Category Archives: Chronic Illness

As It Turns Out

I am very sick. I wasn’t entirely sure for a few days, thought it might just be allergies and dry air that were making my throat hurt. But now, completely positive. I have developed a nasty cough, one I used to get as a kid a lot. It’s horrible and painful. Plus the fatigue is thru the roof and my nose is trying to escape. Not to bad on the pain front, however, so that’s a plus. Just the major pain of my throat and the arm thing.

Oh well. Hopefully I can get better before school starts next week… Hopefully without the aid of my nebulizer.

I wanted to share a few photos from our trip to Beaver Creek with the in-laws 🙂 The people that went were: Becky (my mother-in-law), Shelby (sister-in-law), Jimmy (Shelby’s boyfriend), Dave (brother-in-law), Claire (Dave’s roommate), Dan, and myself. We got up there Saturday afternoon, and just hung out at the condo and had a nice dinner. Sunday (Jan 3) we went ice skating, then went tubing at Vail. Monday we went skiing. Tuesday we checked out about 10 and drove home!

Ice Skating – Sunday, January 3rd

Ice skating in the middle of Beaver Creek Village!
Dan actually seems to know what he’s doing!
It’s really hard to take a selfie facing into the sun on reflective ice…
I LOVE this photo of me 🙂
I was coming in a little too hot… totally almost hit Dan 😛 I thought this face was hilarious!
See? I was pretty dang close haha
Handsome hubby
Very nice of Dan to trade me his thin gloves for my thick mittens… it was really warm in the sun
Swish!
We were actively skating when I took this, which was quite difficult…

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Beaver Creek Vacation – photos

Nerve Pain

I’ve just recently gotten back from my appointment with Joleen (I did a one-on-one not class today). For a few weeks now, I’ve been struggling with nerve pain in my arm. Joleen and I have been working on trying to stretch my median and ulnar nerves, in both arms actually, because they are too tight (which is causing the pain and numbness). The pain, however, is excruciating. We try very hard not to push too hard, but we do have to stretch and massage the nerves. My fibro, I think, makes this a lot harder. I always have to suffer after these appointments. However, I am making minuscule improvements.

burke-doe20l720slide10

This runs down the front of your arm (when hand is positioned such that the palm is out and thumb is away from the body).

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Some Realistic 2016 Goals

I hate doing resolutions, really hate them. Growing up, I always felt like they were silly; why are all these people making these lofty promises that they couldn’t keep even if they tried?! However, being online means I’m assaulted by wave upon wave of resolutions from every corner of the internet. They are still (usually) crazy and out there resolutions, but they make me think about what I would like 2016 to look like for myself. So here is a small list of realistic goals (I refuse to call them resolutions) that I would like to accomplish in 2016.

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Sometimes You Just Sleep

Skiing on Monday was great, but exhausting. Then again, that whole trip was fantastic yet exhausting.

On Sunday we went ice skating (for about an hour or so) and then went tubing… both are exhausting. Continue reading →

Making Lizz Stronger with Pilates

I’m so crazy sore from skiing on Monday! I used muscles I haven’t really used in three years. Ouch! The last time I went skiing was March 2013. Crazy how many unique muscles it uses! Thankfully, it’s just the type of sore from working out hard, not from fibro or anything like that! Pilates helped me dramatically. I don’t think I could have lasted as long as I did if I hadn’t been doing Pilates. Seriously, Pilates is changing my life in so many amazing ways! Everyone should try it!!!!

In fact, I was able to do a Pilates reformer class today (a gentle one called “Pilates for Recovery” led by Joleen). I was completely shocked I was able to do everything! Sure, some of my range of motion was restricted so I could maintain proper form (fatigued muscles get super shaky), but I didn’t have to completely sit out anything. Joleen was even impressed at how well I did!

sidepic_pilates-reformer-stretch

This is a reformer.

The class was fantastic and relatively easy. It gave me a good workout, but in a very gentle and accessible way. I think I’m going to add it into my weekly routine; I’ll have to discuss with Joleen if she thinks I could do that. So, hopefully, I will be doing Pilates Beginner Mat class every other Monday (or two Mondays in a row) alternating with private sessions, then Pilates Reformer for Recovery every Wednesday. I’m also hoping to add back in the biking on Fridays. My body finally seems to be getting stronger and more capable! I’ll keep ya’ll posted of course.

POTS and Skiing – coming soon!

Skiing and POTS… Weird combination. I’ll have to go into more detail later, as my phone is horrible for posts… But I had a lot of fun once I was able to get going, and did a LOT better than I expected.

Goodbye 2015…

I can’t believe 2015 is already almost over!!!! There are 3ish hours left, and a few minutes (number will continue to change until I publish, so no point haha).

Let’s take a quick look back at my year, if my brain fog will let me.

fireworks

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Sometimes Complaining Happens

Sometimes you just need to get it off your chest. I’m desperately hoping it’ll help.

For some reason, this flare just won’t go away. I feel as though I’m 60+ years old: limping after I get up, unable to bend, getting stuck when I do bend… It’s awful. I think it might be the weather and lack of exercise, but I’m miserable. I really hate admitting it, because I feel so whiny when I do and the people that love me hate knowing I’m crappy (hate in the same way you hate watching a loved one with the flu). Something just isn’t right in my body.

I did discover from Joleen that apparently some of my nerves are being compressed by my spine, causing compression all along them, causing my never fibers to shorten, causing me pain. My medial and ulnar nerves (two main ones in the arms) are extremely tight… She could only stretch then about 50% of the range of motion they should have. No idea why this happened.

My allergies are randomly going bonkers. I think my allergy shots are maxing out my system so that the exposure I’m getting at home just instantly puts me over the edge. They aren’t helping with the flares though.

I’m really wishing that we can figure out a way to get the tub to hold water for a bath… That’s the only thing I can think of that might help, well, that isn’t a pharmaceutical.

I’m going to be trying a new Pilates class next week. If I like it and it seems easy enough, I might add it into my routine so I’d be doing two a week. Maybe that’d help.

I’m writing this post at almost 2am because my eyes and body are so irritated I can’t get to sleep. I really hope the meditation can help, because I might go crazy if I don’t get sleep.

Good news though: progress is being made around the house this week! It’s awesome and I plan to update you soon on some of the changes!!!

Tips for Supporting a Chronic Partner

Last night I stumbled upon a post on Pinterest that made me cry. It made me cry because it is fantastic, so it was tears due to a display of true love. It was written by a guy who has been married to his wife for almost 14 years, and his wife suffers from chronic pain. He gets it. He gets it in a way I never thought anyone other than the sufferer could get it. The article gave me a lot of hope: It just takes time and patience but the two of us (Dan and me) will learn to conquer this together.

23 Tips For Men – On Supporting A Partner With Chronic Pain

I'm Here For You

The article isn’t just for spouses. Really, it isn’t. It has perfect tips for any support person. It works the same if the roles are reversed (husband has chronic pain), if it’s a parent/child relationship (either direction), if you’re the best friend of a single friend, etc. Anyone that has to take a primary, or even secondary, caretaker role can benefit from reading this article.

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