47 Names of Various Pains

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

47 Names of Various Pains

In honor of Chronic Pain Awareness Month, here are forty-seven terms that identify various types of pain. Wether you have fibromyalgia with fibro fog that makes it hard to think of words, or whether you have other types of chronic pain where the pain so debilitating you can hardly think, here are some terms that you can use to describe when seeking medical attention. I wish I had this list when I first started seeking medical attention eleven years ago.

Ache (Aching)

Acute

Aggravating

Agony (Agonizing)

Battered

Burning

Cramp

Crick

Crumbling

Crushing

Damaging

chronic pain terms

Distress

Dull

Excruciating

Gnawing

Heavy

Hurt

Intense

Malady

Mashing

Mentally Agonizing

Numb (Numbness)

Pulse (ing)

Pulverizing

Piercing

Raging

Scared

Sensation

Searing

Severe

Sharp

Shooting

Sickening

Sore (Soreness)

Squashing

Spasm (Violent spasms)

Splitting

Stabbing

Suffering

Tender

Throb

Tight

Tingling

Tormenting

Torture

Twinge

Vexation

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Top Five Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

Top Five Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia

Over the past week I sent out several requests for fibro patients to list the five worst symptoms they have with fibromyalgia. After tabulating them here are the results. There is a list of seventeen symptoms. The first ten are not surprising. The top five are, to me a little surprising. I do have vision related symptoms but I was surprised that it was mentioned as much as it was and that it was bad enough to be in the top five.

I am a little surprised the sensitivities weren’t a little higher and I am really surprised migraines wasn’t a lot higher and that there was only one complaint of migraines and no complaints of headaches.

Take a look at these symptoms and see how they compare with your top five symptoms. Feel free to tell me what your top five fibro symptoms are.

5 tops fibro syptoms

1 Pain – 17

2 Fog – 12

3 Fatigue – 10

4 Sleep Issues – 7

5 Vision Issues – 5

6 Stiffness – 4

7 IBS – 3

8 Flu like symptoms – 2

9 Noise Sensitivity – 2

10 UV Light Sensitivity – 2

11 Clumsy – 2

12 Light Sensitivity

13 Migraines

14 Neuropathy

15 Muscle cramps/spasms

16 Nausea

17 Ringing in ears

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5 Ways How The Bible Helps Us Cope With Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

5 Ways How The Bible Helps Us Cope With Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia And Other Chronic Invisible Illnesses

I am introducing a new thread on the Fibro Champions Blog that takes various verses from the scriptures and applies them to those of us who suffer trials and tribulations due to Anxiety, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Pain, Depression, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, Lyme Disease, MS, POTS and any other chronic invisible illnesses. Really these little devotionals could apply to anyone who has been victimized. These are Biblical verses that provide teaching, hope, validation and faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which all Christianity stands. His teachings can heal and help bear our burden better than any other medical solution, herbal solution or self help solution. But I advocate using the teachings of Jesus in cooperation with the proper use of the miracles of medical science.

1. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4 (NIV) This verse is referring to Jesus Christ. It tells us that he will sustain us, will carry us and rescue us in the various times of our needs. Who needs the Savior more than the sinner or those who suffer from health trials, especially those of a chronic illnesses? He made us and he knows us better than we know ourselves. Who better to turn to than our Creator? To sustain us means To support, hold, bear up, bear the weight, bear a burden, and to endure without giving way or yielding. To keep a person from giving way to, as under trial or affliction.

2. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:3-5 (KJV) This verse in Isaiah was a prophecy of what would happen to Jesus Christ when he came to earth to atone for our sins. He did atone for us but he did much more. He bore our griefs, carried our sorrows and through his suffering he can be healed of the consequences of our sins and we can be healed from our infirmities.

3. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV) This popular verse means that we will not be tempted by sin or tried by tribulation more than what we are able to bear. The creator of us all, knows the limits of each and everyone of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. The temptations or tribulations that we are called upon to bear may seem like we are being pushed beyond our personal breaking point. But we are not. We must trust God and have faith and hold on tight. With his help, we will make it.

5_ways_the_bible_helps_us_cope_with

4. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV) To me, this passage of scripture tells me to have joy in my trials of chronic pain, fibro fog and all the other extreme symptoms of fibromyalgia, which is my chronic illness. This also says that the trials and tribulations we go through are designed four our personal growth wether it be in this life or the next.

5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5 (KJV) This small little verse brings great joy to me in my personal afflictions. It tells me that I can approach God in prayer for anything and my prayers will be heard and answered. But as we know from other verses, the answer to prayers are based on the infinite and eternal wisdom of God.

                    Troy Wagstaff ©

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Car Crashes Can Cause Stress For Chronic Pain and Fibromylagia Patients

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

Car Crash Stress Fibro

A Day In The Life Of Fibromyalgia

Anyone who has had fibromyalgia for any great length of time has to come to terms that stress of any kind can be a major trigger in a fibro flare up. Life may be good with a whole week of fibro pain levels at a constant four and then a major stressor happens and the fibro pain scale jumps through the roof.

It’s taken me about a week to write about it because it’s only been the last few days I have come back off that flare up.

It was about 8:00 a.m. and I got a call from my middle daughter who called me on the phone. She said, “Dad, I need you to come and pick me up because I’ve been in a car wreck.”

carwreck2_meme

“Are you alright?”

“I’m not hurt but I think my car is totaled. There are other cars in the wreck.”

“Are you sure your alright?” By now I am making sure I have my keys and wallet. My wife is asking about the conversation. I say Brit has been in a car wreck, she says she’s ok.”

“What happened, I ask”?

“I got rear-ended.”

“Where are you at?”

“I’m on the off ramp on Center St.”

“I am on my way.”

“I’ll call you when I am on the road.”

The whole time she is emotional on the phone.

I told my wife, “Britt has been in a car wreck, she was rear-ended going off I-15 onto Center St., I am on my way. Have your mother take you to work.”

My wife replies with “OK, text me when you know hat’s going on.”

car_wreck1

I am worried and scared for my daughter, but I feel kind of normal. Experience has taught me that the feeling or being normal won’t last. But I know this is not a time to be concerned with that.

I am on my way. I call her to check on her and she’s filling out a police report. She’s emotional, but trying hard to keep it together. It seems like forever, but I am there in fifteen minutes. Put my hazard lights on and get out of the car. I see highway Patrol vehicles on the far left lane and on the off ramp on the far right side of the interstate where I am at. I see my girl in a car with a witness to the crash. I come up to her and the good Samaritan rolls down the window and I ask her how she’s doing?

She says she is starting to feel pain in her neck. She has had a bad back for five years since she last got rear-ended.

A tow truck shows up so I get all of her personal belongings out and put them in my vehicle. I talk to the trooper and asked him how the girl who rear-ended my daughter is on the far side of the Interstate. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know, that’s what we are investigating.”

“Will that girl be sited,” I ask.

“We’re still investigating, but yes, she is responsible for the accidents.”

“My daughter is starting to hurt. If you can be done with her in five minutes fine, but otherwise I need to take her to the ER.”

“That’s fine, ” he said, “I can drop off the information to you there if I need to.”

I go back to my daughter and ask her if there is anything special that needs to be removed from her car. She rattled off a list of things. I had got most of it, but went back and found a few more things. This time I take a big look at what happened on the inside of her car. The force of the impact broke the driver’s side seat. Jammed all the doors, but the front passenger side. I am amazed at the extent of internal body damage to the car.

The trooper comes up to me and said, “we are going to meet at the Chevron station off of Center street to clear up the emergency vehicles and then I’‘ll print out a report for your insurance. Unless you need to go to the hospital.”

“We can wait,” I said.

I shake the hand of the good Samaritan and thanked him with gratitude.

We had our accident report and left for the ER. She had a CT-Scan and a large series of X-rays and all the was wrong was a bad case of whiplash.

She wanted to go see her car that had gotten her through a large portion of college and to say goodbye. We checked for a few more things and we got pictures of the car.

We got her prescriptions filled. Got her an appointment that day with the chiropractor and a week later she is still under doctor’s care but she is healing and doing well.

I rose to the occasion, thanks to adrenaline. That afternoon when I knew my daughter was comfortable and was resting I relaxed and the adrenaline wore off quickly. It took about five days to come off of that flare up that followed. I was in such shock and in so big of a hurry I forgot to take my fibro emergency go bag. I did have the presence of mind to grab the book I was currently reading. Didn’t ever use it. I was amazed how fast we got in and out of the ER.

fibro_car_crash_stressUnexpected things happen to those of us with Chronic pain and fibromyalgia. Life goes on even if we are sick or in pain. We don’t have much choice but to deal with it, taking it day by day. I was able to rise to the occasion, but I paid for it for five days of worse than normal pain and malaise. It was worth it. Just another day with fibromyalgia and the consequences of the terrible disease.

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10 Things Everyone Should Know About People With Chronic Pain

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

10 Things Everyone Should Know About People With Chronic Pain

This is an open letter to anyone who knows someone with a chronic pain illness. From the perspective of someone with a Chronic Pain illness, these are ten things we want you to know about those of us, who suffer from anyone of a number of chronic pain diseases.

1. Why We Cancel Social Engagements:

People with Fibromyalgia and other chronic pain illnesses, often suffer anguish from having to cancel plans so frequently. We don’t want to, but we do, that is if we are brave enough to make plans in the first place. Think for a minute, what it might be like to have a chronic pain illness. To a large degree you become a shut in. When you move around with chronic pain, it sucks the energy out of you. Also, the more you move the more it hurts. When you’re a shut in you are willing to do whatever it takes to get out and be social. But sometimes you just can’t. We’re sorry, more than you know. All we ask is for patience and understanding.

2. Chronic Pain Is More Than Just An illness:

Saying that fibromyalgia or any other chronic pain condition is an illness implies that there is a cure or that we should feel better after a couple of weeks of medicine and therapy. The important thing to remember is the key word chronic. The word “Chronic” means “persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.” Chronic pain is not like having the dreaded achy flu with a fever for a week that suddenly disappears one morning when you wake up and you feel just fine. We wish it worked that way. We pray to wake up some morning to find our chronic pain gone and have a lot of energy. But the word chronic means that it will persist for a very long time, likely forever, especially it your chronic pain has a more detailed diagnosis like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue or neuropathy.

3. How Are We Doing?

If you are kind enough to ask “how are you doing?” or “how are you feeling?” and we act kind of funny about answering you, it’s because it’s complicated, or because we wonder, do you really want to know? Or because we get tired of saying we feel lousy. Don’t be easily deceived. We may say “we are fine.” We may be lying or we may be truthful. It’s hard to say because is depends on the time of day when you ask that question. Our condition can vary from one hour to the next.

4. How Can You Help Us?

If you’re interested in helping us, it can literally be as simple as sincerely validating us. Be genuinely sincere when you say you understand. We can spot phonies a mile a way. We would like to have your honest acceptance of who we are with a chronic pain condition and be patient with us.

10things_everyone_should-Know

5. Important Things to Understand About Us

Things can change hour by hour with for those of us who suffer from chronic pain. So please bare with us.

We are victims, we didn’t ask for a chronic pain disease, who in their right mind would?

We are as independent as we can possibly be. It may not look like it considering how much help we sometimes need. If you should happen to see a smile on our face, please consider how much energy and effort it is taking. We would give anything to not be sick with chronic pain. Anyone who enjoys pain is insane. It may not look like it, but we try to live the best, the most normal life we can. It may not look like it but we are. We need a lot of sleep because not only does pain hurt, it wears us out and makes us tired.

6. Chronic Pain Illnesses’ Are Real

Most chronic illnesses now have an identifiable name like Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Neuropathy, Trigeminal Neuralgia, IBD, IBS, TMJ, and Gout to name a few. Just because we don’t look sick doesn’t mean we’re not sick. We can feel crippling pain and hopelessness and look fine on the outside.

7. Don’t Judge Us

You may see us clean out our car or do a load of laundry and think we are faking a chronic pain illness. The truth of it is that the majority of our time and for some, all of their time is spent in pain. But most of us have a few good days and because we are not lazy we try and do as much as can of our few good days. We have to pace ourselves on good days so that we don’t have to pay extra on bad days. Some times we choose to over due it on good days because we just want a quick taste of being normal. We know we will pay a price for it the next day but sometimes we think it is worth it. Another point to make is just because you haven’t heard of all the pain related illnesses doesn’t mean they don’t exists.

8. Sometimes It’s Hard to Explain How We Feel

There are so many painful sensations and accompanying emotions and brain fog it’s often hard to put how we feel exactly into words. But trust us when we say, we feel terrible physically and emotionally.

9. Medication

There is a plethora of medication and pain relievers out there as options to manage our pain. But even with all the proper medication we still feel pain. Pain meds don’t take away all the pain. Sometimes the best we can hope for is a degree of relief, but seldom, if ever, does medication take away all the pain.

10. We Are Not Hypochondriacs

We are not making this chronic pain stuff up. There are some people that really are hypochondriacs but if you think we are, take a look in our medicine cabinet or observe us for a few days and see just how fake are illness isn’t.

Conclusion

We don’t want pity, and we don’t want to be looked down upon. We want respect, validation and trust. We really are sick even though we don’t look sick. Ask yourself, who in their right mind would want to be sick with chronic pain for their whole life. We don’t.

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The 5 Most Popular Posts Of The Last Two Weeks At Fibro Champions Blog

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

The 5 Most Popular Posts Of The Last Two Weeks At Fibro Champions Blog

last_2_weeks_most_popular_posts

38 Tips To Make Traveling With Fibromyalgia Easier

Coping With Fibromyalgia And Chronic Fatigue – The 10 C’s

10 Things We Would Like Our Pain-free Friends to Know About Us

Not All Fibromyalgia Symptoms Are Fibromyalgia Symptoms

7 Fibromyalgia Awareness Free Graphics Or Memes

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38 Tips To Make Traveling With Fibromyalgia Easier

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

38 Tips To Make Traveling With Fibromyalgia Easier

Fibro Travel, A Reality Check.

I just went on a three-day two-night trip from Utah to Laramie Wyoming, located on the far eastern side of Wyoming. It’s a six to seven hour trip and about 580 miles one way.

My wife is a professional photographer. She had a friend that paid our way to drive out to Laramie and she paid our gas and food. All we had to do was drive out there. I will tell about things learned from the road trip and things we did right by comparing our experiences to the lists in the previous two articles on traveling.

Let’s see how I did on this short little trip. I am analyzing this trip against the 31 Tips For Traveling With Fibromyalgia . We left Sunday morning and arrived home Tuesday about 12:30 a.m. What did I learn from what I have written and from past experiences? How did I do in reality?

1. Don’t be negative but know your limitations.

Not only did this limitation issue go well, but when my wife and I were planning it, my wife was thoughtful of my limitations.

2. List of medications and Medical history.

Numbers two, three and four are on the same piece of paper in my wallet with a small overview of my health history.

3. List of allergies and a list of illnesses and which meds are used for which symptoms.

4. Take three extra days of medicine.

Did this one as and usual I didn’t need it, but it is smart to do because you never know.

5. Manage your own expectations.

Knowing your limitations and managing them are two different things. Did a good job with managing our expectations.

6. Manage others expectations.

My wife does well with this by now and our friend we went to see was very understanding. We did have to explain some issues but she was accepting of them all.

7. Plan ahead for things you may need like an electric scooter or wheel chair.

Didn’t apply to this road trip.

8. Plan for the flight, the check in time, and security lines. Give yourself more time than you normally would.

Didn’t apply to this road trip

9. Consider what is realistic when planning your vacation.

Knowing I would not enjoy being a part of Monday, the photo shoot day, I looked up tourist things to do in Laramie and Cheyenne and the Nebraska boarder. I did some research but my wife reminded me of my limitations so I kept my notes but didn’t plan on using them. I didn’t. I used Monday as a rest day. I worked on my Fibro Novel and read one of my books.

10. Always consider hot tubs.

Hot tubs would have been nice but we didn’t stay at a hotel and our friend didn’t have one. Thankfully I didn’t need one. I felt pretty good most of this short trip.

11. Always plan for rest time.

We were told it was a six-hour drive but it took us seven and a half hours. Probably do to the rest time we took. We didn’t rush while gassing up. We would use the restroom facilities and walk around the store. One rest stop managed by the State of Wyoming I actually did some walking.

12. Heating Pad.

I can cover items 12, 13 and 14 in one paragraph. Have not replaced my convertor so it’s not strong enough for my heating pad. I did use my converter for my I-phone to charge the phone and listen to music. My wires on my tens machines are broke so I didn’t bother bringing my tens machine. It always comes in handy and I missed it.

13. A convertor.

14.Tens Unit.

15. Make sure to get up and move around every couple of hours or as needed for your situation.

38 travel tips for fibroWe did this well. Could have done a little better but we did it pretty well. A shout out to the great state of Wyoming. The rest stops they have, are outrageously awesome. Clean indoor facilities, not “outhouse style” but really nice. They even hand out State maps for free and the have placards that tell of interesting things about Wyoming. It’s a great place to move around and let your dog out if your traveling with a dog.

16. Pace your self.

The only time things were out of control and I couldn’t pace myself was driving to Laramie. My wife drove about one and a half hours then got extremely sleepy tired, the tired that drives you to sleep. So I drove the rest of the way to Laramie which was about five hours. It wasn’t smart, but It didn’t hurt. I was blessed.

17. Know your limits.

My limits were well figured in but there was a new limit I learned about. Driving fast. Last week I read a study that said for women with fibro, their reaction time while driving is slower than someone without fibro. Fibro men didn’t show any issues. Turns out this guy with fibro when traveling at speeds of 80 to 90 mph has a slightly reduced reaction times. After a couple of scares I slowed down and felt much safer and better. I know another limit now.

18. Don’t be afraid to stop and rest as needed.

We ended up stopping every two hours and that worked for us.

19. Generous use of pillows if needed.

I have a special hypo allergenic pillow made from micro beads that is perfect for my neck problems and the mask I wear with my CPAP machine. I took it for sleeping but I didn’t need anything for driving. The mini van we have as extremely comfortable chairs for both my neck and head as well as my legs and back side.

20. Dramamine

Didn’t apply. No motion sickness for us.

21. Preparation. But remember that with all the preparation you make you can’t plan for rough days or flare ups. But you can plan to be prepared for them just in case they happen.

For me with flare ups I use a heating pad, a tens machine when it isn’t broken and my medicine as appropriate. I read, write or watch TV depending on the situation. So with my laptop and plenty of reading material and the heating pad I took care of this item very well.

22. Extra money.

We had very little. Couldn’t have made the trip if my wife’s friend hadn’t paid for it in exchange for the photo shoots.

23. Small squishy pillows.

My application of this item is the same as #21

24. Pics of pill bottles.

This is a different approach as item number

25. Plan on rest days.

We spent Sunday driving to Laramie and Tuesday driving home. The photo shoots were on Monday. I want to learn about some Wyoming history since I am a history buff and a fan of Western cowboys circa 1800’s. But I wisely took it as my rest day and it really helped.

26. Good reading material.

I had some excellent reading material in the way of novels and my scriptures are on my smart phone. I did a lot of reading and didn’t touch the TV at all.

27. A handicap parking placard.

Never go anywhere without it, in case I need it. I don’t always need it but it’s there for the days when I really need it.

28. Anticipate med. refills before you travel. I use Wallgreens which gives me access to my pharmacy records and refills if I mess up with my medications.

While I didn’t pack very well, I did go over my meds and made sure all was in order.

29. Prayer.

Prayer is a personal choice. My wife and I always start any road trip with prayer as well as starting our day with it, wrapping up our day with it and whenever needed during the day.

30. Bible study

Oops. I didn’t read my scriptures on this trip. Shame on me.

31. DVD’s – Videos

Due to the knowledge of the shortness of the trip I did not bring any DVD’s.

32. Extension cord.

This one is important if you bring a laptop, CPAP machine or any other electronic device, even to charge your phone battery. The room I stayed in had a very ackward layout for the outlets. My friend found an extension cord which helped a great deal. I recommend at least a six-foot modern extension cord that has three pronged out lets on it. This is probably even more important in a hotel room.

33. Pack ahead of time, proper luggage

Since we were leaving for three days it didn’t seem like a big deal to pack the morning before we left. It worked out ok, but it was unpacking when we got to our destination that was problematic. It was hard to find the toothbrush, and it was hard to find my packed medicine. Taking a little more time and organization for packing, I believe is wise.

34. Medical equipment.

Make sure to pack your durable medical equipment wisely and carefully. For me, my only equipment is a CPAP machine which comes with a case designed for the unique shape, the cord, hose and mask. My tens unit has a case as well but since it was broke I didn’t take it. My heating pad was difficult since it is so big and can’t be packed tightly. I just placed it loose in our van.

35. Don’t experiment with new drugs.

I didn’t experiment with new drugs but came up with the idea because earlier last week I tried Exedrine for my increased number or tension and stress headaches. I was comfortable with it enough to take with me for day time headaches. I don’t use it at night because of the caffeine.

36. Prepare for a travel crash after you get home.

From my small history of traveling with fibromyalgia, so far my crashes have occurred the day after I got home but this time my crash was two days after getting home. We need to be prepared for it. It can and almost always will happen within one to three days, from what I gather by feedback from other fibromites.

37. Clearly understand what going off plan will mean, consequences.

This idea came about because as we were passing Rock Springs, Wyoming and I thought of Carla and Russ, some old friends of ours we hadn’t seen in 25 to 27 years. We talked about seeing them on our way back to Utah. My wife talked to Carla and got it all set up. We knew that if we said we’ll only stay for a half our it would be an hour and we knew it would make us late in getting home. No big deal but my wife needed to get to work early the next morning. Long story short we were there for three and half hours. We got very late. It was worth it and we knew we would be behind schedule. You can’t plan everything perfectly but it’s nice to be as well planned as you can be. As long as you are aware of the consequences to a deviation in the plan then you should be all right.

It’s nice to be well organized when you plan. Chronic pain patients and other with chronic illnesses loose a degree of control being sick and being well planned gives you some control back so plan well and is there anything on the list I missed?

38. Message Seat Cover

This message seat cover isn’t very power full but it does the job. I took it as an experiment. The experiment was successful. I sat on it the whole time I was driving and it seem to make a noticeable difference. The big question is why didn’t I sit on it on the way home in the passenger set? I recommend it.

Here is an updated vacation prep list:

1. Don’t be negative but know your limitations.

2. List of medications and Medical history.

3. List of allergies and a list of illnesses and which meds are used for which symptoms.

4. Take three extra days of medicine.

5. Manage your own expectations

6. Manage others expectations.

7. Plan ahead for things you may need like an electric scooter or wheel chair.

8. Plan for the flight, the check in time, and security lines. Give yourself more time than you normally would.

9. Consider what is realistic when planning your vacation.

10. Always consider hot tubs.

11. Always plan for rest time.

12. Heating pad.

13. A convertor.

14.Tens unit.

15. Make sure to get up and move around every couple of hours or as needed for your situation.

16. Pace your self.

17. Know your limits.

18. Don’t be afraid to stop and rest as needed.

19. Generous use of pillows if needed.

20. Dramamine

21. Preparation. But remember that with all the preparation you make you can’t plan for rough days or flare ups. But you can plan to be prepared for them just in case they happen.

22. Extra money.

23. Small squishy pillows.

24. Pics of pill bottles.

25. Plan on rest days.

26. Good reading material.

27. A handicap parking placard.

28. Anticipate med. refills before you travel. I use Wallgreens which gives me access to my pharmacy records and refills if I mess up with my medications.

29. Prayer.

30. Bible study

31. DVD’s – Videos

32. Extension cord.

33. Pack ahead of time, proper luggage

34. Medical equipment.

35. Don’t experiment with new drugs.

36. Prepare for a travel crash after you get home.

37. Clearly understand what going off plan will mean, consequences.

38. Message Seat Cover

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Coping With Fibromyalgia And Chronic Fatigue – The 10 C’s

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

Coping With Fibromyalgia And Chronic Fatigue – The 10 C’s


I didn’t Create it

But I can make good Choices

It can’t be Cured

But I can Celebrate the small victories

I didn’t Cause it

10cs_coping

But I can Care for others

I can’t Control it

But I can Choose to think positive

I can Communicate to those who will listen

But I can Cope even though I don’t always want to

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10 Things We Would Like Our Pain-free Friends to Know About Us

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

10 Things We Would Like Our Pain-free Friends to Know About Us

This is an open letter to all of our pain-free friends and family. These are things we would like you to know about, that we go through and how we would like to be treated.

1. Looking Good On the Outside, Feeling Lousy On The Inside

Just because we look fine on the outside doesn’t mean we feel good on the inside. You wouldn’t believe how much energy it takes to put on a good public face. We may smile or laugh at your jokes but often it hurts to laugh. Please understand how much energy and effort it takes us to get out of bed in the morning, let alone get ready to go somewhere outside our home. We miss our past social life and yearn for the time we could do “spur of the moment” activities. Don’t make us feel worse about ourselves by pushing us to “do just one more thing.” We have to plan our social life and required activities by making sure we are well rested and properly medicated.

2. No Medical Advice Please

Please, no medical advice unless you’re a health care professional who really understands what fibromyalgia and other chronic pain illnesses are. Please don’t push remedies on us that you got off the internet or from your herbalist. We have researched and read till our eyes are tired looking for the optimal therapy for our type of chronic pain. We do welcome all the sincere empathy you have to give us.

3. Just Because We look Fine Doesn’t Mean We are Fine

Even though we may not look sick and are fully clothed doesn’t mean we don’t hurt on the inside. It can be tiring to look good and be out and about. You may not see us go home after being out for an hour and collapsing in our beds or recliners exhausted from the time in public. First looks can be deceiving. If you see us in a motorized cart at the store don’t judge. It may be the only way to can do our shopping.

4. It Is Not In Our Heads

We’ll in some cases it might be. Some chronic pain illnesses such as Fibromyalgia is an illness of the brain and spinal cord and the whole CNS. But other chronic pains originate from other areas of the body.

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4. Regardless of how long we are afflicted with chronic pain, it still hurts. Some chronic pain illnesses like fibromyalgia will be with us forever.

5. Various Energy Levels

Chronic pain sucks up your energy no matter who you are. But it is even worse if you have chronic pain. We just don’t have the energy we once had.

6. We Are Not Lazy!

Lacking energy and being lazy may look a lot alike, but they are two very different things. We are not lazy, because that is reflective of an attitude. We lack physical energy which is disabling and can affect whether or not we have a job.

7. We have Good Days And Bad Days

Sometimes each day feels like the one before. Other times we have a great day, which is almost a curse because when we do have a good day we tend to overdo it. If we overdue it, we pay for the consequences of overdoing it by being extra sick for a day or two or three. Even though most days run into each other they are typically not good days, but every so often we had really bad days, sometimes they are so bad we call it a flare up.

8. Please No Personal Opinions Unless We Ask You

Not to be rude, but if we want your opinion we will ask for it. Until we do, please keep opinions, good or bad to yourself.

9. Judge Not, That Ye Be Not Judged

Don’t judge what you don’t know. Even in chronic pain circles, because chronic pain illnesses can vary so much we are thoughtful to not judge others because painful maladies vary greatly from one patient to another.

10. We Are Not Drug Seekers

We are pain relief seekers. Sometimes our medical treatment does require the use of opioids and other controlled substances to keep the pain under control and help us resume to as close to a normal life as we can. We just take it like any other medication. We dislike the side effects just like any other medication.

If you know someone with a chronic pain illness tell them you understand, and mean it. Is there anything else we should tell our friends without chronic pain?

Troy Wagstaff ©

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20 Top Tips For Managing Fibromyalgia

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

20 Top Tips For Managing Fibromyalgia

1. Let go of any guilt.

2. Recognize the contradictions of fibromyalgia.

3. Manage your expectations of yourself.

4. Manage the expectations of others.

5. Allow for rest.

6. Pace yourself.

7. Understand the illness.

8. Forgive the illness, don’t carry the baggage around.

9. Exercise and move around.

20 tips managing fibro10. Don’t give up!

11. Get the best sleep you can, even if it’s in nap form.

12. Stay Positive

13. Be consistent with your meds.

14. Keep all your doctor appointments

15. Be polite but assertive with your doctors, ultimately you are in control.

16. Manage your stress levels, Keep them as small as possible

17. Keep your mind and memory active and engaged.

18. Use all forms of therapy that work for you like a TENS or a heating pad etc.

19. Don’t be afraid to say no.

20. Remember, even if people around you say it’s a “trash can” diagnosis, God knows how you really feel.

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