HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Well another  year is almost over.  This year, we didn't have to travel far, didn't have to grocery shop, didn't have to cook, and didn't have to entertain.  I LOVE DOING all those things, but to tell you the truth, the best and only way for me to stay on the tightrope by the end of the day TDAY I should always avoid those things!! But, since I like most moms, end up doing the cooking on Tday, we need to find ways to stay balanced. 

The trick is...to learn your limits. 
Go slower.
Clean a week in advance
or
Get a cleaning lady!
Have spouse do the shopping.
Guests....make sure you invite guests who will help.  Like my bro and his wife.  If you invite them, they take over the kitchen when the meal is done and in about ten minutes have it all cleaned up for you! So, people like that are great ones to invite! :)

BUT MOSTLY... 
It's best to use the

KISS

Method of entertaining!

KEEP IT SIMPLE SILLY! 

Thankful!

I posted this on a friend's blog and thought..hmm...I should post it here too! 

I've got a lot to be thankful for this year, including your book and seminar,

The Emotionally Destructive Relationship. 

This morning, I was eating some grapes and I thought;

'Lord, thank you for GRAPES!'

They are a simply wonderful gift from our Father!

Sweet. and/or Sour. Juicy. Cruncy. Handy. Portable.

We can eat em as is or make

Jelly. Jam. Juice. Wine. Chicken Salad.

So, I'll say it again...

Thank you dear Lord for your gift of

GRAPES!

November 23, 2010 12:27 AM



The Princess and the Pea

Have you ever felt like you were the Princess in the old children's story The Princess And The Pea?  Apparently, they put a pea under a huge pile of peas and she had to climb up and lay on the top and if she felt the pea, it meant she truly was a princess.

I MUST BE A PRINCESS!  haha!  I can feel the tiniest creases in my sheets.  I wear my socks inside out as a general rule to keep the seam from hurting my toes!  When I wear long johns, I wear them inside out also!

Just another way to balance the pain and discomfort. 

I wear the tops of socks on my wrists because that was the first place the RSD hit me.  I have found that if I keep an extra layer on my wrists, almost year round, they don't hurt nearly as much or sometimes not at all.  But if I just wear two or even three shirts or sweaters I still have that bone chilling coldness in my wrists. They hurt, sting, ache, feel cold to the bone.  An extra layer just on that most sensitive area helps tremendously!  Try it sometime! I sometimes have to wear my sock tops only on my ankles also because the same thing can happen to them in extreme cold.  Has to have an extra layer right in that area!  Weird, I know.  Aren't we so very strange anyway? 

Fell Off the Rope

Ok, so I fell off my tight rope this week! Hubby and I had gotten so used to living on the rope that we(I) got a bit careless and forgot to keep my balance. This Fall, my week has shaped up to be something like this:
Church
Small Group
Bible Study which requires a minimum of 3.5 hrs of study every other week.
Chiro. 2x a week
Dinner out usually once a week.
Saturdays Hubby is home and we generally do a few things together.
I do some 'busy work' for a friend every few weeks.
I like making meals for sick friends and new moms.
Oh and I foster Bichon Frises. I have one and take in a second one. Mine was practically Rxed by two of my doctors who told hubby that I really could use a dog for a companion.

My stamina and pain relief has been increasing over the past few years. But this new schedule is a bit much for me already. Also, I think the pain in my hip is getting worse. There was one pain I had that the Chiro has almost completely obliterated and a related pain that is very much decreased. Apparently, I was all messed up in that area of my anatomy.

Up until the past couple of years, we knew I could usually do one night out a week. One weekend a month at most we could go away somewhere. We had no social life to speak of and so, it was easy to stay at home. And I didn't go to Bible Study, the Chiro, or do anything for anyone else. We had a nice easy going life carved out for us...boring for most people, but I don't like to be in pain, so I limit my activites. Not only do I not like to be in pain, I am an awful grouch (I don't use the word that really describes what I was like when the pain was unrelieved). Well, not so nice I guess once I realized that one of my meds was not doing it's job the way it should and was actually causing me to have stomach aches and lose weight.
Hence, living on a tight rope! I do too much, I fall off. (have a flair) I do too little and I swell up and get stiff.

I changed one of my meds a year or two ago and the difference is amazing. I'll tell you about that in the next post.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a girl's night out! I have not been invited on a girl's outing in a long long long time! It was supposed to be on Saturday night, last night. I was pretty psyched about going and getting to know these ladies better. I couldn't go. I hadn't been watching my balance this past week, having had dinner out thurs night and then, friends asked if we'd be interested in going out to dinner and then going to a play with them. I was in such incredible pain during the play I couldn't hardly pay attention. Thank the Lord it was a fun engaging show. I didn't sleep that night at all and realized when I woke up that I'd lost my balance and fallen off my rope. I still had to do stuff here at the house and forgot to put my pain pill in my medicine sorter! YEOW!!!! I believe that my pain meds were masking this awful pain in my hip! After going two nights without my pain pill, this dragon of pain was set free!! Once you let pain get out of control, it's very hard to get back under control again without some sort of intervention. Interestingly enough, the RSD hasn't flared that I've noticed. I couldn't go to church this AM either! Bummer!


I've had to suck it up and give up a few things in my schedule to try and get back in balance.

Have you ever been on pain meds and not until they are starting to wear off do you feel the pain of something like an ear infection? My ear drum burst once upon a time because I couldn't feel the pain till it was too late! I'm pretty sure that even tho I was feeling this pain in my hip, it wasn't nearly as bad as it is now! Whatever is causing this pain is either progressing or the meds were masking. Whatever; I've got to get this under control once again. Well...not yet cause this week is Thanksgiving and we are traveling, it will take at least a week to recover and then we go right into getting ready for Christmas! And we'll travel then too!

I can see a very quiet Jan coming up for me! :)

Balance is a vital part of life and I think we all need to balance our lives correctly. We need to seek the Lord for his help in balancing our life.

Proverbs 16:11 Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD; all the weights in the bag are of his making.

Sleep stealing culprits

Sleep! Is it as hard for you to get to sleep some nights as it is for me?  There are nights that I can not hold my eyes open by about 2 am.  :)  And then, other nights, I try the same things and stay awake half the night! 
I've talked about wind as a sleep stealing culprit .  What other things are culprits in your world of sleep? 

Caffeine can steel my sleep easily!  But, that's a common issue.

Another culprit to my sleeplessness is:   a social event late at night!  I guess I should expand on that one.  I have noticed that if I am out socially and I get 'riled' up, as in laughing, carrying on, talking a lot, I guess dancing would be among them if I could/would dance.  Going to a movie with my husband doesn't usually bother me because its not much different than watching a movie at home.  But, if it were a loud, action filled movie, it may keep me up.
A concert would definitely bother me!  I Have been to a total of maybe TWO concerts in my 15yr life w/RSD.  It was one of the activities that I cut out when I was first dxed to keep my pain as low as possible.  I have found it painful and the after affect pain is worse.
  Any kind of travel also causes sleep deprivation.  I wonder if I should get some sleeping pills for those nights I really need/want to do something and know it could keep me awake.  Doesn't matter how tired I get because of said activity...

Why would this happen do you think?   IMHO...I believe that our nerves get 'fired' up whenever we are active.  Do you notice it being harder to 'settle' down after being really active?  You are so so incredibly tired, but still can't sleep!  I have found I must relax IN BED for a long while before actually getting to sleep. So, why don't I go to bed earlier, take my meds, read or watch tv in bed till hubby comes to bed.  Hmmm....cause now we don't have cable in our bedroom and those dumb shows I want to watch are on till 11!  Thats typically why! But, I do hope to work my way earlier and earlier.  Right now, I fall asleep about 2, sometimes 3. On a rare occasion, I can fall asleep before 1am!

 Oh, and what if I go to bed early and having forgotten to put the dog out one last time?  I get up, go put him out and the nerves are starting to rev up again and it takes even longer.  I hate when I'm just about asleep for a nap and then must get up again!  The nap is sometimes a lost cause! 

Thanks for listening...and if you have anything you have figured out as a sleep stealing culprit please share it with us.

Oh my aching legs

My legs have been aching lately.  It seems like all the time anymore.  I lay in bed the other night and oh did they ever hurt.  Not really painful...just almost painful. So terribly uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep.  I had to take a bath to relieve the pressure on them, relieve the...ok...pain.  It worked. I wasn't in the tub for long when I was falling asleep.  I wish I had a blanket that I could just wrap around me that would alleviate this pressure! Wouldn't that be wonderful!?

Have you noticed that the changing of the Barometric Pressure bothers you?  I can get all kinds of issues that come along with the changing of seasons esp.   Like my leg aches!  Or, my whole body will ache! I'm noticing that it's a lot less of a problem since I've been on Cymbalta.  They say that's for Fibromyalgia, but one of the pains I've suffered from has been Fibromyalgia-like.  When I saw their commercial that explains Fibromyalgia it all clicked why some docs tried to say that's what I have.  Because it's the over-firing of the nerves in your muscles!  Makes sense, doesn't it, that our muscles ache like that too since RSD is the over-firing of  those same nerves (sympathetic) but for us, it's muscles, blood vessels, skin, organs, hair...

Anyway, to help when the barometric pressure gets to me, I hit the tub.  The water has to be 95 degrees or more so just going to a pool, etc doesn't really help.  I so would love to have a hot tub! With a tv!  oh what a dream! I used to have a soaking tub (and tv)which was mighty helpful!  We were going to put one in our new/old house but have decided with finances the way they are to hold off.  So this tub will have to do! 

To get the water up high enough in the tub to actually cover oneself and help:  I sometimes turn the water outlet cover upside down so it gives me a few more inches of water.  I also have a plastic outlet cover that does essentially the same thing.  It's easy to pop onto the outlet and off again to let the water out. 

I also found out yesterday why people with crowns shouldn't bite down on hard caramel!  Has anyone else had a lot of dental work since having RSD?  With the dry mouth from meds, etc my teeth have started rotting away!  I had a mouth of silver before RSD and now (granted I am getting old and so, this may have happened anyway) I only have one or two silver fillings left!  That's a treat!   But, I have recently learned about a gel that one puts on your gums and tongue and it keeps them moisened for a long time.  I keep it in my purse and pull it out when needed.  It's called BIOTENE.  Check that out!

Proverbs 21:23



Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.

Electric buzz

I wrote the other night about the wind being so awful...it is tough to deal with and the doctors all say their offices are full the day after a windy night. It causes most RSDers such discomfort that lots of people run to the doctors. I'm not saying that they need not go; however, I have never gone to the pain doc except when I have an appt. I have never felt it necessary. I tend to believe that the RSD is something that takes my common sense and knowledge of my body along with the modalities the doctors use to keep me stable. There are factors of life that I encounter; sound, light, vibration, wind, weather, commotion are all things that can make my pain worse. These can all cause flairs. I have found that what I need to do is ride them out and do what I can to alleviate the pain myself. There are a lot of times that I have to limit my activities, take a bath, keep myself calm and quiet, etc and I can get myself out of a flair.


For windy nights and days when the barometric pressure causes me pain, I go into the bathtub. I had a soaking tub in one house and would actually sleep in the tub. I found that under the water, the pressure was relieved, my body would relax and I fell asleep. I cannot fall asleep too often in the tub anymore, but I do get groggy enough and warm enough to go back to bed and sleep.


I also have a set of those 'AS SEEN ON TV" leg air wraps that blow up and put pressure on your legs, it cycles on and off for about twenty minutes. I'm not sure if it’s the pressure on my legs helping the pain or that the noise of the pump lulls me to sleep. Whatever it is, I love them! I got them when they were being sold on clearance for $5 at a drug store! Ha-ha!!! My daughter thought I was nuts but man do they help me out! he he! I love when those clearance items that are such a good deal that I cannot pass up are actually good deals! Cause, face it, how often are those good deals actually worth anything?


I digress... anyway...Yesterday; I was lying in bed during an awful bit of wind and actually felt an electrical buzz all over my body. It didn't hurt, just felt like tiny little zaps, on almost all the nerve endings of my body. Weird, that was a new occurance! I also had a migraine...cannot remember if they coincided or not. I did one of those little urps (my dad's word) where you think you are about to throw up and then, it goes back down? I had a phone call soon after that happening. When I got off the phone, I could see those jagged intense light that I see when I get a migraine..., which explains the urping up I had done. This time I was able to keep it from getting really really bad.


I cannot figure out what’s been causing these Migraines I‘ve had this year. A long time ago I got them. Back then, there had to be a few 'ducks in a row' for me to get a migraine. I will have to do a little sleuthing to figure out what are the ducks that have to line up for me When I used to get them, one of the ducks was that shampoo line 'Aussie". The others were: I had to be over tired, overheated, have pms. My friends all stopped using Aussie, esp. the hairspray around me.  Wasn't that so sweet of them?! It still warms my heart to think I had friends willing to do that for me.  At the time, Aussie was THE product to use!   


It may not seem like a big deal to us when we do a good deed like that for someone else, but it can be a big deal to them.  l still remember that my friends were willing to do that for me and it was almost twenty years ago!

Never underestimate the beauty of a good deed.


Hebrews 10:24


And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.