I'll Eat Two Pieces of Fresh Fruit, I Promise

Day 12 of 365 Tiny Changes

I get to stay in my sweats, today.  Woo Who!

I have to celebrate the little things in my day, because not everything always goes as planned.

It hit last night, right after dinner.  I didn’t recognize it for what it was, being so late in the day.  I just thought I was really tired, from all the coupon clipping I had done during the day.

Unfortunately, I knew exactly what it was when I woke up this morning.  A fibromyalgia flare up.  Well, maybe. 

For me, the first sign that a flare up is occurring is melting exhaustion.  The kind where, if I sit down, I simply feel like I could melt into the sofa, and never get up again. 

Then I get the all over body aches and severe pain if I’m touched by anything, even my clothes.  Thus the sweats, because it’s too cold to go naked all day.

I had plans this morning to jump out of bed at 5:30, do a quick “get ready for the day”, and zip out to the grocery by 6:30 to get my weekly shopping done, before the crowds arrived.

This past weekend and the first 3 days of this week are the single busiest week for grocery stores in the USA.  While I want to do my part to keep this statistic accurate, I sure don’t want to be there when everyone else is.  I’m more of a go when others are still sleeping person.

Instead, I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30, only because it hurt too much to lay there.  I have slowly taken my shower, done my 10 minutes of stretching, had my cup of decaffeinated tea, read a chapter from a book about getting rich (I still retain hope in that arena),  started a load of laundry, and began working on this blog entry, all within 2 and 1/2 hours.  I am no Speedy Gonzales, when these flare-ups strike.  I’m more of a sloth like creature.  A sleeping sloth.

Fibromyalgia is diagnosed by ruling out any other possible illnesses.  I’m always leery about accepting these type of diagnoses.  Like all those people who were diagnosed with MS, and it turned out that they really had a severe allergy to aspartame.  No aspartame, no MS symptoms.  Bad diagnosis?

I first mentioned my symptoms of exhaustion to a doctor in my early 20’s.  He told me I had “tired housewives syndrome”.  I accepted it, because I had 2 babies, was going to college full time, was working a part time job, and my then husband was in the Navy and out to sea.  So yes, indeed, I was one tired housewife.

I mentioned it again, to a Dr. when I was in my early-30’s.  He thought I was depressed.  My children were in their early teen’s, I was a single mom, working full time, with lots of bills to pay.  I didn’t really feel depressed, just a little stressed, but hey, I’m no Dr.  What do I know?

The symptoms have gone from bouts of exhaustion to bouts of exhaustion with all over aches and pains, and now the pain of being touched by anything.

My Dr. now tells me it’s fibromyalgia.

Fortunately, now I have the Internet.  Through my research I may have hit on something that may be the underlying cause, or maybe prove a misdiagnosis.

It seems that some people who present symptoms of fibromyalgia really have Celiac’s Disease.  They are allergic to Gluten, which is found in wheat and other grain products.  This disease appears to be hereditary and I have a sister and a daughter who have already been diagnosed with this.  Fibromyalgia is also hereditary, and no one, besides me, in my family has ever been diagnosed with it.  I’m willing to look into the possibility of anything else, if it can make these symptoms go away.

It’s a good thing I’ve already decided to give up my reign as the Pasta Princess.  I’m going to be a lot more committed to eating the 3 fresh veggies a day, I promised to eat.  Which brings me to the next tiny change.

Tiny Change 12:  Eat 2 pieces of fresh fruit each day.

While I wait for the symptoms to subside, I am going to have a slow moving day.  Maybe take a nap, or two.  I totally believe is being gentle with myself, because I have proven over the years that being any other way has absolutely no rewards.

If anyone else shares in this malady, please feel free to share your secrets of caring for yourself during a flare up. 

Best Regards,

Linda