothing new really, I don't think I ever really get use to it.  Still not exercising - can't take the chance of having a major flare like I did in August - oh god that was awful!  We are looking forward to a trip in October for fall break.

October we took a trip over fall break to California.  We've been really looking forward to this.  We planned to see family.  We went and saw my husbands mom for a few days and then went to visit my dad as well as my sister and her family in Palm Springs.  It was so great to see everyone and the kids.  We all live in different areas so we don't get to see each other but maybe once a year.  That's the drawback of living so far away from family.  I am in Colorado with my family, my sister is in California with her family, my husbands family is in California (1 brother in Colorado but 8 hrs away) and my dad is in Oklahoma.  So as you can see we are all spread out.

We were able to get some family pictures done while we were all together and that was wonderful.

Pretty good looking group if I do say so myself!  I'm in the yellow shirt next to my handsome hubby in the blue - my son is in the light yellow shirt and my beautiful daughter is holding her baby cousin.

November to current
Thanksgiving was great, I cooked a nice meal with the help of my daughter.  It was just us 4 but we had a feast and enough to feed us for another week to come!!  I need to learn to cook a little less on holidays!  Now it's that time of year again, the holidays are upon us.  For some of us this is a time of great fun, visiting with friends and family and going to party after party......... and for others it's a reminder that we aren't what we use to be.

I use to go shopping, now I shop online for 99% of the gifts I give....I can't physically go to the store and be on my feet for hours on end walking around browsing and picking out that perfect item....I use to attend many parties during the months of November and December...now I simply have to RSVP a NO because I really don't have the energy to smile and be "merry" for several hours at a time...Trust me when I say it's not because I don't want to or that I don't enjoy the company, it's not even close to that.....it's because my body just won't handle it and I'll end up paying for it for days to follow with pain and exhaustion.  It's just who I am now and I have to accept this as my reality.  As I like to say "It is what it is"...........it's been and has, more than ever, become my life motto.

I know I've been terrible at keeping my entries current and for that I am truly sorry - I really need to figure out how to just get it done......honestly after I am done working each day I am just so exhausted to do much of anything. I'm sure the words "I'm tired" are over used in my home by me and my family is sick of hearing it, but it's true.  I'm always tired, exhausted actually.  Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has ruined me.  I've dealt with the CFS longer than I have the Fibromyalgia (FMS) but the two combined is a doozy as you may know or can just imagine.

I have yet to find anything, natural or otherwise, that gives me any kind of good, long lasting energy or the feeling that I can take on my days without the lingering feeling of pure exhaustion.  I did take Adderall XR for many years but it took a toll on me and my goal is to be off all RX medications and only treat my conditions as naturally as possible.  It's really turning out to be difficult.  I've tried everything I'm aware of that's out there.  Maybe I'm missing something or maybe my body is just not "normal" and doesn't respond to traditional things.  Vitamin B12 does nothing for me - I've tried regular injections with no luck.  My chiropractor couldn't believe that I really had no luck with the weekly injections over a course of 5 weeks.  Nope, nada.......abnormal response for most people

If anyone out there knows of something that could be helpful, I'm always willing to try if I haven't already.  I really feel desperate at times.  Along with the lack of energy comes a little weight gain because of the lack of motion.  I could, if life with 2 teens allowed, sit in my recliner day in and day out, only getting up to eat, visit the bathroom and maybe get a drink.  It's really sad for a 44 y/o to feel and act like a 94 y/o day in and out.  I do my best with the cards I've been dealt.

As for my pain related to FMS....it's always been primarily in my hips,  That's where it started and that's where it pops up the most.  As I shared from August, I had a terrible flare from exercising and it was in my hips.  My lower back and shoulders also have flares.  The most common thing I'm dealing with now is numbness and tingling in my right arm and hand.  At times the nerve that runs down the arm feels like it's on fire and that is just miserable.  Aside from those things I'm doing ok, the exhaustion from CFS seems to be worse now than the FMS but both are ever present, every day.

I still see my chiropractor every week when possible, in reality though it's more like every 2 weeks when I'm feeling well enough.  Without those treatments I don't think I would be in very good shape.  Adjustments really help so much.  More than anything else I've tried, keeping my body "straight" with regular adjustments seems to be the best treatment for ME.  I highly recommend you give it a try if you aren't having any relief of your FMS pain.  Find a good Chiropractor who is familiar with FMS and can effectively treat you.  It's worth it!

I'm looking forward to a 2 week break coming up.  December 19th - January 3rd is our "winter break" - we will of course be celebrating Christmas and New Years during that time.  I'm most likely going to cook a nice meal for Christmas - probably just a ham, mac and cheese and salad.  Nothing too terribly extravagant.  My family will go to The Outback Steak House on Christmas Eve - it's a tradition we started a few years ago instead of cooking a big meal at home.  I like having someone else do all the work and clean up!  Since it's just the 4 of us, it really makes sense.

I hope this update finds you well and coping well.  I know some might be having a hard time and I sincerely hope you find relief for yourself.  If there is any advice I could give it would be to not give up on finding what helps you!  Since FMS effects everyone so differently, you need to find what helps you - I know that what I suggest might not be your thing, I just know it's helped me get as much of my life back as possible and I will continue to search for more until I feel that I've exhausted every avenue.

I am going to leave you with a recent article I found - To your health and until next time!

FMS linked with Coronary Heart Disease

I find the above article interesting.  I have heart palpitations pretty regularly but my Dr has never been too concerned about it.  I also have family history of heart disease so I suspect as I get older I will start having regular heart check-ups to make sure my heart is not misbehaving.

I knew this would happen, was just a matter of time...

Since my last entry on April 7th things have been crazy…..just crazy………….and I'm certainly paying for it with a major flare.......god I hate fibro, I hate chronic fatigue - I HATE IT!

So our insurance called to let us know they totaled the van as the crash had done some damage to the frame.  With that they sent us a settlement letter requesting the title be signed over to them and offering us some money to replace the car.  They offered us a little more than we expected so we were happy with their offer and just wanted to get it done.  Of course the amount is not enough to get the same vehicle or even anything close.  It’s a shame, I went from no car payment and a car that still had plenty of life in it to looking to replace it with something that was similar – good luck right?  Not exactly what I was looking for but it is what it is.

Let the stress begin – all I can hope is that I don’t end up going into a major flare over this entire process…….fingers crossed as we embark on the car search…financial worries and all that comes with it…fun times! 

So I stared off by doing a lot of research online and looked at a lot of different cars.   We knew we wanted something 4WD or AWD to start.  Nissan, Subaru, Dodge, Jeep, Ford……the list I’m sure goes on, honestly I have really forgotten all the different brands and styles, at this point it's all just a blur.

I was initially set on a Jeep Patriot – however, after looking at the reviews and sitting in it decided it was not the right car for us.  Too boxy for starters…..although I do love the way it looks on the outside, it’s just not the right fit on the inside.  In fact, every time I see one I take a double look, I just like the way they look.

We sat in many cars over the past 2 weeks – the Murano and Rogue were nice – I really liked them both – it’s hard to get use to going from a mini van to a much smaller car but it’s time ……nothing really struck our fancy much……so the search continued…….

At one dealer we were introduced to the Dodge Journey – this car was one that did strike us as something we liked.  It is very similar to what we had in both color and options but yet different enough – it was a 2013 and had 28k miles.  We drove it – enjoyed it’s power and comfort.  We left that dealer with the Dodge Journey as our top pick from the day.  But we still wanted to check out some other cars so we weren’t quite ready just yet to make a commitment on it.

As the week went on we continued to search – looking for used vehicles between 2010 and 2014 that weren’t priced too high or with too much mileage – that really narrowed down the field for us.  I looked at a Ford Escape – BLEH – the 2010 model I sat in felt so cheap – the 2013 had bad reviews.  It felt like it was very cheap plastic inside – while it was the size I was looking for and the price – I couldn’t get over how cheap it felt and I knew I wouldn't be happy with it.  Probably because I’m use to the nice interior that generally comes with Dodge vehicles.

So needless to say, the Ford Escape was now off our list.  At this point our options were getting much more narrow and I was getting really tired of looking – literally tired.  All the walking around, talking with people and internet research was catching up to me – we weren’t getting home until late every night and our entire “normal” schedule has been off really since the crash on April 3rd.  I’m now feeling the effects of it all in full force – my fatigue is off the charts this week.

Wednesday this past week we decided to go check the Dodge Journey again.  After several days of going around looking, dealing with pushy sales people and not finding anything we liked, I wanted to see the Dodge one more time before I made a decision.  We went, we looked, we still loved – so the choice was obvious – let’s talk numbers!  We also really liked the sales person we dealt with.

We ended up staying at the dealership for HOURS – we had to come to grips with several things before we could feel comfortable with our decision.  For a variety of reasons, our credit scores aren't that great.  That right there put us in a bad situation for our APR on a loan…….the dealer worked with what they had and ended up getting us as good a deal as they could considering.  I was leaning towards continuing on looking as I really wanted a lower payment, however, with our credit, we were unlikely to find a lower payment even if we found a less expensive /older car.  My husband reminded me too that if we left we would put to chance that the car we want would be gone, and that we might not find another like it.  So after thinking and thinking and thinking we said yes to the car!  I’m now driving a nice black 2013 Dodge Journey, AWD with 28k miles.  We were able to negotiate a lot of things so we ended up getting some good deals attached to the car.  Our 1^st 4 oil changes are free with the dealer, the entire car is covered on any problems it could have pretty much for the life of the car.  That makes us feel good about the purchase and comfortable that we won’t have to shell out even more money should something bad go wrong with anything on the car – lots of electronics so that is a great peace of mind for us.  At most we would have to pay a $100 deductible to get anything fixed - sounds great to me!

Here it is Friday as I’m writing this update and I can barely keep my eyes open.  I’m so exhausted from everything this week.  My chronic fatigue tends to flare out of control when my “normal” schedule gets upheaved like it has this past couple weeks.  Between driving my husbands older truck, which is difficult for me to even get into most of the time, the stress of trying to find the right car, finding the right car and the stress involved with that purchase – it all adds up and ends up leaving me dealing with excess pain and fatigue that I haven’t had in a while.  My normal aches and pains are in overdrive and like I said before, my fatigue is just off the charts.  Of course life goes on so I have to push myself through and get things done - but believe me, as soon as I can, I'm down for the count!  

This weekend my plans are to rest if I can.   That is of course after I grocery shop, plan Easter dinner and get things ready for the kids – but after all that, rest!......is there even time to rest?

I saw my Chiropractor on Friday and he gave me a shot of B12 - historically B12 does nothing for me at all - I'm one of those who just doesn't metabolize it - but we thought to give it a try and see if anything changes - maybe my body has changed since the last I tried it. 

Coming into this next week I work M-W and then my daughter and I are off to MN for the Northern Lights Volleyball Tournament.  She will play with the 17’s team from her club as they invited her to join them for this tournament.  It’s a great opportunity for her and we are very excited.  Of course this trip will most likely not help my fatigue as traveling tends to take it out of me so I don’t suspect won’t feel much better until well into May when things finally start to settle down in my world and I can get the rest break I so much need in order to get back on track.

Through all this I’ve been continuing to see my chiropractor and getting adjustments.  That’s been helping a lot – I have also had some acupuncture, which helped my ribs finally stop hurting.  They were hurting so bad, I am sure from the accident.  After the acupuncture they finally stopped hurting.  

Today (Saturday) as I'm finishing up this post I wanted to add that I am not as tired as I was yesterday - so maybe that B12 did help a little.  I went to bed early last night too.  On the other hand, my entire body hurts - I think it's just par for the course with having Fibro and Chronic Fatigue - I just hope this flare leaves sooner rather than later.

Whew, that was a lot to share this week!  If you made it this far, I applaud you and thank you for your continued interest in my story.  

Until next time - to your health!

Gerri