browser life

"The primary problems of the planet arise not from the poor, for whom education is the answer; they arise from the well-educated, for whom self-interest is the problem."

- excerpt from William Sloane Coffin's book "Credo"

Have had this useful article sitting on my browser for awhile now. Probably came from one of the fibromyalgia Facebook pages:

7 Easy Ways Of Preventing Toe Cramps

Have become an expert on this particular subject because my feet have been twitching uncontrollably in my sleep for the past 16 years, causing horrible muscle spasms. If my usual preventive measures are unsuccessful, I have ways of treating foot cramps. First, if I feel my foot starting to spasm, I quickly stretch the affected muscles in the opposite direction of the way they are cramping. If several muscles in the foot seize up at once, I get out of bed and place the foot flat on the floor, then walk slowly in an exaggerated fashion to give each muscle a chance to move to a normal position. If that doesn't help, I put a thick layer of extra strength Icy Hot on the foot and wrap it in a towel. For some reason, the menthol provides enough of a sensation distraction that the foot will relax. On those occasions where every muscle below the knee cramps up at once (which, believe me, is EXCRUCIATING), I fill the bathtub with the hottest water I can stand and dump a ton of epsom salts into it, then soak the affected muscles while massaging them underwater. Then I haul my butt back to bed and pray for sleep.

Okay, I'm going for the gross-out. Found this article on a fibromyalgia Facebook page:

The 11 Scariest Things in Your Food

As much as I complain about the restrictions of my medically-necessary diet, at least I know it contains minimal amounts of the ingredients described in the article. Aspartame gives me migraines, and as of Christmas Eve 2011, I seem to be sensitive to something in store brand Neopolitan ice cream (hence my voluntary ban on foods with zero nutritional value). My diet certainly isn't perfect as it contains daily Boost (all chemicals, but necessary when I can't eat solid food) and various condiments, but even if I were cured tomorrow, I definitely wouldn't go back to what I used to eat before I got sick.

Found an interesting site while doing some research. This link is for methotrexate, but you can use the site to look up all kinds of medications:

Methotrexate Drug Information

One thing I have been experiencing recently is an increase in muscle spasms, which usually happens when I'm not getting enough magnesium. I'm considering bumping up my supplement. Because the of the very real danger of liver damage from methotrexate, I might look into resuming milk thistle. I already take a folic acid daily.

 
Couldn't handle the stomach-related side effects of Methotrexate tablets after three weeks (on Saturday night, I very nearly vomited into the open refrigerator while putting away groceries), so on Monday, I called the rheumatologist's office and asked if I could switch to injections, even though I have a phobia of needles. She agreed the switch was a good idea, so yesterday, her assistant taught me how to do injections. My hands were shaking, but I got through the appointment. 

Luckily, I managed to talk Dan into giving me the actual shot last night once I showed him what to do. Many people have told me the injections don't hurt, but HELLO, I have fibromyalgia in addition to the Sjogren's, so of course it hurt. I swelled up quite a bit at the injection site, but that did go away after an hour or so, leaving a small circular bruise. I am still a little sore in that area, but I've experienced worse.

The good news is that I am already less nauseous, so I guess it was worth it. And now I can tell people my husband shoots me once a week, heh heh.

glitter-graphics.com

This is a companion piece to previously posted article about fibromyalgia treatment scams. Got it from the same Facebook page:

Consumer Alert - Guaifenesin

I know people who claimed to be cured by this stuff and pushed me pretty hard to try it. Part of the reason so many fall for it is the nonsense that if you get worse, it means the "toxins" are leaving your body, not that it is failing to cure you. Or if it doesn't work, you are told you must have ingested one of the long list of substances that supposedly negate the effectiveness of guaifenesin. I didn't bother trying it for fibromyalgia because it made me so sick when I was prescribed it for bronchitis in 1997 a couple of months prior to the onset of the fibromyalgia. My reaction to the guaifenesin may have in fact been a trigger for either the Sjogren's, the fibromyalgia or both. It gave me raging insomnia, uncontrollable racing thoughts, tremors and body-wide twitching. Not exactly a cure for anything.

This article appeared on a fibromyalgia Facebook page recently. It's an excellent piece about how to figure out what non-prescription treatments are legitimate and which ones are exaggerating or even lying about their product's effectiveness:

Claims for Marketing Fibromyalgia Products and Treatments

People with fibromyalgia are particularly susceptible to marketing scams because there is no one treatment that works for everyone, and there is no cure no matter what the treatment. People in excruciating pain or experiencing life-altering exhaustion can become desperate to try ANYTHING to feel better. And unfortunately, there are some pretty clever scams out there. Many products do contain at least one ingredient that is helpful, and some of those testimonials may contain a kernel of truth. But BEWARE of anyone who says they can CURE you! This goes not only for fibromyalgia but any incurable ailment. Some of these "cures" are extremely expensive, time-consuming, and may do you more harm than good. Remember what Mike Brady used to say: "caveat emptor", or may the buyer beware.

Toni Bernhard's latest article for Psychology Today. This dilemma is all too familiar to many of us:

5 Tough Choices You Face When Chronically Ill or in Pain

And of course the more ailments you have, the harder it is to decide what is causing a symptom and whether it's worth mentioning to a doctor. The rule I always go with is that if a symptom is new or suddenly worse than it has ever been before, get it checked out. As for whether or not to push oneself, I'd rather save my exertion for things I enjoy, like going to a movie or spending time with someone special. I find it very demoralizing to put myself in a flare for routine things like housework or errands that preclude me from doing what I most enjoy.