September Update- things are going well
I must say, life is treating me well overall.
I’ve been feeling pretty good. I’m having more “good days” than “bad days,” which I think is the goal every fibromyalgic strives for.
My son and I ride a tandem bike to school, and I love the extra exercise. It’s about a mile each way, so I get 4 miles of cycling exercise. If we finish his homework early enough, and I still have any energy left, I’ll also go the gym at night. But, this does not happen all that often. I’d say I’m only going to the gym every five days at this point. Might not be worth the membership price if I actual calculate it down to cost per workout.
But, I must admit, it feels great to be riding a bike when almost everyone else is picking up their kids from school in cars. Now, some of them legitimately need to drive because they live on the other side of town. But, other folks should hide their head in shame. I pass by people who live three blocks from school, getting in their car and driving there. Then, I pass another car that is only 1 1/2 blocks from school, and they drive there. The worst offender is the lady who lives just three houses down from the school, on the very same street as the school, and she drives!
Our town has the highest level of childhood obesity in the county. I wonder what kind of example these parents are setting for their kids when two or three blocks is “too far to walk, so let’s take the car.” No wonder we have become the fattest nation on earth.
OK, I’ll admit it, it’s a huge pet peeve of mine to see people who live THAT close driving to school. What are they thinking?!!!
But, I like the bike ride for many other reasons other than the fresh air, the exercise, doing something good for the environment, and setting a positive example for my son.
This exercise is helping both my FMS, and my son’s FMS. Cycling is an excellent exercise for people with FMS. I’d say cycling, swimming, walking and the elliptical trainer are about the “safest” exercises for FMS folks.
My brain fog is much better in the mornings when I come back from dropping off my son. I’m out of breath, but, it feels good to be winded. I drink a tall glass of water, then set up getting done whatever is on my “To Do” list. I have significantly more energy on these days to get housework done then on those rare occasions when I do take the care.
(For example, I took the car today because I injured my shoulder over the weekend, and can’t move it very far. Figured I wouldn’t be able to grasp the bike handlebars with such limited range of motion in one arm. I injured this arm/shoulder once before, and it healed on its own in less than a week.) But, because we actually drove to school, (and, yes, I felt like putting my head down in shame for driving to a school that is only a mile away), my whole morning was totally thrown off.
I felt like I was in a total “fog” all morning. I couldn’t focus on the computer work I wanted to complete. I couldn’t even focus well enough to get a decent amount of housework done, (well, couldn’t do much anyway since I can’t move the one arm very far.) But, I really think my total brain fog today is related to missing my morning bike ride.
Hopefully, I will heal very quickly, get my range of motion back, and we can start riding our tandem bike to school again. I miss the exercise. I’m also afraid to hit the gym until this thing heals.
What’s really weird is I have no idea how I injured this shoulder. Maybe I overdid working out at the gym onSaturday? Maybe I overdid it when I was doing some work in our garage, repairing some stuff, (I have my own tool set), and moving boxes of other stuff around? I just don’t know.
Or, maybe this is just one of these weird fibromyalgia “flares” that only hits one very specific area of the body in an extremely intense way.
Or, maybe this is one of my last fibromyalgia “cycles” before I am doing cycling on guai. I have heard from the old-timers on the GuaiGroup that the last couple of cycles can be the hardest of all.
In the past, before I knew I had FMS, I would have gone to the doctor for something like this...
“Hey, doc, it’s the weirdest thing. I’m having the most intense pain in my shoulder, and I can barely move it. Surely that’s not normal right?”
I don’t bother anymore. I’ve had so many tests come up “negative,” (like all other folks with FMS), that it’s not even worth making the trip to the doctor anymore.
Want to hear something really weird? I was looking at my shoulder in the mirror yesterday, trying to see if I could tell if anything was dislocated or something-- the pain was that intense at one point. I do a lot of stretching and stuff on my own, so I figured it was possible I stretched or twisted the wrong way and popped something out of place.
I pressed my hand down on one shoulder muscle that was particularly tender, and I saw another muscle about six inches below the shoulder start to jump and spasm. This other muscle was at least halfway down the back-- pretty far away from the shoulder-- but, I guess all those muscle groups are connected.
The spasms were clearly visible to the naked eye because the muscles were contracting and spasms so violently. It was like watching a mini-earthquake happening under my skin. So weird!
A similar thing happened today-- another moment of weirdness, I guess you could say... I’ve been applying hot packs to my shoulder as the heat seems to help ease the spasms somewhat.
I don’t like to take any kind of painkillers, so I’m just trying to treat this naturally using heat packs, stretching, and resting the area.
Well, I use “rice socks” as my heat packs, (tube socks filled with rice, tie a knot in the end, and heat up in microwave for 60 seconds or so- make as many as you need.) I placed a hot rice pack right over where my shoulder hurt the most, then leaned back in my most comfortable chair to get some computer work done.
As the heat pack came into contact with the most painful/affected shoulder area, all of a sudden, the muscles in my forearm started jumping. Yup-- violent contractions like the ones I saw the day before, except this time it was in my lower arm.
I was seeing muscle contractions so crazy and intense that you could clearly see them through the skin, as if the skin was jumping up and down of its own accord.
Majorely weird.
Are muscles supposed to be doing that?
I suppose never a dull day with fibromyalgia.
Well, I have to go prepare dinner, and drag the three trash bins to the curb. Tomorrow is garbage day-- how I’m going to get those heavy bins moved from our house to the curb with a useless shoulder is going to be a real challenge. Well, I’ll manage somehow. Maybe I’ll just take it really slow, and move the bins one little bit at a time.
It would be awesome if I woke up tomorrow, and had full use of this arm/shoulder again, and could ride the tandem bike again. The weather is PERFECT this week for bike riding-- not too hot, not too cold. It’s killing me to have to drive in this beautiful bike riding weather.
Mmmm... probably wishful thinking on my part. Last time my shoulder did something like this, it was a good week to ten days before I could move it normally again.
In that case, it was a boogie boarding accident. (I hadn’t started surfing yet.) It was definitely an act of stupidity on my part. I mistimed a wave in Santa Cruz and ended up getting pile driven into the sand--- at a beach infamous for its rough shore break. (Yes, I should have known better.)
I was very lucky I only injured my shoulder, and nothing more serious like a spinal injury. I didn’t have medical insurance back then, so I couldn’t see a doctor anyway. So, I just let it heal on its own, and with time, it did. I figured the same thing will happen this time. I just hope it heals fast because this weather is GORGEOUS. My bike is calling out to me.
Feeling pretty good, overall.
Monday, September 29, 2008
