So, went for a follow up appointment with my family Dr. and we reviewed all the test results and reports from the different specialists I’ve been to, and I’m now officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I have all the bells and whistles of a heavy duty case of, along with the frequent add-on disorders , what they like to refer to as comorbid medical conditions, of IBS, depression, chronic fatigue, interstitial cystitis. Blah blah blah.. basically it means, everything that can hurts, sometimes hurts… sometimes a lot sometimes a little, sometimes several things. I spend a lot of time with pain, and low energy, to varying degrees.

What does this mean? Who knows.. it’s just a label for a large group of unpleasant symptoms. There are a lot of theories, but no one really knows why people get it, what causes it, or how to fix it. It’s just down to management of symptoms.

Pain killers suck. Let’s face it, most of the effective ones are narcotic, with all the lovely side effects involved. I don’t like them, I find the side effects almost as bad as the pain effects…  I’m finding meditation, breathing, exercise, diet, and using heat more effective for the pain. It doesn’t remove it, but it makes it bearable.

I need to increase the things that work for me, mild exercise, heat, I think in the long run a hot tub is going to be a good idea. I think I’m also going to have to try to get swimming every day ideally. It can be hard sometimes, when you’re sore, and you feel exhausted, and to drag yourself out to the pool.. On days like that when I first get in the water, the first few laps, feel like I’m swimming through mud or molasses, the water is thick, my body aches… but, once my body starts to get ‘warmed up’, and the endorphins and things start to flow, something amazing happens, everything relaxes, and the pain goes away. Then, I want to swim forever, but I’ve found out, from swimming for three hours in a row, that overdoing it isn’t going to work either.

You know that post workout recovery pain you get the next day, or two days after, in fibromyalgic folks it’s 10 fold worse. So it’s a fine balance between doing as much as possible, and not pushing to the point of creating recovery pain. Which sucks, because I like to lift weights, and work hard, and build muscle, which means recovery pains.  I think I have to let go of that, and stay out of the weight room and stick to small slow increases in my routine.

Wheat/gluten seems to trigger my IBS and possibly some of my other symptoms, so I’m not risking it, it’s out of the picture for me from now on. My diet has gotten really ‘clean’ and it’s going to stay that way.

So.. off to finish watching the Victoria Secret fashion show, and research alternative therapies for fibromyalgia, and a couple of medications, Gabapentin and Pregabalin that my Dr. recommended might help with pain. non-narcotic. But honestly, I have trepidation about taking any more medications than I already am.

Oh, and the cold spells, the Dr. believes are from my weight loss, I have a lot less ‘insulation’ and my bodies internal thermostat he says may take a while to ‘reset’ itself properly.

Joy.

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