So what exactly is wrong with you?

I am heading into what seem to be my most brutal/painful months of the year, and it seems I have been getting a lot of questions regarding my overall health and wellness. I thought now would be a great time to throw a post out there updating y'all with what that means for me.

A Pain Board & Internal Medicine Certified Doctor/Naturopath was my last stop in my attempt to find an solution for this pain disorder I have lived with for the past 5 years. It is called Fibromyalgia. It is something not many conventional doctors are willing to treat because its symptoms are relatively broad and hard to pin down. To the point of said visit with the new doc, I had lived through a barrage of pain/antibiotic/sleep/crazy meds, physical therapy, and counseling. All of which had become old hat to me, that was what I knew as 'normal'. I knew this was a disease that is incurable, and only really manageable with exercise, and meds. These would be routines I would have to understand and accept for the rest of my life.
Enter new doc..we will call him (thank you Aretha) Dr. Feelgood. Right off the bat, his jaw hit the floor when he saw the laundry list of medications I have been told to throw at my system. He was appalled, offended even. After two hours of sitting in his office talking, he was quite certain I was dealing with something quite a bit more complex than FMS. He examined me for 10 minutes, and sat me down to explain our game plan. I was diagnosed with FMS, which my old doctors said came as a result of my car accident 5 years ago. He is quite certain that I actually initially had something called Myofacial Pain Syndrome. He believes that because THAT went untreated, the symptoms manifested themselves into what is now FIERCE FMS/MPS. **Sidebar: Auto-immune disorders can be extremely complex. Imagine your immune system is the coast guard and each cell, good and bad is a ship with a flag on it. Your 'coast guard' looks out for the pirate flags (bad cells) and attacks/destroys them. The trick with AI disorders is that your immune system is too preoccupied with attacking the good cells, that simply does not recognize the bad ones (pirate ships).** Had the MFS been treated years ago, I would not be in the place I am now. He validated every ache and said that he has no doubt I am living in extreme pain. He also said he was confident he would be able to help me.
I left his office with somewhere around 15 different NATURAL pills/supplements that were to take place of my prescriptions for sleep, pain, depression, etc. After a month and a half of the worst detox of my life, I started to feel some relief.
I sleep without drugs.
I have more energy without drugs.
I am living what is looking more and more like a normal life. It is still a life with pain, but its looking more and more hopeful.

Seeing Dr. Feelgood is extremely costly, and at this point, we just don't have the means to make him a regular visit. However, we have learned a few really great lessons about how we eat, what medications I do take, and I've learned to look at normal activities with more hope.

Now about those bad months. Every year, we here in the Pac NW experience a shift in weather. Our change of seasons are quite as graceful as they are in other places of the world. When it's hot, it's BLISTERING hot. When it is cold, you simply forget to breathe. Either extreme would be easier to deal with if they didn't come along so suddenly, with little warning. When we kick into extreme temps, my body kicks over to pain mode.
Simply put, this kind of pain is indescribable. BUT, I have a superb support system and every reason to keep looking up. I have an amazing husband that takes more care of me than I deserve. I do have hope for a change, and I am confident in my HEALER. Who could ask for more? ;)

Inspired

Uh-ma-zing!

Not only am I keen on the name ;), but I have mad respect for a woman with pipes of this caliber. Uh-ma-zing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Adele.

Deliciously Delirious

Wow.
Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, or years even, where you honestly believe you are just a few clicks short of crazy?
That is the only way I can sum up this week. How sad is that? It's only TUESDAY folks?!
I can't really explain to you how or why, but I am just plumb pooped emotionally, physically, spiritually, just wiped the heck out! PHEW!
Dana is out with one of his buddies tonight and I have the delicious chance to sit down with the laptop and download a new playlist into itunes. (I got a gift card for my birthday MONTHS ago and have yet to take advantage of it.)
It's like my Disney World. No..really. I have this mammoth mothership of tonal gloriousness that makes me deliriously, fantastically, indescribably happy. People, there are few things that bring me more joy than just laying back in my comfies and SWIMMING in new music. Listening, digesting, absorbing every perfect tone and lyric. Well, it is like coming home. :)

I'm not avoiding my impending curve into crazy anymore. Game on, I'm ready for it. I will be content there in la-la land now that I have my Do-Re-Mis.

Sometimes the past just needs to stay IN THE PAST!!

Back in my pre-teen days you better believe I could "Hang Tough" like the rest of them. I was all about Donnie, Joey, Jordan and the those other New Kids, I'm pretty sure I even had a poster or two. Each of my friends claimed their future Groom from the Block and we all lived contently in New Kids on the Block la-la land. I won't deny it, but folks...I was 11.

Dana and I watched the AMA's last night and lo and behold, it ain't no joke, the New Kids are back on the Block. They performed a medley of two old songs (including Hang Tough) and their newer (raunchy old men singing to young girls about getting jiggy) songs. WOOOOOWWWW....I have few words.
Wait..no that's not true, I have more than a few..
LET IT DIE BOYS!!! LET IT GO!! You'd think that these early-middle aged men would realize that the pipes don't work quite the same as they did when they were teens..oh no...they were belting it out in all their nails on a chalk board glory! I gotta say, the hibbidy-dibbity dancing with the teeny bopper background girls was a little creepy for my taste. Yikeso.

Let it go homes, seriously.
Hammer pants, wave bangs, neon green, NKOTB, all things we should leave buried...F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

Early Christmas!!!

Folks, we filled up the Civic for under $20 last night. That's right, gas was only $1.99/Gal!!!
Can you believe it? It's like Christmas came early!!

We miss the Element terribly, but I'm not gonna lie, the fuel bill is a lot easier to handle. :)