Health Update for May 2017

Happy end-of-May dear readers! I’m typing this out on my back porch with Lady laying just inside the open door and Abby running back and forth between me and the bone in the yard and OH in the living room. It’s a good evening so far.

Migraine app notes: I had 10 attack days lasting average of 68 hours. I had 2 attack free days. I took 56 clonidine ( 4 more than last month) They happened 50% of the time from 12 pm to 6 pm. Average pain is 7.5, which is pretty good. Supposedly I’m sleeping around 8 hours a night, migraine or not. ha. If only. Top 3 aura/prodrome are muscle stiffness, fatigue/achiness and weakness. Top 3 triggers are neck pain, too much activity and lack of sleep.Top 3 symptoms are neck pain, jaw pain and aches. Frequent start positions are the same, temples, jaw, eyes, base of skull. Soaking my feet has helped a lot this month

Overall Health/Treatment: Up until this past weekend the neurological pain (aka Fibromyalgia) and all was terrible and I was pretty much on the couch. I had some bursts of energy  but not until recently  did it ease enough that I felt like getting up and doing something. I struggled with anxiety/guilt a lot as well. Focused on adding in/increasing supplements to support this poor body.  The evenings are the worst, no matter what I try. I’ve been going to bed in a lot of fibro pain and migraine, just praying I’ll be able to sleep.

notes: 4-28-Migraine was worse today. Aches eased until evening- went to dog park and made dinner then they increased in my calves bad. Barely able to keep migraine down today. Nice to have some energy and the brain fog lifted but the pain’s wearing me down. Have had some muscle twitches today

4-30- today has left me bone- weary. Even the movement of my tongue hurts my jaw. The all-over aches have eased a little, but the cramps are little shivers that regularly run through the base of my feet. Bad migraine today. Wasn’t aware of what was going on around me for a while. Nap helped but body is SCREWED up. Tomorrow is going to be a day of loving on it. 

5-1 upping St John’s Wort to 3 a day
5-2 fatigue but made it out for errands. Felt better in afternoon. Less brain fog. Aches eased but calf self-flexing. Flutterings on left side of stomach. Back seized up
5-3 felt good, just fatigued. Vogel appt. Kidneys were smooshed down onto my back/leg muscles. Body was achy all day afterward. Migraine flared around 8pm and never eased. Awful evening
5-4 back still stiff. Felt pretty good in am, able to accomplish a few things again today. Fatigue and achy and pre-cycle kept me from feeling well and relaxing fully. Tried to nap. Electric blanket ​helping. Upped petadolex to 2 a day. Joint pain in arms again the past three days
5-5 noticing more energy in the am and early afternoon, even with fatigue.
5-8 left calf has started self-flexing again. Migraine isn’t receding as easily as it has the past few days. Fatigue isn’t as intense the past few days either. Upped petadolex to 3/day on the 7th.
5-10upped ashwagandha to 2/day. Migraine settled in early afternoon and wouldn’t recede till about 7pm, still present just not as intense. Left calf mini cramping. Slight cramps in feet too
5-12. Ran out of liquid iron. Felt decent till later evening, feet/calf cramping increased and front of neck started hurting.
5-13 added B complex.

dr appt 16th. gonna try a nutrient IV. starting noni fruit, fibronol and something else.  acupuncture seemed to help the headache and some of the left calf cramping. had a bit more energy walking out. found out the ‘beads’ i’ve been taking (phosphorous, belladonna, pulsatilla, gelsimium) are sugar pills that are lactose (!!!) no good. could be causing problems.

5-20 started iron again

5-22 upped ceanothus to 2 drops a day. Felt pretty good most of the day. Best I’ve felt on a Monday in months. Migraine didn’t kick in fully till late aft. Aches and joint pain were minimal till late aft.

May is Lyme awareness month

Sleep: I’ve had to be more diligent in rotating between Theanine and Melatonin lately. Nightmares were causing serious problems. The Fibro pain flares up in the evening and it’s been the main cause for troubles sleeping. It’ll wake me up with an intensity that feels like it’s trying to come out of me. Rather irritating for sleep – the electric blanket helps but not much when it’s that bad.

Memory/Brain Fog: Trying to remember things from just four years ago was a struggle. 4 years. sigh.  The fog has lifted (that’s a song isn’t it?!). But now I’ve added disassociation to my list of symptoms. So. Ironically, now that the fog isn’t so much of a problem, I’m not connecting to the moment – but I can feel that fact. I know when I’m not aware of what’s going on around me. Sigh.

Vision: I got my glasses straightened so that I’m able to wear them again and that has helped. Vision hasn’t been as blurry even without them lately but my eyes are straining a lot, I notice that I’m squinting more.

Dizziness: Now that I’m watching salt intake, this has eased again.

Joint Pain: As you already know – this has been bad. As I’m sitting here my left calf is self-cramping, even though I’m trying to keep it relaxed. When it settles into my arms/shoulders, I go a little crazy. I can’t handle it. Crocheting/handwriting has to be in spurts because it hurts.

The two on the left show the pain that tainted even my wedding day. BUT. If there’s anything chronic pain has taught me, it’s to smile anyway. Laugh anyway. Enjoy every moment that you can. (plus, I had to really bend my knees so my mom could actually fix my veil which was really funny….)

Fatigue: This was very bad most of the month but has also eased. It’s still prevalent. It’s just not as…demanding. It’s still one of the main issues I want gone.

Weight Gain: you guys. I lost 1.6 lbs. I made a rule that I can’t eat after 9pm that I stuck to until this past week. And I didn’t lose any weight this past week. I’ve been stricter on no cane sugar as well. So. I’m going back to my rule asap.

Mood: This came back with a vengeance. I’d been struggling with it for about a month before I even realized how messed up it was. Anxiety/guilt was always just under my good mood – making it easy to not face up to what was going on. Disassociation came in – making even appreciating the beauty of blooming flowers around me impossible. This eased this past week although I have continued to be a little more inclined to tears – thankfully only when I read or watch something sweet or sad. I haven’t cried because of the pain since the beginning of the month.

Bladder: yes. This is a problem too. Thanks Lyme. Honestly, this has been a problem for yeearrrs but it’s increased just enough that I started paying attention to it, and mentioned it to my dr, this past month. Going to the bathroom more than 10x a day just isn’t normal folks. (how did I survive when I wouldn’t use a public restroom?)

~It’s been another rough month so I’m so thankful that I’m getting a bit of a break right now.  Going to Dr. V, my local body-worker who is amazing has been such a wonderful thing for my body. (now if only insurance covered it) Dr. A is excited about what we’re going to try next. I must admit that I’m not excited yet but more just… hoping. Trying to hold onto the hope.

 ~I had a bit of a realization today. It’s hard sometimes to tell people that certain pains have eased, or that you’re having a good day because, let’s face it – my good day isn’t theirs. I feel like when they hear ‘such and such has eased some’ they hear that I’m HEALED. Honey, I’m far from that. I’ve still got these little buggers that are determined to take over my body. They are still stealing little bits of who I am, away from me. I”m guessing that this is a common fear of people with chronic illness but I’d love to hear from some of you to reinforce this idea.

What do you find hard to tell people about your health? 

 ~Laura

Tags: chronic fatigue, chronic migraines, chronic pain, eating healthy, fibromyalgia, health, health update, lyme disease, neurological pain, symptoms of lyme disease, tmj