Introduce yourself

cgailb

I'm Catherine. I am a 45 year old mother of 2 boys, both teens. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia about 10 years ago. I later developed degenerative disc disease, arthritis, chronic pain, migraines, and of course, obesity.

I can get very discouraged about getting anything productive done. It was only recently that I felt I had anything to offer in terms of talents or skills. Chronic pain, like so many other ailments, doesn't show on the outside. Many people gave me the skeptic look. At times, even my husband still thinks I will magically get well.

My goal is to increase movement and to decrease pain. I am off dairy, except for a tbsp in tea or coffee, and off wheat. I feel much better and it has only been several weeks. I got this idea from Dr. Terry Wahls. She reversed her MS symptoms with a hunter-gatherer type diet. You can read more about her here http://www.terrywahls.com/. She has videos and talk on youtube.com also.

Myschelle

I'm Myschelle. I'm a 41-year old mom to three teenage boys and step-mom to two teenage girls. I was diagnosed with FM about 7 months ago, after ruling out lupus and thyroid issues. I had a hystorectomy at age 32, my hormones are in check. I keep blood in my urine and also trace amounts of proteins. I have always been really active (pretty much hyper), until about a year ago when chronic-dibilitaty fatigue took over my world. I didn't want to do anything, except sleep, and I was not getting relief from that.

I've been on Cymbalta and Lyrica for the past 7 months, and can really tell if I miss a dose, I can't move by the end of the day. My tender points are really tender! I suffer from several types of headaches (migraines, cluster, and thunder claps - which are one million times worse than migraines - thankfully there can be years in between!)

While I find relief in taking my medications, the Lyrica seems to be the cause of my weight gain (40 pounds) and the reason I'm not loosing, even after working out 3x week with weights and a trainer and 1 to 4 times a week at Zumba. I'd like to add some Pilates to my routine because I think the stretching would really help my symptoms. My blood pressure is low and so is my resting heart rate, for this reason, I'm not a candidate for water pills to counteract the Lyrica. I drink WAY TOO MUCH water (12 16.9 oz bottles a day or 202.8 oz a day on average), this could be throwing my electrolytes off, but I'm ALWAYS thirsty and try not to drink too many empty calories. I TRY to eat healthy, but struggle from time to time (I love carbs and soda!) A year ago in January I drastically cut back my sugar intake (I'm embarassed to say I would use SIX teaspoons in ONE cup of coffee, plus flavored creamer....shame shame!); now, I use Splenda (the only artifically sweetner that doesn't trigger a migraine) and measure my creamer out. I expected to see SOME sort of result - nope!

Another struggle I deal with is that my hubby and kids are picky eaters, no veggies for the hubby (he's like a 10-year old boy, feed him fries and chicken strips and he's happy), so while I like fish and chicken and veggies, I find myself cooking two meals and wasting a lot of food because if I buy veggies, I can't eat them before they go bad.....suggestions????

Sorry to ramble, but it feels good to vent to people who may share the some of the same frustrations, and who can empathize. FM is a difficult illness for people to understand because they can't see something physically wrong.

cgailb

Wow! That's a lot going on. I put veggies through a food processor. They get reay small. Then I add them to soups and casserole type dishes. It's not easy to sneak stuff in. I'm pretty lucky with my guys liking some veggies. iPod is running out of charge. More later.

Mommyofseven

I am Cheree, 42 year old mother of seven children ranging from 21 to 2 1/2 years old. I suffer from arthritis that I got from having a childhood virus in my thirties, optical migraines that actually make me lose vision in my eye when occurring, diabetes that has caused me to fluctuate greatly with my weight and has caused a few seizures, had my gallbladder out while four months pregnant with my first child and an emergency c-section with my last one. I am chronically dehydrated and just struggle to drink enough. I had a fall that caused my disc to herniate and causes me almost constant pain. I have neuropathy in my hands and feet and the beginning of restless leg syndrome. It sucks.
My husband is wonderfully supportive, but it much more active than me. At times I feel like I am a disappointment to my family because I am unable to do all the things a mommy should be able to do like carry my baby through a store or toss the football with my son. I feel broken down and depressed frequently because I WANT to do so much and my body just won't comply.
I am currently following the Atkins diet plan because I had success with it before, it decreases my blood sugar levels enabling me to stop the insulin. This time, I seem to be moving super slow with the weight loss and may have to take a small dose of long acting insulin even though eating less than 20 grams of carbs. I really hate diabetes. My pancreas is a traitor!

Mommyofseven

Oh, I almost forgot. My hair has also been falling out for years now. Oh joy.

Myschelle

That's a lot going on! Hang in there.

Myschelle

Yep. That's a sneaky idea (love it!), NOW, how to get them to eat soup???? Picky little people aren't they!

Mommyofseven

Do they like spaghetti with sauce? Before I converted them... I used to steam broccoli, cauliflower and carrotts and puree them and add them to sauce. They had no idea.

Myschelle

GREAT IDEA! So simple, and I never considered it! I could even add veggies to their meatballs....inspired. Leave it to a mom of 7 to be so creative. Thanks!

Mommyofseven

I also used to put shredded spinach in lasagna, in corn muffins and salads. With the lasagna, I told them it was seasoning. I sold them on the muffins by saying they were the Easter Bunny's favorite. We had every kid in the neighborhood coming to the house begging for them!

cgailb

I totally get that depressed, letting the family down thing. Somedays I feel useless.