Hi Everyone! I hope you are all recovering from Hump Day, and are gearing up for the weekend! I was wondering if you would help me by taking part in these polls? I am working on an article, and I would love to hear as much feedback as possible!
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There has been so much talk about these 2 medications as of late on this site as well as on our Facebook group. It would be awesome to hear about your personal experience, and how these medications have worked for you!!!
Thanks so much for all the time and energy you give to others, and all of the amazing support you give me every day! I truly appreciate it!!
I hadn’t realized how much I am hurting until I started to take the post-op painkillers.
It started in the ER. My stomach hurt, but the pain was not killing me. So I was a bit surprised when they hit me with Dilauded -based on what I know it is a narcotic in the morphine range. It went in IV, and first I felt a spreading warmth all over my body. Then I was like a spreading sense of relief – knees and hands and shoulders and back and… well, all over. The part I noticed least was my belly. Yes, it stopped hurting, but it hadn’t been that bad to start with. It was all the other parts of my body that were so relieved.
I was drugged, but not wiped out. Not going to sleep, able to hold a conversation as long as it wasn’t too complex, able to follow what was going on other wise. And I didn’t hurt.
Afterward I was dealing with the effects of the operation itself – I hurt some if I didn’t move, more if I did. But it wasn’t killer pain as long as I was careful. But when they hit me with the post-op IV morphine, the thing I noticed was the lack of pain every where else in my body.
The first day or two at home I was pretty steady on the Darvocet every 5 or 6 hours, and part of that was due to pain, and part of that was to keep pain from getting out of control. It never got bad – the worst was a few times when I moved wrong and that only for a few minutes. But again, what I noticed was how it lessened the pain in other parts of my body – pain I was so used to having that it had just turned into back-ground was… well, it was still there, but it was no where near as bad.
Tonight I finally talked to Catherine about it. She pointed out the amount of over-the-counter pain medicine I have been taking – Excedrine and Ibuprofin and others – for months. When I first started working at the assisted living I knew it was going to be hard on me – I am not as young as I once was, and it was going to mean suddenly being on my feet for long hours, and being physical in patient care with lifting and other activities. At the beginning I took meds before my shift started, at lunch, and at the end of the day. After a few weeks it leveled off and then started doing better. But by mid-December the amount I was taking was going back up, and the times I didn’t take it but wanted to were more. I added herbs – Cayenne, to be specific – and Icy Hot to a bunch of places all over my body. It helped, but that is all I can say about it. When Catherine got some Vicodine for her back in January I wished I could take some of it. (I didn’t, because of the possibility of drug testing at work. But I sure wanted to.)
So I am suddenly aware of some things that have me worried. I had Fibromyalgia years ago and it was miserable. I finally got over it with a mix of herbs and other natural treatments, and have done pretty well for a long time. Still, I have had times of aching all over for weeks or months, with little relief from most treatments. It was something I had to deal with, and after a while it would get better. Over the last couple of years it has probably happened more often… something I have not really wanted to admit even to myself.
And now this feels a lot like that and it has me worried. If it keeps getting worse it is going to be… well, I’m not sure.
I have had a really rough week. Pain has been competing for my undivided attention, and the last few days it has won. I hate it when that happens…. It makes me feel weak and useless. It reminds me how powerless I am. I flounder for a while but then I remind myself to breathe and try to see it from a different perspective… it’ll be okay… this too shall pass… I am stronger than I think I am, and at my greatest moments of weakness, when I convince myself I have no more strength to keep fighting, my honey is always there to carry half the load. I truly would be lost without him.
On Thursday afternoon, as I was walking my son home from school, all I could think about was trying to get a grip on this searing and relentless pain…. It gets so frustrating when all I want to do is connect with the world around me, and PAIN gets in the way.
My son was happily holding my hand, and skipping along the sidewalk chatting about his day, and all I could think about was how much his tiny hand brought pain to mine… What kind of life is this?? I asked myself. What quality of life is there when you can’t even do the simplest of things?! How do I keep fighting off this beast when I have no strength left? I have asked myself these questions a million times… and every time I ask the question I am given an answer… I ALWAYS find something that keeps my hopes up, and keeps me going…
My son and I pass a store EVERY day on the way home. I had never been in the store, and not really given it a whole lot of attention either… it is just a building among all the other buildings that we walk by every day on our way home… and usually I am concentrating on getting home as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
For whatever reason, my son and I stopped dead in our tracks right in front of the store window. He went to grab his water bottle out of his backpack, and I decided to have a little stretch before continuing our journey home…. and something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye…. the word STRENGTH, carved into a beautiful slab of marble in the front window of this store… For a few seconds I was completely mesmerized. I was drawn to this piece of art… It was magnetic… When I broke the trance and looked down at my son, he was staring at the plaque exactly as I was, with his eyes wide, and a serene look on his face….
After a few moments, we pulled ourselves away and kept on walking, but I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I asked my son what he thought of the stone, and he went on about how beautiful he thought it was. I asked him what he thought of when he looked at it, and he simply said “Tim”…. I couldn’t have agreed with him more. My honey has been our rock and a source of strength to both of us. I was touched that my child had the same reaction I did, and knew that it wasn’t a coincidence. What an amazing thing for him to say! I told my son that if the stone was still there when we walked home from school the following day, then we could go into the store to take a closer look…
We ran back to the store on the way home from school yesterday (okay, well I can’t run, but you know what I mean) LOL! We were both excited to see if it was still there… It WAS!! We went into the store, and asked the salesperson if she could take it out of the front window so we could see it. We were bursting with anticipation!
Moments later she put the cold smooth piece of marble in my hands… It was MUCH heavier than I thought it would be. I ran my fingers along the edge of the engraved letters…. S-T-R-E-N-G-T-H…. What a meaningful word in my life right now…. My honey is my STRENGTH… My son is my STRENGTH… My parents are my STRENGTH.. Some days I don’t feel like I have much STRENGTH left… I reflect on how much STRENGTH is has taken me to get this far… without the STRENGTH of my family, I wouldn’t be here… the bonds of love in my life are so much stronger than the pain is…
I asked the sales lady to wrap it up for me, because I was taking it home… I knew I had to give it to my love as a gift. I wanted to give him a symbol of what he means to me and my son. He is our rock and our strength.
The rest of the walk home was difficult to say the least. I struggled to carry this heavy slab of marble on my own. My son offered to help me, but there was no way he could have carried it, it felt like it weighed a tonne! Only 4 more blocks to go… Only 3 more blocks to go…Only 2 more blocks to go… My arms felt as if they were going to give out. My shoulders were burning, and my legs were shaking… Maybe not the smartest thing to do when I am flaring so badly! … I let out a HUGE sigh of relief when we got to our building, up the elevator, and into our home. We quickly pulled off our winter wear, dumping everything on the floor, so we could unwrap the stone and set it up on our mantle in the living room.
Later in the evening when my honey came home, I showed him his gift. I told him that both me and my son just KNEW that we had to get it for him because it represented what he meant in our lives….
“Is this really for me?!?!?” He asked…
“Well of course it is honey!!” I replied… who else would it represent in our home?
“It’s beautiful, and I am touched…Thank you… but the real strength in our family is YOU my Angel… YOU are OUR STRENGTH.” he said as he gave me a hug….
We bought it for him, but it ended up being a gift for all of us…
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I just starting reading this book, so I thought I would write about it on my blog. I forget where I came across it, but I heard it was a good book.
First, lets introduce Dr. Rodger Murphree (taken from http://www.treatingandbeating.com/) – Dr. Rodger Murphree is the founder and past clinic director for a large integrated medical practice located in Birmingham, Alabama. The practice was staffed with board-certified medical doctors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and nutritionists who combined traditional and alternative medicine. The clinic provided cutting-edge treatments for acute and chronic illnesses. He has specialized in difficult-to-treat patients for the last 10 years. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) and is a board certified chiropractic physician.
Dr. Murphree has written 5 books for patients and doctors including “Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” “Heart Disease: What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You,” and “Treating and Beating Anxiety and Depression With Orthomolecular Medicine,” and “ˇTreating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Patient’s Manual (available as a downloadable e-book online.)
In 2002, Dr. Murphree separated from his medical clinic so that he could open his own practice in Birmingham, Alabama. He maintains a busy practice focusing on fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, and other difficult-to-treat illnesses. He consults with other physicians, lectures throughout the United States giving educational seminars to patients and healthcare professionals, is a regular columnist for numerous publications, and routinely appears on national radio broadcasts.
(portions of this blog came from Dr. Rodger Murphree’s book)
Part 1: You’re Not Alone – Chapter 1: I Understand
You hurt all over, You can’t sleep at night, You’ve been told your illness is all in your head, and Family and friends have no idea how you really feel. Physician’s first impulse is often to mask your symptoms with prescription drugs. You can end up on a medical merry-go-round, seeing doctor after doctor, ending up more confused and disoriented than ever. Getting your doctor to listen is hard, Finding one who understands you is even harder, Finding one who knows how to treat you is next to impossible.
Dr. Rodger Murphree suggest that before you take anyone’s advice about treating your fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, you should see if they pass this three-item test – Is the advice from someone who actually treats FMS and CFS patients on a regular basis, Is the advice coming from a recognized expert in the field, and After following the advice your getting, are you healthier?
Dr. Rodger Murphree has treated thousands of patients with high doses of certain vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients. This approach is referred to as orthomolecular medicine. It’s based solely on biochemistry, manipulating and augmenting chemicals inherent in the body in pursuit of optimal function.
What you will learn from reading this book:
who is most likely to develop these illnesses
When the illnesses are most likely to occur
how the syndromes are diagnosed
what underlying conditions are associated with them
why traditional medicine alone hasn’t been successful in treating FMS and CFS
how to feel better in 2-4 weeks than you have felt in years
why you can’t sleep and how to safely and consistently (99% of the time) solve this problem with natural supplements – within two weeks
why certain drugs can actually make you feel worse, causing increased pain, flu-like symptoms, poor memory, anxiety, depression, fatigue and more (Most doctors don’t know this information. They have been convinced by drug company propaganda to push more and more dangerous drugs. You have to learn for yourself which drugs have been proven helpful and which life-threatening drugs should be avoided.)
how my proven program – based on successfully treating thousands of FMS and CFS patients over the past 14 years – corrects causes, not just symptoms
why you have “fibro-fog” (a hard time concentrating and remembering things) and how to correct it, usually in 3-4 weeks
why you’re so tired, even when you’re taking stimulants like caffeine and amphetamines and how to notice a dramatic increase in energy in 2-4 weeks
why thyroid tests are usually not accurate, and how to reliably and easily test for low thyroid at home and then successfully correct it
how to correct general adaptive syndrome so that you don’t feel worse before every thunderstorm or after a day of “overdoing it”
how prolonged stress eventually overwhelms your adrenal glands and how you can repair them so that you don’t “crash” after every stressful event
how “leaky gut” can cause food allergies, pain, inflamtion, mood disorders, and chronic infections
why people with FMS and CFS become depressed and how over-the-counter amino acid supplements often are more effective, faster working, and safer than prescription medications in treating most cases of anziety and depression
how to beat low moods, anxiety, and depression once and for all
why you’re in pain and how to reduce or eliminate chronic pain without mind numbing pain medication – typicaly within 2 weeks of supplementing an essential nutrient
how your diet affects your health
how to finally, successfully treat stubborn allergies and chemical sensitivities
how to treat irritable bowel and digestive disturbances, making IBS a distant memory
how to lose those unwanted pounds you’ve gained and increase your metabolism through some clever adjustments to your diet
and how to reduce or eliminate your sever reactions to certain chemicals, medications, environments, and even smells
Chapter 2: A growing community of wellness
This chapter has 33 testimonials from different people from all over the world. The main things I took from these excerpts was: Wellness is a gift from God intended for all; Dr. Rodger Murphree treated the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms; FMS patient’s brains don’t create enough serotonin (serotonin is essential for sleep); Stand up for yourself and Say NO; You really have to take control of your own health.
So far, I really like what I have read and can’t wait to read more. I am very interested in how he helps people with FMS and CFS.
I’m usually a happy, easy-going person–when I feel good…The past three weeks I have felt anything BUT good! It’s been a while since I’ve had a “flare”, but I’ve been in the midst of one for a while now.
I have this “visitor” (who is a member of the arthritis family) inhabiting my body who likes to “raise its ugly head” every now and then. My visitor doesn’t have a definitive name–just fibromyalgia/rheumatoid arthritis-like disease… Life is sweet, and pretty much normal…until my “visitor” raises its ugly head.
Certain things can trigger the visitor–such as stress or illness. I’m not stressed, so I’ll attribute its appearance to the stomach flu that I suffered about 3 weeks ago, plus the fact that I reduced one of my medications just before getting sick. I wasn’t feeling one hundred percent prior to getting the stomach flu, but I sure as heck haven’t felt good at all since having it!
My visitor makes my joints ache, my stomach roll and get upset, and my head aches. I also get “brain fog” and can’t concentrate. The worst part is not getting a restful night’s sleep. I wake up every morning tired–and the day goes down hill from there.
I’m determined not to go back up on the medication dosage if I can help it. Medication is a “Catch 22″ situation. While it fixes one problem, it creates another. It is for that reason, I made the choice to reduce the dosage, and hopefully get off eventually. I discussed this with my doctor, and he agreed that I could try it. He warned me that I may experience more pain…when I asked what to do if I did experience more pain–he simply replied “Get back on it.” Call me “hard-headed” or “slow-to-catch-on”, but I’m not ready to “get back on it” just yet…in fact, I am still taking 1/2 of my regular dosage. I have to take four different medications to keep my visitor under control–did I mention that I hate taking medications!
And so life goes on…we deal with the hand that we are dealt. I have been dealing with this “visitor” for nearly seventeen years… but it’s not going to get the best of me! Why I am I telling you all of this, you ask? I don’t know…sometimes misery loves company…sometimes I just need to rant…I have “brain fog” and can’t think of anything to write…take your pick–a poor excuse is better than none. LOL
I am sorry this post is a “downer” but sometimes it just makes me feel better to “let it all out”. Thanks for listening! Until next time…have a great day–as for me, I hope better days are coming
Ugh, so I wanna go to bed, I need to go to bed, but I can’t shut my mind off. I’m afraid tonight may be a sleeping pill night. *le sigh*
So I thought I’d come BS a bit more. Earlier, I’d put on my blue nighty, come out to the living room and brought D to bed with me. We had a good quickie, he brought me to orgasm several times before cumming himself. I love being filled with his cum, I really do. There’s just a connection with it, that I feel. Plus, it’s always nice to have the reminder when some of it slips out later on in the night, or the next day Yea, that’s nasty…but true! LOL
I’m quite looking forward to the weekend. I have this crazy need to clean, dunno where it’s coming from. I think organize is more like it, I still have a few things I need to dig through and stuff. I think also this weekend that we’re gonna put a curtain between the living room and dining room/ kitchen. It’ll be nice, to add a little flavor, as well as keep us from seeing the kitchen all the time and thus thinking about food, as well as regulate temperature a bit more. We live in a pretty old building with hot water heat, so the temp can fluctuate something crazy.
That’s about it. I have my physical Monday, so I’m looking forward to that. Have been having some health/body issues that I need to talk to my physician about. Need some help with pain management as well. At home I can do things to handle it, but at work and such I don’t have things available that I have at home. Last time I brought it up she refused to give me anything because of the risk of addiction, but there has to be *something* I can have for work, so I can actually finish a shift when my fibro acts up. I’m considering seeing about intermittent FMLA just in case, for job protection…but still.
Anyway, that’s about it. Me and D are winding down now… think I”m gonna pop a pill, check the cats food and water situation and curl up again.
In the late 1970’s a financially independent English family used their resources to commission a study to determine the safest place in the world. Once they learned that their study revealed that the safest place was the Falkland Islands, they moved there. Ironically, shortly after this family relocated, they were evacuated during the Agentinian invasion! I was reminded of this story as I was reading the 1941 Caldecott Winner, Make Way For Ducklings and reflecting how I related to this children’s book.
The story begins with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard looking for a safe place to bring into the world their little ducklings. Wherever they flew, Mrs. Mallard continued to see the possibility for danger: If they lived in the woods, they could be attacked by wolves or if they lived by the water, they could be frightened by turtles. Then they rested at a pond in the Public Gardens. She was just beginning to relax and think this location could be the best choice when she was nearly hit by a young child riding his bike rather recklessly.
Greg and I have tried so hard this past year to make our home a safe place to enhance my healing environment. We have taken out carpets and replaced them with cork flooring, we have repainted most of our house with low VOC paints, and we have installed an air filtration system in our bedroom. And that just describes the larger changes we have made. Like the English couple and Mrs. Mallard who both found a safe quiet isolated island, we were beginning to believe that we had created a safe place for me to heal.
The problem is that living in such a bubble is not exactly exciting – there are no adventures, no new things to stimulate the five senses. And that is why once her ducklings were born, and after Mrs. Mallord spent some time teaching them how to swim, dive and follow her, she decided they needed to leave. I suspect she began to long for the sights, the sounds, the people, the swans, the occasional feeding of peanuts, the energy – the invigorating pulse of the Public Garden. At least that is what I surmise. Anyways they proceeded to have an adventure as the ducklings followed their mother walking across the highway heading toward the Public Garden. Even though I usually don’t feel well enough to leave my home very often, I still miss participating in various activities. Recently, I went into Children’s Place Outlet and I just stood there almost overly stimulated as I watched the children interact with their parents, as I observed the long line to the cashier due to a sale, and I just enjoyed wandering touching and looking at all the colors of the clothing. Going into most stores usually are very problematic since I have so many environmental sensitivities. However, for some reason there is less risk for me walking into this Children’s Clothing Store. Again I think of Mrs. Mallard and her little ducklings. She was not prepared to put them in great danger and have them live there just newly born, but even before they could fly there she was prepared to take some risks and move them there. And that is what most of us who are chronically ill do on a regular basis. We weigh the pros and cons of leaving our safe home and we are compelled sometimes to take risks regarding our health because we want to feel like we are engaged with the rest of the world. However, we often lean on our loved ones to help us do that – often by their being with us on our adventure or they nurse us if our health has been greatly jeopardized upon our return! They are like the policeman who helped Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings get to their destination safely .
However, yesterday I was reminded again that no matter how much we try to find a safe place to live, no matter how much we try to get better, no matter how we try to control the amount of risks we take, we really don’t have that much control concerning our safe environment and our wellness.. To add to my already long list of symptoms, I just learned that I have endometrial cancer and now I need a hysterectomy. I have been having so many setbacks that I am not looking forward to having this surgery. Like the English couple who were invaded on the Falkland Island, I feel like I have been invaded by abnormal cells and I don’t feel like my safe healing environment is very safe at all! However, as I think of the picture of the Mother duck and her ducklings boldly walking through many dangers just to get to the Public Garden, I believe I can imitate them by boldly walking through this experience and who knows eventually I may be able to spend less time in my home and more time at my own very active and very scenic Public Garden!
We had the mother of all snowstorms this weekend, with 29″ dumped on every surface. It’s beautiful, and it also presents many practical challenges. (These include power outages, being housebound, snow-weighted trees, and making a space for the terrier to go outside and use the bathroom.)
Saturday night I was keeping my friend company while she started clearing off one of our cars. The power was out all around the neighborhood. The storm clouds had passed. The sky was a deep purple, reflecting the light of the snow and city lights in the distance. All of our street lights were out, giving a much better view of constellations punctuated by the occasional whispy cirrus clouds. Partway through shoveling, the power came back on. Some of the constellations disappeared, but my disappointment was tempered by the promise of having heat for the night.
That was the wonder of the snowstorm.
We also probably lost at least two trees, which succumbed to the weight of the snow and ended up almost touching the ground. I spent a good bit of the day of the storm wading through the ever-accumulating snow (it ended up reaching almost to my hips) and shaking trees off to prevent further tree death. My friends did a lot of the work, but just “walking” through the snow proved difficult.
Then came my body’s reaction to the experience.
I won’t bore you with an entire catalog of the pain. Suffice it to say that every joint in my legs was sore and burning. Other parts of my body would periodically pipe up, as though saying, “Me too! Pay attention to me too! I hurt too!”
I knew what would help: very light exercise (stretching or walking), meditation, medication, a hot shower, taking it easy by staying out of the snow…
Knowing is easier than doing. It was as though the pain had taken over my brain, and all I could focus on was how much I hurt. Add to it the increasing dismay at being housebound AND in pain, and I was not a happy camper.
I recruited my friends to help me out. Sometimes I just need encouragement to take steps in the right direction. I unhesitatingly took my pain medication, and got to verbally express some of the pain I was feeling. My friend helped me pick out some nice shampoo, and I took full advantage of my shower chair and hot water. I just let it wash over me.
Then I took my big step. I decided I would get situated for a meditation. I got out my mp3 player (which has several guided meditations on it). I decided I would see how meditation went – I wouldn’t force myself to do it for a certain period of time. I just let my meditation be what it was – a way to get in touch with what was going on in my body.
It was painful, at first. But because I have some experience with doing mindfulness meditation while I’m in pain, it was not unexpected.
There was this remarkable feeling of openness that happened during my meditation. I realized how much of my body actually feels pretty good.
This next part may sound crazy, but bear with me. (Having a familiarity with the Buddhist idea of equanimity might help.) I realized that when I found a part of my body that was not in pain, I thought, “Oh good, it feels great!” When I found a part of my body that was in pain, I thought, “Drat, that hurts. Maybe if I focus on it, it’ll stop hurting.”
Then I tried something different – letting go of the idea that pain is good or bad. However terrible the experience of pain is, it is a million times worse if I dedicate my conscious mind to thinking about how terrible it is. I also have a tendency to dedicating my conscious mind to how I want to feel good all the time when I’m enjoying myself. If I do that, I’m not actually enjoying myself anymore – I’m just dwelling in the desire to feel good more often.
So I just let go. I allowed myself to be in pain without judgement. The pain was still there. It still hurt. But it wasn’t in control of my consciousness anymore.
This article caught my eye. Science backs old wives’ tale – cod liver oil helps slow osteoarthritis There is always that question of can cartilage grow again? Can the loss be decreased?
Then I started to wonder.. has there been increase in osteoarthritis in recent years? In my search I found many people believe there is a correlation between increased exercise and osteoarthritis. One researcher David Hunter says ”The largest modifiable risk factor for knee osteoarthritis is body weight, such that each additional kilogram of body mass increases the compressive load over the knee by roughly 4kg”. There is no doubt that increased body mass increases the load on joints, but why is it that so often only one knee is affected or at the very lease one more than the other? To us the answer is simple. It is not your weight, or even the increased exercising you’ve been doing since the new year. It is the faulty body mechanics and postural imbalances. That is not to say that you are doing the exercises wrong, or even the wrong exercises. Your body from a bio-mechanical perspective just cant handle the load…YET.
Enter EGOSCUE… With the correct Egoscue e-cises you can change the structure of your body, and correct any bio-mechanical faults. Just check out the results one of our clients in Austin managed for himself Check Out This You Are Going To Love It
The wives tale of Cod Liver Oil may very well help slow down loss. However, if you are willing to do your part there is a good chance you can reverse the process completely! Great work Egoscue Austin…Wow!!
The state of California classifies cigarette smoke as a toxic air containment.
Filters are not eco-friendly and may take up to 10 years to degrade. State and local jurisdictions around the country are spending tens of thousands of dollars for removal and disposal of cigarette butts.
Cigarette butts #1 pollution on beaches worldwide
Cigarette smoking is the #1 cause of fire in our county parks
… I let out a HUGE sigh of relief when we got to our building, up the elevator, and into our home. We quickly pulled off our winter wear, dumping everything on the floor, so we could unwrap the stone and set it up on our mantle in the living room.
I’m usually a happy, easy-going person–when I feel good…The past three weeks I have felt anything BUT good! It’s been a while since I’ve had a “flare”, but I’ve been in the midst of one for a while now. 
