THE INFLUENZA SMACKDOWN

Sick as a dog.

That's what I've been.

Where in the world did that come from?

I was doing a little better pain-wise. It had been rough lately and I was hoping for a little reprieve. 

Not so fast.

It started as a couple of sneezes and a some sniffles. It didn't take long for me to start feeling like crapola and thus I entered the whiny stage of the past few weeks. Oh, who am I kidding?  I hate feeling weak and sick. I can handle the pain business but when you put the flu on top of Fibromyalgia....well......it isn't pretty.

We have enough trouble with muscle aches and spasms. 

Like I always say.....

Let's add a tiara.

Anyway, I was in a curled-up-in-a-ball-go-away-world-and-leave-me-alone frame of mind so I haven't wanted to do anything...even write. I'm not well yet and I'm on the second round of antibiotics. One of the fun things about the flu is the secondary infections. I hate taking antibiotics because they have a weird effect on me. The only way I can describe it is that I feel kind of other-worldly. It's not truly dizzy because I'm not actually swirling but it's weird.

By the way, where did the phrase "sick as a dog" come from? Why use the pups?

I think the dogs get a bum rap.

Let's see......

Sick as a dog.....

Dog tired......

Every dog has its day....

Go to the dogs......

Wait.....that's actually a comforting thought.

Buster-Boo-Boo, I'm coming back to bed.

PARSLEY, SAGE OREGANO AND THYME

I love oregano.

I'm finding out some interesting things.

It's just not for cooking anymore.

I saw a post of Facebook about the healing properties of Oregano. I like to look at alternative methods and it sounded interesting.

It's also about safety.

I've always known that natural doesn't always mean it's safe. It also doesn't mean that it won't interact with medications that we may take. It's always good to look up the medication or supplement to make sure about the dosage and if any foods taken with it can cause any problems.

Just look at what grapefruit can do.

Anyway, some research has been done on oregano oil. Dr. Harry Preuss, MD and professor of physiology at Georgetown tested oregano oil on the staphylococcus bacteria and found that the oil inhibited the growth as effectively as the antibiotics did. British researchers have also found it to be effective for about 25 different bacteria. 

It's touted to be anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, an anti-allergan and a natural pain killer.

Another article had to do with the bacteria that is responsible for food poisoning due to inadequate cooling in the retail food service. Oregano oil was found to inhibit the bacteria and reduces the risk of growth in ground turkey. 

If this can be used to inhibit bacterial growth it could be very useful to strains that are becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Sage, on the other hand, can be toxic.

Is that what Simon and Garfunkel sang??

Oh yeah......

Rosemary....

The title sounds good though.......

Just be careful what you use.

THE WARM BATH EXPERIMENTATION

I like to keep up on the latest research.

I found a neat article about...

wait for it.....

warm water exercise.

That got my attention. Warm water exercise improves Fibromyalgia symptoms and quality of life.  I'm in for that. I didn't get the exercise part unless it was jumping up and down in the spa but....I kept reading.

The study involved about sixty female patients that had Fibromyalgia.

Right after the study concluded they had improved in areas like pain intensity, fatigue and morning tiredness. They concluded that hydrotherapy improved "sleep quality, physical function, professional status, psychological disorders and physical symptoms in patients with Fibromyalgia." 

Oh really??

Can you tell me what professional status has to do with it? Also, it just happened to sneak in there psychological disorders. It is really, really annoying how persistent this psychological, excuse the expression, bull-crapola keeps rearing its ugly little head. Is it basically saying that unresolved childhood issues manifest itself in physical pain??

Science is proving that the pain pathways are altered.

However, some studies still want to imply that it's all in our heads.

I just love the words.

Hydrotherapy.

Warm water exercise.

Basically what there saying is.....

it's not that bad.....

go take a bath and call me in the morning.

FRUSTRATION STATION

Sometimes you get real tired.

Tired of being tired.

Tired of pain.

I think it's just been one of those times where everything just seems to get on your nerves. It's as if I'm down to the last nerve and everything seems to get on it.

It's as if I'm back living in my pain world. It's the world where pain takes front and center. My day revolves around the level of pain that I feel. I know my limitations and I don't like them. I've never liked limitations and as I've gotten older I like them even less.

Limitations suck.

I don't care if it's mental, physical or speed limits.

I get tired of saying, "I'm tired" or "I hurt." It gets old to my ears let alone to anyone else's. I know that those around me don't mind. That isn't the issue. They love me enough to be here with me through all of this. 

All of this just gets real old to me.

It seems that the magnitude of all of this has crept up and smacked me in the face. How do you say all of this without sounding like a whimpering little baby? Just because your body hurts and every bone and muscle in your body has turned on you.....you have the audacity to bring your life to a halt?

It sounds ridiculous even to me.

I've got a life of slow motion.

That has run head on into the reality of pain.

Dandy.

THE MEDICATION CONUNDRUM

I was looking through papers. 

One in particular stood out. 

It was the flyer about medication. 

I've been looking at the medications that are currently used for the treatment of Fibromyalgia. Pain relievers, muscle relaxants, antidepressants and even anti-epileptic drugs. The approved drugs like Lyrica have side effects that can be serious.

So what are some of those medications?

I tried Lyrica and I still haven't lost all the weight I gained when I took that stuff. Not only do I hate the commercials but Lyrica made me squirrely. I gained weight (a lot), wondered if life was worth it and I couldn't trust my own mind. Even if it promised to take the pain away forever, I still wouldn't take it ever again. 

See, I will aways believe that Fibromyalgia has sub-groups. I have pain but not depression. I still feel that if depression accompanies the pain then Cymbalta or Savella may help and work for people in this group. It doesn't help me AT ALL. 

I have pain and terrible muscle spasms. I always say I'd take a baseball bat to my legs and beat the crap out of them because it would feel better than those stupid spasms. I take Zanaflex (tizanidine) and it does help. It helps normalize the amount of Substance P in the spinal fluid. Substance P is a neurotransmitter and it has been found that people with Fibromyalgia have an excess of Substance P in the spinal fluid. For me, it helps.

Back to the flyer.

It states that Zanaflex is ranked in the "poor" category.

I'll get back to that.

In the "excellent" category is Cymbalta, Lyrica, Savella and, funnily enough, Hydrocodone. Again, if you have pain and depression it's quite possible that these medications will help. The thing about hydrocodone, in my humble opinion, is that it isn't good for the long term. It is  usually combined with acetaminophen and there is a possibility of liver damage with long term use. The drugs in the excellent category in the flyer have weight gain as a side effect. I don't know about anyone else but pain is difficult enough to deal with.....

Weight gain?

Let's just add a tiara.

While I think the flyer gives good information about the approved medications that are used for Fibromyalgia, I think it's a mistake to rank them. The problem with Fibromyalgia is that this is a crap shoot. No one really knows what is going to work for whom. While a low dose opioid and tizanidine work for me to manage the symptoms, it may not work for someone else. 

Medications are tricky. They are to be used with caution. We have been made to believe that popping a pill will be magic. The pharmaceutical companies are big business and the side effects of the medications that we take are wide and varied. When I hear the disclaimers I think that the illness is almost better than what we have to take to manage it. Plus, they always talk REAL fast when they hit the real icky side effects. 

I think that sometimes we're being sold an illusion. They really don't know what these drugs can do. Is it possible, years from now, we will be told that these drugs are really not safe? I think there is a place for everything and we need a strategy that encompasses a pharma-exercise-alternative-behavioral-nutritional strategy. 

Let's face it, until they figure out what causes our pain perception and reception to go haywire......well then.......

We are where we are.

It the middle of the stream.

Reaching for any paddle that can get us to shore.