Life can be a Pain

Hi @Owlunar

last Sunday I ended up going back to bed after breakfast. Littke A is really good. She watches her favourite show quietly. Even on sat after working in the bakery so early I went to sleep fir a while.
It's even hard to have her to my D bed as she would get up and not sleep. Because there's no door to thst room.
We're doing the best we can under the hard circumstances.

I know you are doing your best @BlueBay

It's a tough time for everyone - but I seriously think you need to have a sleep in at least once a week

Could you not move the cot into the room with your D. I was thinking about it though and maybe it's too noisy when there is no door.

I hear you - it's hard - esp as A wakes up early and also through the night - and your health is not good - I am concerned for you

Dec

Hi @Escaped_Goat

Thanks for posting your story - it's really hard to have something come along and take away our quality of life - for you it was an accident and subsequent surgeries and then at some stage you lost your career path - and that must have been brutal

So for you the result was fibromyalgia - I guess I don't know much about that or chronic fatigue syndrome - which seems similar - and both seem mysterious - and painful - and maybe the "fibro-fog" is a difference - and that symptom sounds unsettling to me.

Not a good scene

And yes - for whatever reason the Government is picking on the pain medication again - when I first started on the magical journey of chronic pain it was really hard to get the medicaion I needed - then it seemed easier - now it's harder - I am seeing a pain specialist who does facet joint injections and also does injections of local anaesthic into nerves in my knee which worked for about 4 months and my knee is getting touchy with the chilly weather we have been having in Melbourne - and sometimes I get twinges in my lumbar spine where I had needles recently - it's my shoulder that's playing up atm and I had an MRI yesterday and tomorrow I should get results from my doctor and it's a long term problem - I'm pretty sure I pushed it too hard trying to exercise it

There are times when we should not exercise and it seems you are going through that right now

Doncha just love it - or really hate it - when they put you on tablets that cause weight gain and then tell you to lose weight - good on you for tracking down that helpful doctor and getting the right regime for you and losing weight - well done -

But recent surgery took you out of the Goldilocks Zone and into the ouchy zone again - and then - stress is not helpful at any time and we all have to endure the coronavirus lock-down. I watched Dateline this evening and saw how brutal things have been in Spain - it seems we are really lucky to be in Australia where they got onto it quickly - but still - our lives have been tossed around out of our control with all of it and this doesn't make anyone happy

Nor should we feel we have to been happy because we are better off that some - we have to put up with whatever we are dealt - I am beginning to feel fed up with it though I have been okay until the weather in Melbourne got cold and gloomy -

But I will be okay - I am getting on in years - feeling over the hill sometimes and I am allowed to feel that way - I think we all need to know it's okay to feel not okay sometimes. The coronavirus thing seems like a dream sometimes and I wonder when I will wake up and when I do - it's not a dream

It will pass - I am glad you have joined us

Dec

@Owlunar Thanks. Yeah.. I feel the extra stress of covid has done us no favours. It makes it harder for everyone but particularly for people living with chronic pain as our symptoms are exacerbated. My daughter read a study that said people with fibromyalgia are more susceptible to covid so she is doing the right thing by staying away but the thing I want more than anything is a visit from my daughter and granddaughter. But because her partner still has to work and be in contact with people they don't want to risk it.
It's a vicious circle at the moment with my fibromyalgia and depression. I know I need to move more so I don't hurt as much but depression keeps me pinned down.
Fibro fog is frustrating but my family is quite used to me using an entire paragraph to explain what I want because I can't think of the word. 😂

I said we can always switch to charades if that gets boring. 🤣

Hi @Escaped_Goat

G'day etc - I am having trouble getting started today - and it is another beauiful day here - I am sure it's harder right now because of the COVID-19 curse and curve crisis getting to everyone - everyday has a sameness - only the weather is different - well of course - the name of the day and the date etc and hopefully we are getting to the end of all of this

Anyway - I just had a look on the net to see the difference between FM and CFS and they seem pretty much the same except that FM mostly gets to women between 30 and 55 and CFS can affect anyone at any age but they both have pain, mental confusion and fatiuge - so yes - that cannot be fun - and I know my grand-daughter has suffered this for years

She had made a drastic decision that seems to help her - she is totally vegan and she says that has helped her improve - and I will believe that - my son was a difficult child - really difficult - and I would cook vegetarian food every second day and it made a difference to him. I rather enjoy meat but could have survived on a vegetarian diet but my then-husband and daughter insisted on a regular diet and I never felt like cooking two different meals per day - but I get it that it can help -

Now of course - I eat what I like but lots of vegetables - still - one thing I believe is that it's better to eat what we like - I have this thing about the food police even though I have always eaten a healthy diet

Also - she moved from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast - I went up there to visit her last year and the weather was glorious - I will never forget that - it was the middle of July and so warm I regretted not taking any shorts with me - and I spent a lot of time just sitting at the beach and watching the surf - it would be an excellent place to live but I will stay in Melbourne and enjoy the variety of weather here -

But - yes - how wonderful to be able to take a few days and spend it at a glorious beach in Queensland - this is unlikely to happen this year - hopefully we can move soon and I agree that it is really hard - it's a very strange sort of life we are living - unable to visit people we love - and it's Mothers Day this weekend and I would love to see my daughter that day - maybe she will stop here for a few minutes on her way back from shopping as she did at Easter and we could chat for a few minutes while I stood inside my front door and she was a metre or so down my footpath - and this was difficult. We have this in common with each other and with so many other people

Still - life goes on and this will pass and at this time we are actually living through an historical event that will be taught in schools and people will write songs and poems and this will be part of novels and movies - does that cheer you up? Not really - atm - me neither. My grandmother loved telling me about two world wars and the depression but I am older and my grand-daughter is living through it herself -

Let's get off the gloomies - I hope your day is the best it can be and I wish you the best

Dec

@Owlunar I'm vegetarian and have been most of my adult life. I guess I'm almost vegan but haven't fully transitioned... most of the time I eat plant based but then there's the odd egg and cheese meal creeping in and occasionally milk. Never meat.
I have to keep track of the date or I get lost.. every day is too much the same now.

The sun definitely helps fibromyalgia... there's proof that taking extra vit D and magnesium are beneficial as well as some other supplements. Of course if you can get the sun every day that's better! It's a whole balancing act of things and every person with it has slightly different needs although there are some basics that help all of us... those are the ones hardest to achieve. The restful sleep.. the optimal amount of exercise vs rest... nutritional balance... stress management... and pain relief. The bar is always moving on these from day to day so it's a full time job managing the symptoms.

Thinking of you @Owlunar

hope your MRI results are good

sending hugs to you 🤗🙏❤️

thinking of you today @Owlunar and sending hugs

G'day peeps @Shaz51 @BlueBay @Escaped_Goat @Zoe7 @Former-Member

Oh yes - there's one in every week

I seem to have survived this weekI am glad it's Friday and Fridays are prety busy for me and I have been posting - and I thought I had better record my own disappointment this week because I did survive it and I will survive more of the same because it's just life and the way it goes at times

I had my MRI on Monday - and I recovered from being in the narrow tube by thinking about all my past holidays and enjoyed the memories. The technician was a very kind and gentle woman who stacked all sorts and shapes and sizes of cushions around me so I couldn't move and it was over - and although there were times I thought I might never move again - I did -

But my doctor couldn't give me the results on Wednesday - which is probably due to the COVID-19 curve, curse, crisis thing - I will get the results from the doctor this afternoon on a phone consult - yes - I am pretty sure I know what's wrong - I have a sore shoulder from old injuries and operations and I think I would rather put up with it rather than have joint replacement but we shall see

So - I had a phone consult with my psychologist set up for this week - long story short - she is leaving that company and I understand and don't blame her but they told me I had an appointment even when I rang because she was late ringing me and problems in admin can cause me to itch between my shoulder blades more than any actually disappointment but se la vie - life is what happens to us when we are busy making other plans. #It goes to show you never can tell# - egad - I have to wait until June to see someone else and start again - this will be therapist number 6 and I know it's not me who moves them along except for number 4 - that person and I didn't click and I am the first to say I don't click with everyone

Anyway - In the middle of the night I decided to visit the loo and got up half-asleep and my right foot wasn't awake properly either and I fell onto the floor beside my bed - this has happened before - I am okay - yesterday I was stiff and sat in my chair with the wheat pack working magic on my spine and eventually the huge disappoint of my psychologist moving on and not yet knowing about my MRI - less of a problem - and cursing myself for getting up without waking up properly didn't help but I let my emotions have their say for a while before I napped for a while and in the evening felt so much better.

I personally find it better to let my disappointments in life have their turn and honour them as such and let the time pass and it does move off much more quickly than having a melt-down as I would have done decades past - I originally called myself Decadian here - but hey - Dec is easier to type but Decadian - yes - the decades of my life have all been different and at the end of each on life has been so different. I have learned to let the past go and give sorrow space enough but not take over and disappointments are just that and can we be happy with everything

In fact - just sitting here typing I think if we put too much on being happy we will find it fails - it's a passing emotion like everything else and I have reached a stage in my life I called blessed - blessed with a sense of peace that endures when being happy is not a secure state for me

Enough of my philosphies - I have more to share because spending my time reflecting gives me time to think about the meaning of life and I don't have an answer to that yet but there are reasons to feel "blessed" indeed

I will see my daughter briefly tomorrow on her way home from work where we can stand a metre or so apart to chat - she's working on Mothers Day too - it's a busy time in her industry

Okay - Fridays are busy - I might have time for one more post

Dec

@Owlunar I always wonder how people get so wise and am often met with the answer "experience" when I ask my slightly older friends.
I'm still waiting for wisdom to hit me.. at the ripe age of 58 I still feel lacking in life's knowledge and still feel flighty, unsettled and unknowing of who I really am as a person. I worry that time is getting away from me and I never had a chance to enjoy the time that has passed. Small windows yes but in general a life of surviving.