September: National Pain Awareness Month

September is National Pain Awareness Month in the United States.

I would have given this designation little thought before being diagnosed with high-end-pain illnesses five years ago. I have not one, but two, disorders/diseases/illnesses - with all of each one's accoutrements. I also have osteoarthritis in varying degrees through my spine, both hips, both knees, and possibly - one shoulder.

The National Fibromyalgia Association has done a great job of getting the word out that Fibromyalgia is not only real, but affects millions of the world's citizens.

The makers of Lyrica have done more to turn the tide regarding how this disease is perceived than any other promotion in my recollection.

Having said that, I must also say that Fibromyalgia affects short-term memory. It affects thought processes. However, the television commercials have run often enough that I can safely say I haven't been hit with "isn't that the one they said was all in your head", nearly as often. It still happens from time to time, but not every other time the subject is brought up.

I must also say that Lyrica has helped me to cope with my symptoms. You see, we who have Fibro tend to live with constant pain. The severity fluctuates, but never goes away completely. I pray every day that a new study doesn't find that Lyrica is detrimental in another way, as the Cox-II medications were found to be.

If you read this, please take a cruise on over to www.fmaware.org and read about the disease. That way, you'll already be armed when someone you know is diagnosed. It will happen.

And please remember to say a prayer or two during September (and throughout the year) for those of us who may not appear to be the happiest persons you've ever met. Happiness may be a state of mind deal that can be altered by a positive outlook, but it's a whole lot easier to be "sunny" when you don't hurt.

I'm daring myself to post here every day during September and to use this forum to keep a running journal. If you choose to follow this to see if I can do it and I screw up and forget to post ... email me to let me know I'm not holding up my end of the bargain.

Physical Therapy - Again

Physical Therapy: The time I lose while they put hot packs on my neck and lower back and then make me do painful exercises.

I’m undergoing PT on my neck for the 2^nd time this year.

It didn’t help the first time and I’m not holding on to much hope that it will help this time. And … the first time, I didn’t have a pinched nerve in my neck, caused by bone spurs and arthritis, that was making my right arm and shoulder go numb up to twice a minute.

However, my insurance carrier will not allow me to have an MRI to see what is causing the problem until I’ve undergone PT again.

While giving away our apples to Freecyclers this past few weeks, I met a woman who had had the same surgery our son-in-law had to correct pinched nerves in the neck. She, too, had to go through PT first – and did more damage which is now also causing her leg to go numb.

I already have nerve damage in my lower back and flank. It is very painful. Fibro makes it a habit to hit the weakest points where arthritis is already wreaking havoc.

If this post doesn’t seem to be full of sunshine and hope, blame it on Physical Therapy.

Case of "The Munchies"

Send chocolate! Send munchies! Send … something to wire my mouth shut with!

I’ve had a good run for almost two years. My pain management regimen has been tolerable and somewhat effective. But … now … I’m having to endure a course of corticosteroids to deal with multiple points of osteoarthritis and Fibromyalgia pain. Pain killers alone can’t curb the muscle/joint/nerve endings that throb, burn, and spasm.

This time, it’s a multi-tiered pain that starts with the major muscle that runs between my spinal column and right shoulder; radiating, pinching, spiking, ice-picking and throbbing its way through the ends of my fingertips like a ricocheting arrow that’s been dipped in a boiling soup of poison sumac, habanera sauce, and mercurochrome. My skin may as well have been ripped away by a rabid raccoon for all the protection it currently affords.

Those broken arrow fragments rebounding to jam up under my fingernails are providing spectacular fireworks in Technicolor. The stars I see are almost pretty enough to take my mind off the pain. HA! I’m positive my elbow will give birth to that baby elephant anytime now.

Of course, it’s the shoulder that was injured in a car accident in 1972, and then re-injured by a mugger in ‘88. My friends on the city council took up a collection to buy the mugger a sympathy card, but that’s another story altogether. Nevermind that my friend Doug Sutherlin, mayor at the time, started the rumor to make me laugh rather than gritch at him to provide more security in downtown Tacoma, WA.

Corticosteroids tend to make me hungry. Hungry enough to eat a cardboard box. The kind a refrigerator comes in. Hubby is keeping me corralled and away from his newly-built garden shed.

This is day one of the seven-day course. Today, I’ll take a total of six tablets. Tomorrow, five. On day six, I’ll eat the last tablet.

If only I could take as many pain pills and muscle relaxers today ...

The munchies will go away in about two months.

Until the pain is controlled, please excuse typos, missed words, etc. My brain is short-circuiting and my fingers seem to have a mind of their own.