CAN I EVEN REMEMBER MY OWN NAME?

I am truly Miss Erable. 

Not only am I in pain.

But my brains are fried.

I had the greatest start. I got a call from Tonix Pharmecuticals and spoke for about 45 minutes with Dr. Seth Lederman. He's the CEO of Tonix and it was absolutely an amazing phone call. 

More on that in the next post.

Then, I realized my real estate license requires education within the two year of the four year period. Now, that means I have to sit in class for 3 hours..... and I need to do this for a total of twelve hours.

First of all, I hate sitting in classes. It hurts because the chairs are hard and by the time I get up I can't walk. The pain is shooting down my legs and I'm crying because I'm only a quarter of the way done.

Oh my.

But I've come to a decision. 

I'm making an appointment with a neurosurgeon. I always said that when I could no longer sit or stand without pain I'd give in and do something about my back. I can handle the Fibromyalgia pain but the back pain is beyond handling anymore. So I'm making the appointment to see what needs to be done. Years ago the odds were not that good that they could repair my back and have the outcome favorable. 

Hopefully, things have changed.

So between the back and the real estate classes I haven't had the time or the motivation to write about the wonderful research that Tonix Pharmaceuticals has done.

And it could be a game changer.

So off to more torture tomorrow.

Did I mention that I also missed the cutoff for my classes?

That's a lovely little $100 fine.

Great......

THE YUCK FACTOR

Well,

it seems like it's back to the drawing board.

Let's hope this works.

I'm really sick of going to doctors. I guess what I mean to say is that I'm sick of feeling so lousy that I have no choice but to go to the doctor. I have to say one thing. I do have a great doctor. He's very curious and he believes me when I tell him that I feel lousy. This, however, means going for more blood tests.

Do I have any blood left?

After 17 vials...........

Evidently, my thyroid is still borderline. 

The autoimmune thyroiditis is in full force.

Everything else? Right on target.

However, they found a nodule in my thyroid. So now I have to go through another ultrasound and then if it's growing there's another fun test. A biopsy. If that happens I think I'd actually be relieved. At least then I'd know why I feel the way I do. 

The problem is the symptoms are so intertwined.

I don't know if it's the thyroid or the Fibromyalgia. 

The fatigue is overpowering. I won't even count the pain because that is always with me. It's just that my hands have hurt more than usual. I don't think its the Fibro because I just feel so..........

Different.

I gave in and went to the endocrinologist. More blood work and I'm back on the Armour Thyroid. I did feel better on this when it was prescribed to me a year ago. Hopefully this will pull me out of the constant feeling of yuck. Why they felt the need to change it is beyond me. 

The symptoms of hypothyroid and Fibromyalgia are SO close. How do I know this isn't Fibromyalgia? For one thing.....my hair. It's very dry and thinning out. The doctor said the Cytomel will do that. Why in the heck did they ever prescribe it? I know it's more precise than Armour Thyroid but it can't be that big of a difference. The other thing is that my skin is much drier. 

Try peeling off the tips of my fingertips. 

The scary thing is that no amount of lotion or cream would stop it. I even got steroid shots but that didn't work either. The only thing the shot seemed to do is make me gain 5 lbs. overnight and that does not work for me. Finally my manicurist gave me some lotion from Vietnam and, believe this, it helped it within three days. Three days later.......it was GONE.

Now I can get my nails done again. 

That problem is fixed.

Now........

All I care about is that I lose weight......

and the fatigue........

and the joint pain.........

and the weight........

IS IT HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU??

It doesn't make any sense.

I live in Las Vegas.

And I HATE the heat.

I have to say one thing about Fibromyalgia. The internal thermostat definitely doesn't work! I don't like it too hot and I don't like it too cold. I don't like it real windy. I love the rain but I hate the humidity. 

I'm also a pain in the ass.
Anything else I don't like?

But mostly, I hate the heat.

Living in Las Vegas in the summer is like standing in front of a hair dryer. Just turn it on the hottest setting and point it at your face and voila! You're in virtual Vegas. We are in triple digits and I'm just not ready for it. The way I see it is that you can put on sweaters and jackets to stay warm but you can only strip down so far. 

Hot is hot.

And it sucks.

I guess we just can't regulate our thermostat. Usually we have problems with one extreme or the other. As you can guess, mine is the heat. I do much better when the weather is cooler. True to the general theme of Fibromyalgia, other people cannot tolerate the cold weather. Most of us do agree, however, on humidity. We don't perspire as easily either. Maybe that's why the heat really gets to me. Could this be due to my thyroid imbalance? Or is it just another symptom of our hypersensitivity?

Basically, it comes back to that pesky hypothalamus. The HPA axis seems to be popping up everywhere.  I guess the autonomic system is out of whack. Everything seems to point to a problem in this area. What triggers it is anyone's guess but when you trace back the symptoms that we have........well, it all seems to point back to this area of the brain. 

We have malfunctions in the two key areas of the brain. The autonomic system and the HPA axis. These two areas are the major pathways for the bodies response to stressful situations. Considering that we don't handle stress very well...........well, there you have it.

Here's what I don't get. 

What pioneer rode across the country.....in the summer........

Settled on what is now known as Las Vegas......

And said.........

"oh, this is PERFECT....let's settle here!!???"

But back to the heat.

I hate it.

I'm sitting right in the middle of fort stinking desert.

And it hasn't even gotten started.

Hello to Las Vegas in the summer.