{"id":4701,"date":"2016-04-07T04:07:58","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T08:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsavannah.com\/blog\/?p=4701"},"modified":"2021-05-11T16:42:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T20:42:48","slug":"2016-f-is-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsavannah.com\/blog\/index.php\/2016-f-is-for\/","title":{"rendered":"#dSavannahDefects – F is for…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"F\"…fatigue<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If I need to quickly define my health issues, I say I have “chronic fatigue and chronic pain”. (Cuz even I<\/em> can’t remember all 20-something of my diagnoses.)<\/p>\n

As I described depression as being sad times 1,000, fatigue is being tired times 1,000. Times a million.<\/p>\n

I just ran across a site called “Mis-Treated<\/a>“, about a woman’s search for answers to health problems. As I’ve clicked and clicked and read a bunch of posts, I’m mentally jumping up and down (cuz physically jumping up and down would hurt). She is writing about ME. About MY Story. About dealing with being chronically ill and disabled.<\/p>\n

She wrote a very cogent post, “Five Reasons Fatigue Isn’t Like Normal Tiredness (Proving Most People Don’t Get It)<\/a>“. And it is SPOT. ON.<\/p>\n

I hope she won’t mind if I share her five reasons:<\/p>\n

5. Sleeping \u201ccures\u201d tiredness; it\u2019s only mildly helpful for fatigue.<\/h3>\n

4. Fatigue can actually keep you awake.<\/h3>\n

3. Pushing through tiredness means you get extra work done; pushing through fatigue means you\u2019re out of commission for a week.<\/h3>\n

2. Tiredness is to fatigue as a pimple is to face herpes.<\/h3>\n

1. Fatigue is a daily struggle; tiredness is a temporary inconvenience.<\/h3>\n

All of that is true. So very true.<\/p>\n

What it feels like<\/b><\/span>: being bone-tired exhausted practically every second of the day. If you have a little energy and do something, you know you’ll pay for it later in further, deeper exhaustion.<\/p>\n

What it is<\/b><\/span>: being so tired that nothing helps. You want nothing more than to go to sleep, but even sleep, once you fight your way there, doesn’t necessarily help.<\/p>\n

Treatment<\/b><\/span>: None. Seriously. None.<\/p>\n

… fibromyalgia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"dsavannah_defects_noballs\"Another of my super-fun health issues.<\/p>\n

As my chiropractor says, it’s kind of a “waste basket” diagnoses, because it essentially means no one really knows what’s wrong with you.<\/p>\n

However, fibromyalgia is a “real”, “recognized” diagnosis, even if most people have never heard of it and don’t know what it is. Or, you only know the term from seeing those annoying medication advertisements on TV. You know the ones: that promise you’ll get better from one condition, but in the meantime, your eyeballs will fall out and you’ll bleed from your fingers and oh yeah, you might die. Medication that I have tried that did nothing for me but make me put on 30 lbs. Which is ironic, because extra weight on your joints can also cause pain.<\/p>\n

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Pain times 1,000?<\/p>\n

What it feels like<\/b><\/span>: Everything hurts. All. The Time. Prolonged pressure of any kind causes pain. My dog knocking in to me in her “I’m-so-excited-to-see-you” dance hurts. My cat lying on my leg hurts. My hubs accidentally brushing my arm hurts. Running into a wall (because I’m a big klutz) hurts.<\/p>\n

And I’m not kidding when I say “everything”. Nor am I being hyperbolic. If I think about any part of my body, say, my little toe, or my elbow, or even my eyelid, it hurts. The hurt can range from a dull ache to a railroad spike being hammered into my spine to throbbing to tingling to everything in between.<\/p>\n

What it is<\/b><\/span>: According to mayoclinic.org<\/a>, fibromyalgia is “a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.”<\/p>\n

Treatment<\/b><\/span>: There are some medications that are supposed to help, but in my case, they did nothing but make me gain weight. Or did nothing at all. (I’m sure they work for some people, so if you’re suffering, don’t NOT try just because it didn’t work for me).<\/p>\n

I’ve tried muscle relaxers, all kinds of sleep meds, pain medications (from OTC to the ones that they warn you might get addicted to), physical therapy (which did help, but I can’t afford to continue with the co-pay), talk therapy (to learn to deal with this hand of cards I’ve been given, and which I’m continuing), chiropractic (which helps), and, as I wrote about under C (“coping”)<\/a>, exercise can help.<\/p>\n

I’ve also had some positive benefits from some OTC pain creams, including arnica<\/a> (I get the best relief from this, tho it would probably\u00a0really<\/em> help if I could bathe in the stuff), tiger balm<\/a> (I use the patches on my back when a tornado pops up back there), and penetrex<\/a>.<\/p>\n

… friendships<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the more depressing (to me, anyway) parts of having Invisible Illnesses, and being a Sick Person, is what happens to your IRL friendships. They… sort of disappear. (Thank goddess for online friendships. I can sit here in my PJs and wearing my sexy-sexy lumbar brace and not having showered for a few days, and no one knows. Or cares.) (Cuz taking a shower wears me out. And it’s difficult to wash my hair with arms that won’t go up, thanks to ye ole rotator cuff and frozen shoulder nonsense.) (And thank you soooo much to a friend who sent me an email yesterday. It means the world. Really.)<\/p>\n

Prior to being this shell of my former self, I<\/em><\/strong> was the get-together planner. I threw the surprise parties; I found things to do and rounded people up; I<\/em><\/strong> made the contacts and the plans.<\/p>\n

I can’t do that anymore. I’m a Sick Person. I haven’t the energy.<\/p>\n

Now, I want to make this VERY clear – I am not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, nor do I cast blame or aspersions on anyone, because I understand the reasons, but … being a Sick Person means being a very lonely person.<\/p>\n

And this is how it is (for me, not necessarily everyone) as a Sick Person:<\/p>\n