Saturday, April 19, 2014

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 1st 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

Monday, April 7, 2014

All in 5 days - what a crazy week to say the least!

Well last week was quite eventful in my world!  Settle in and let me tell you all about the craziness!

First, in case you missed my update earlier in the week, I was introduced to an absolutely fabulous product that helps people manage pain - of course I had to try it and I'm amazed at the results, no.....I'm in love, absolutely in love, with this product.  It's a product you can get from a company called FGXpress - the product is "Powerstrips".  These thin adhesive strips are nothing less than a gift sent from above.  You can check it out here, or send me a message with any questions you might have.  I've been using these on my chronic pain and have been enjoying NO PAIN since!  Check it out!  Seriously, do yourself a favor and check it out!

So as I'm enjoying my new pain free living I went along with my week and on Thursday my world was turned upside down.  It was a snowy morning - typically in March and April we get lots of heavy wet snow between our bouts of warm spring weather.  Thursday was no different than years past, heavy wet snow falling.  I took my kids to school and noticed as we were driving that the snow was really heavy and wet - really slick in places on the roads.  I dropped my kids off at school and headed home.  On my way down the road to my house I had the foresight to put the van into a lower gear as the road was slick and I was getting ready to go down a pretty precarious hill that turns to the right towards the end.  Before I knew it....whoosh.....I caught some slush and my van took off sliding sideways......I couldn't get it back in line or pull out of the slide and ended up plowing down a pole with a reflector on it and barreling into a large boulder right off the road - it was loud, it was scary......my van bounced from one large boulder to another with a thud and boom......when everything stopped I was fine for the most part, my coffee had flown down to the floor, many things that were in the center console were now at my feet.........I was shocked I'm sure........my airbags did not deploy so I got out the car to survey the damage - not looking good at all.......I got back in and called my husband and lost it - I started crying uncontrollably.  I've never been in an accident and I was scared and didn't know what to do!





My husband assured me he would be on his way.  Meanwhile, a neighbor in the area came running down to me to check to see if anyone was hurt and to inform me she had called the fire department - she said that I hit a boulder and moved it several feet from where it originally was so she was sure someone was hurt - thankfully that wasn't the case.  I've included some pictures of the damage.  It was about an hour of action from the time of the crash, fire truck, police, neighbors - and me......in tears and hysterical.

By the time my husband arrived it was just me and the van.  He got me home and we called the insurance and set up a tow truck to come haul the van away. We also made an appointment to see the chiropractor that afternoon as I was already starting to feel the pain in my neck and back from the accident.  I was concerned how my body would react to being jolted around....with fibro you just never know.  We still don't know what the story is for the van - we kind of think it could be totaled as it's only worth about $5000 at this point (before the wreck)

As of now I'm seeing my chiropractor every other day to work on my body and healing.  I'm pretty sore in my lower back, ribs and shoulders/neck.  I keep getting more sore so it's a good thing I was able to get into see him.  As soon as my inflammation goes down I will begin putting the pain strips on my pain to help with that.  Until then I need to just use ice and biofreeze to help.  It's really more stiff and sore than it is painful.

Saturday was my birthday.  Considering everything it was a good day.  I got my hair cut and the family took me out to a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. That is my favorite place - mostly because they have the best cheesecake ever!  I had my favorite dish, Alfredo Pasta with Chicken and sun dried tomatoes and for dessert I took home a red velvet cheesecake slice - it was DELICIOUS!

Today I went back to work after having a 2wk Spring break.   It was tough to get up and going this morning as I woke up sick.  Of course I didn't get sick all the time I was off work, had to get sick the day we go back.  I managed to get my butt out of the house and stay at work all day even though all I wanted to do was come home and crawl in bed.  Now I'm just on the couch, my entire body aches and it's all I can do to not go crawl into bed now - I think I will be doing that soon though.

So that's about it for this update - quite a bit to digest.  The past 5 days have been a little on the crazy side - probably why I'm getting sick now.  It always seems that if it's not one thing it's definitely always another!

Until next time, to your health!  And NO PAIN!

Gerri




Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Let's visit this FMS and Herpes connection again shall we?

So if you recall in my last post I included an article I had found that shows a potential link between FMS and HSV.  If you need to refresh yourself on that article, you can do so by clicking HERE - then let's dig a little deeper into this connection and see what we find.

Naturally, I've been doing some research of my own and think that this article has a lot to it and that this .  I have EBV (Epstein Barr Virus) which is also known as human Herpesvirus 4.  EBV is also linked to Chronic Fatigue - hmmmm interesting, I have that too.  EBV can also cause infectious mononucleosis - another interesting thing, I was diagnosed with Mono when I was 16 - seeing the dots connect yet? Mono and EBV, the two seem to go hand in hand.  Funny thing though, once you have it, you NEVER ever get rid of it.  It lurks and can cause havoc on your body at any given time.  Sound familiar?  Boy it sure does to me!

So we know there is a link between EBV, HSV, CFS and Mono.....where does FMS come into play?  I wonder if because of all the other things, FMS and the pain we experience is just another part of the Herpes virus boring away at our nerve ganglia which in turn causes our unexplained pain all over our bodies....something to consider as a real possibility.

See what happens when I have too much time on my hands?  I start posting to my blog and researching things which leads me in all kinds of directions!

On a side note, please, please look at this product I've talked about PowerStrips - it works and the results are incredible!  I've been enjoying pain free living since finding it and hope to help others who suffer from pain with this simple system.

Until next time - to your health!!!

Gerri

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Interesting study on FMS and HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus)

My entire purpose of starting this blog is to keep my own research someplace that I can refer back to and reflect on.  Another reason was to hopefully touch the lives of others who may find themselves in a similar situation as I did about 4 yrs ago - sick with no answers!  It's not a fun place to be and actually a very desperate place to find yourself.

Over the course of time as I started to feel better and become more active in my own life I slowly stopped posting things to my blog - this was not intentional, just an oversight as life gets busy.

My goal right now is to keep up on this blog, continuing to add beneficial information that I have found online myself or that was sent to me.  I hope to be a source of information to those out there who seek it and to keep those who wish to be kept up to date on how I'm doing with my own struggles.

Today I read an article that I found quite interesting.  As anyone who suffers from FMS, CFS, and other chronic issues we don't really have any answers but all these studies being done touch on the POSSIBLE - they still have a long way to go to be proven or to even have a remedy that will work.  It's a sad place to be, looking in on these things with the hope that someday in our lifetime they will find something to help us - until then, we carry on, trying new things until we find something that works well enough.

You can read the article HERE

Until next time - to your health!

Gerri