A wish for a good day to you all!



I'm 42 years old with 2 adult children and an ex spouse to go with it. I know from my personal experiences that as scared as you might have been your children and spouse are just as frightened. How they handle it is another situation. Opening communication to not only your immediate family but extended members as well is the best information I can give anyone. I tried a hundred times, left information all over the house, attempted to get them involved with internet searches and even brought it up during counselling with my (then) husband. It wasn't until I said "enough already" and told husband I wanted a divorce and left the state that anyone figured out what I was dealing with. I had to leave friends and family and even my children behind to get any "relief" from all their nasty comments and demeaning attitudes. When I returned, a year later, my children shunned me for awhile (until we could sit and talk) and my ex is now my best friend. HE had been reading about fibro the whole time I was gone....he'd finally "gotten it" and was VERY sorry. I guess we learned a lot in one year.



I started out having horribly painful feet one morning when I got up and it just went from there. I'd been experiencing IBS for years (off and on) but then along came: itchy/painful or crawling skin, numbness in both hands and feet, pain in 16 out of 18 areas, fatigue, mind-fog days, insomnia, legs spasms mostly at night but occasionally during the day too, morning stiffness, sensitivity to weather (I live in Iowa....extremes both ways...geesh) and always thirsty with dry eyes.



I got the usual Dr thing of making me think I was crazy until I got this wild idea to go to a rheumatologist and found information there and online to support what I was dealing with. Then I got started on the usual routine of drugs but without careful monitoring. It turned out I was taking 2 of the same type of drug twice a day each....if I was a bit of a "waste-oid" it's NO surprise. After months of taking medications and wandering around aimlessly I took the "bull by the horns" and demanded I be taken off the meds one by one. Heck I had to make lists just to keep two thoughts together in the same place.....much less get anything done. But the day I forgot my child at school and went to pick her up 2 hours later.....I cried.....I felt so sorry for her and for me too! Not just a few tears but crocodile tears of grief for all that I was watching slip from my hands......MY LIFE!!



How could "I" the one who could do ANYTHING or atleast try be dealing with something debilitating?? I could break horses, keep up with any man roofing, till and plant a garden in a day and my friends said I got more done by noon than they got done all day long. So how could this be??



After I left all I knew I had to reevaluate my life and take a good look at what was going to be quality life for me. Returning back to the state I was born in everyone noticed a whole new person. I looked normal. I even acted kinda normal but that wasn't the biggest change. I'd accepted my "condition", found what drugs worked to ease the problem areas, and realized I was just gonna have to "live with it, like it or not". Once you work through the human traits: grief, anger, denial and the lot......you'll come to be where I am. I still have my days of all of them but now am going to put all that wasted energy to work.

Hugs to one and all!

Hi Pat,

I too had to start leaving things around for my husband to read. I got so tired of hearing you just need to get up and exercise more and move around, or you are just taking to many naps and resting too much. I finallly left him something I found on another site called a letter to normals to let them know how we feel and live. I never asked him to read it just left it lying in the office. I really did not think it would do any good but it did. Ever since then he has been so much more patient with me and when I say I am hurting or tired he does'nt make any comments just says okay I'll take over. I also take alot of meds, our cabinet looks like a pharmacy. I take Trazadone to sleep, Lodend for inflamation, ultram which just recently stopped working but started causing mass side affects, for pain, now I take Vicoden for pain only when it is so bad I can not sleep. I also take an anti-depressent and muscle relaxers. I am sooo sick of taking medication!!



Kristina

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Replying to:

A wish for a good day to you all!



I'm 42 years old with 2 adult children and an ex spouse to go with it. I know from my personal experiences that as scared as you might have been your children and spouse are just as frightened. How they handle it is another situation. Opening communication to not only your immediate family but extended members as well is the best information I can give anyone. I tried a hundred times, left information all over the house, attempted to get them involved with internet searches and even brought it up during counselling with my (then) husband. It wasn't until I said "enough already" and told husband I wanted a divorce and left the state that anyone figured out what I was dealing with. I had to leave friends and family and even my children behind to get any "relief" from all their nasty comments and demeaning attitudes. When I returned, a year later, my children shunned me for awhile (until we could sit and talk) and my ex is now my best friend. HE had been reading about fibro the whole time I was gone....he'd finally "gotten it" and was VERY sorry. I guess we learned a lot in one year.



I started out having horribly painful feet one morning when I got up and it just went from there. I'd been experiencing IBS for years (off and on) but then along came: itchy/painful or crawling skin, numbness in both hands and feet, pain in 16 out of 18 areas, fatigue, mind-fog days, insomnia, legs spasms mostly at night but occasionally during the day too, morning stiffness, sensitivity to weather (I live in Iowa....extremes both ways...geesh) and always thirsty with dry eyes.



I got the usual Dr thing of making me think I was crazy until I got this wild idea to go to a rheumatologist and found information there and online to support what I was dealing with. Then I got started on the usual routine of drugs but without careful monitoring. It turned out I was taking 2 of the same type of drug twice a day each....if I was a bit of a "waste-oid" it's NO surprise. After months of taking medications and wandering around aimlessly I took the "bull by the horns" and demanded I be taken off the meds one by one. Heck I had to make lists just to keep two thoughts together in the same place.....much less get anything done. But the day I forgot my child at school and went to pick her up 2 hours later.....I cried.....I felt so sorry for her and for me too! Not just a few tears but crocodile tears of grief for all that I was watching slip from my hands......MY LIFE!!



How could "I" the one who could do ANYTHING or atleast try be dealing with something debilitating?? I could break horses, keep up with any man roofing, till and plant a garden in a day and my friends said I got more done by noon than they got done all day long. So how could this be??



After I left all I knew I had to reevaluate my life and take a good look at what was going to be quality life for me. Returning back to the state I was born in everyone noticed a whole new person. I looked normal. I even acted kinda normal but that wasn't the biggest change. I'd accepted my "condition", found what drugs worked to ease the problem areas, and realized I was just gonna have to "live with it, like it or not". Once you work through the human traits: grief, anger, denial and the lot......you'll come to be where I am. I still have my days of all of them but now am going to put all that wasted energy to work.

Hugs to one and all!