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Hope all had a wonderful Independence Day.  The last few days have been humid, muggy, and cloudy here in Pennsylvania.  I am happy to say that I’m not missing out on much with the weather being yucky as I have been feeling a little under the weather for the last two weeks.

I had an appointment at the Center last week with Dr. G.   I relayed to Dr. G that overall I felt great; however, I have had a nagging not-so-good feeling lately.  I moved mulch two weeks ago.  I knew that I had to “spread out” the work.  I knew that if I attempted too much in too little time, I would suffer in the end.  In order to accomplish my tasks, I completed intervals of work and rest.   The tasks had spread out over two evenings and two weekend days.  I was happy that I had finished the task and overall had felt ok.  Unfortunately a day later at work, I felt extremely tired and worn out and had to go home.  I ended up working ½ days as I really didn’t feel well enough to work full days.  I have also had a persistent non-productive cough.  This whole feeling has somewhat baffled me as it doesn’t really feel like fibro.  I had the parvo virus a few months ago and Dr. G feels it could be another round of parvo.  Unfortunately there isn’t any specific medicine or supplements for parvo.  I am also taking azithromycin as the last two blood works revealed elevated levels for mycoplasma pneumonia.  It’s hard to believe my immune system has succumbed to some of these illnesses.

My work has been extremely stressful and I’m sure that isn’t helping things either.  We are in the process of a large project.  I have learned how to say NO a few months ago; however, I find it interesting that sometimes people do not respect your decision to say NO.  NO means NO!  We live in such a fast-paced, overachieving environment that sometimes people just don’t get it.   If you don’t embrace the overzealous behavior, you are frowned upon.  I have had to become a “bitch” (for lack of a better word) in order to get my point across that my health is #1 and I know my limitations irregardless of how I look.

I believe that the emotional and psychological healing from fibro can be very difficult.  For many with fibro, we have had to have someone “validate” that the illness even exists.  Once we have that validation (and that could take years) we work on a treatment protocol with our doctor.  There is a part of the treatment protocol that the doctor cannot really help with….and that is basically reprogramming your mind with your body’s capabilities.  You have to absolutely be cognizant with each and every decision you make.  It is so easy to get caught in the moment and believe that you can live your life as you had once known.

I believe I can accurately gauge my physical capabilities; however, I am still working on gauging the emotional and stress limitations for my body.  For me, it is very hard to gauge my limitations in these areas.  I can remember Dr. G telling me “stress is cumulative”.  While I completely understand what he is saying….I am at a loss to know when too much is too much.  I don’t go out of my way to expose myself to emotional and stressful situations….life in general is stressful.  In the game of life, how do I blend with “normal people” without crashing and burning?  That is truly the million dollar question.

In closing, I have come a long way in the last several months.  I’ve never dreamed that I could feel good again.  I am working on my emotional healing process and will share my journey.  I have a wonderful husband and am grateful to have him.  As many know, fibro is not only hard on the patient…having fibro truly has an impact on the entire family. I am also thankful for the wonderful staff at King of Prussia.  I look forward to my visits each month and chatting with everyone at the Center.  They have truly become a part of my family.  I absolutely love Beth.  She is truly a breath of fresh air.  She brings “life and fun” to the patients.  Her loving, caring nature is important to fibro patients and their treatment.

I know that to stay in this war against the fibro, I must stay on track and continually add more “firepower” to my army by eating properly, taking my vitamins, supplements, and prescriptions as well as reducing the stress in my life.  Take care and more to follow next month.

Lisa

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 12:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.