Before I go on about the insane weather lately, I remembered something yesterday my soon to be fired rheumatologist said when I was first diagnosed with fibromyalgia (back before he turned into the dismissive, arrogant, ass he's turned into): if it hurts, don't eat it. Then, as in now, there's hundreds of "medical" articles, blogs, pages, and ads as to what foods make the pain associated with fibromyalgia (and other diseases) worse. If you read some of them, you'd think it was a one-size-fits-all diet guide or something. Truth is, it's not. Even for the healthy. All of us have certain foods that make us feel like crap, no matter how much we may like them. I can't tolerate Equal or Sweet-n-Low because I'm just begging for a killer headache. Fast food makes me feel bloated, sick, and just overall like hell. I can eat regular pasta and white bread, but in very small amounts, or I do notice it affects several systems in my body and yes, it does increase my pain level. His approach was very common sense. None of us are the same. We may have been diagnosed with the same illness, but just like with everything else, we don't all react the same. But I just had to throw that out there before I forgot. It wasn't enough for a full blog, so what the hell. There it is.
This past October, we got over a foot of snow. It wasn't a good sign for winter. Yet, this winter was a disappointment. We had a few pretty bitter cold spells, a lot of rain, very little snow, but overall, it wasn't much of a winter. March came in like a lamb and out like a lion. Last week I was wearing layers and fleece as the daytime temps never made it out of the 40s and the nighttime temps dropped below freezing. Yesterday was no exception. Today? It was almost 90 degrees! Yep. 90. And tomorrow in the low 70s, followed by the rest of the week in the upper 60s to low 70s. And still no rain forecasted until at least Saturday. The ground is still pretty saturated, but because the humidity has been so incredibly low and it's been so long since we've gotten such a good soaking rain, there's a high brush/forest fire risk. Last weekend there were 2 in my area, along with several in NY, PA, and south NJ. The surface is just that dry.
I'm still in incredible pain. Now that the temps are dropping off, the humidity is climbing. I don't deal with hot weather too well. Humidity causes my joints to swell and the heat causes wicked headaches, regardless of how much water I drink. At least it wasn't humid today, so all I had was the headache. But now the swelling and overall pain is increasing as the temps are dropping for the night.
I've been trying to control what I can in terms of pain since this latest flare up started. And yes, I said "latest." Being the dumbass that I am sometimes, I threw out all my medical journals/trackers in during one of my cleaning sprees. But when I was laying in bed yesterday during one of those dreaded high pain, but high energy days (which means all the energy to get what I want done, but no chance in hell it actually will get done) I realized that this isn't the first time this has happened. It's been happening for years. The swelling, the joint pain, hair loss, intensity in migraines, elevated crp and sed rates, the full gamut. Except they never really lasted that long. My rheumatologist would see the lab results, put me on prednisone, and it would ease it. But it always returned. And every time it returned, it would get a bit worse and last a bit longer. The last few years I've had several cortisone injections in my knee (dumbass... STEROIDS!!!), so the flares would once again ease. And now it's back with a vengeance. What does my rheumy want to do? 12 days on prednisone. And I refuse. Except I never made the connection and sought out on a different path: new doctor, new tests, new medication, dietary changes, and even if I can't workout or finish a workout, I at least stretch twice a day. I try to control as much stress as I can, or at least how I let stressors affect me. But there isn't a damn thing I can do about the weather.
I can't exactly blame Mother Nature for being pissed. There's parts of Her planet we're bombing into dust, parts we're shipping our trash to because we're running out of room in America, buying crap we don't need, obsessed with oversized, gas guzzling, oil sucking SUVs, designing disposable technology like cell phones, computers, tablets, e-readers, all designed to be outdated in the span of about 2 years and 90% of that crap ends up in landfills, toxic elements and all. Stripping away millions of acres of land for hundreds of gallons of oil (tarsanding) so we can drive 3 blocks to the grocery store.. plastic water bottles, disposable diapers, feminine products, beauty products, fashionable clothing that's only "in" for about 2 weeks, and lets not forget all that shiny must have CRAP that we go out and buy because some celebrity or another was seen using it at the grocery store, sitting at an overpriced restaurant, cafe, or on the red carpet.... Hell, I'd be pissed too. Am I an environmentalist? Yes. I do as much as I can when I can. Do I go around lecturing people in the grocery store if they use plastic bags instead of reusable ones or throw red paint on people wearing fur? No. It's called free will. Do I like to look nice, have nice things? Yes, but when I can, I prefer second-hand shops or clearance racks than paying full price for things (as far as clothes go, I do have a good sized wardrobe, mostly because of my constantly fluctuating weight--I have sizes ranging from 4-20 if that gives you a clue as to how much it fluctuates). Do I have a MacBook and an iPhone? Yep, but it's an older MacBook that still works, so I have no intention of upgrading anytime soon. I back up my computer on a regular basis in case it does commit suicide and the iPhone I bought because I needed a new cell phone, so until it commits suicide or gets stolen, it too, is around for the long haul. It's all in the little things and I'm sure She appreciates it on some level.
But I still think it would be nice if she cut some of us who are at her complete mercy some slack. Experiencing all 4 seasons during the course of 1 week is just way too painful and hard on a body that's already too taxed, so please, Mother Nature, I won't mind dealing with the "rain pain" since we so desperately need it at the moment, but can you please find some Estroven or something to curb this menopause or some Valium to tone down this temper tantrum at least for a little while? I would be oh so very grateful....
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