All about me

As I'm starting to get to know other people, I am realizing that I haven't posted much about me.  There's a little bit more to me that just fibromyalgia.  Fibro is a part of me, but it is definitely not who I am.

I'm a college student, studying kinesiology,which is the study of human movement.  From there I plan to go on to physical therapy.  I've had so many people help me over my lifetime, that I feel like it's my turn to give back.  There is nothing more satisfying than to know I have helped someone feel better.  

When I was younger I wanted to be a ballerina, and I was close on the path.  I danced for 17 years, and trained with some of the most prestigious dancers in the US.  I had to stop because of the fibro.  But I'm still convinced that the dance floor hasn't seen the last of me.  Every once in a while I try to go back to dance class, and a lot of the time I dance around the house.  You could say I'm a bedroom dancer. 

I have an amazing boyfriend, Julian, who has supported me in everything that I do for the last two years.  He helps me with my homework, puts up with my moods, does everything in his power to make my pain less when I hurt, holds me when I have a panic attack, plays games with me like a little kid when I'm bored, makes me laugh, takes care of me, and makes me incredibly happy.  I'll stop there before you all get nauseous. =]

I also have a wonderful family.  My parents have taken me to every doctor appointment, therapy, dance class, piano class, college, and on and on and on.  We're very close and I love them both dearly.  

I'm just all around a goofy, energetic, loving gal.  

I'd love to hear all about you and the things you enjoy doing even through your fibro!!

Gentle Hugs!

Muscle soothing

I had my weekly massage today.  I definitely needed it! My muscles were ridiculously tense, as I imagine yours are.  I talked to my massage therapist afterward and got some great home remedies for relaxing those muscles.

Here they are, just for you!

Emergen-C packs.  I take two a day, normally earlier in the day. 

Laying in the sun for some Vitamin D

Stretch

A hot bath with Epsom Salts

A hot foot soak, with Epsom Salts, Sea Salt, or even table salt, and a little bit of olive oil

(hot water is also great for swelling! I soak my hands in hot water when they swell up)

I plan on giving the foot soak a try today.  I hope that you'll try one of these remedies! They work wonders. Let me know how it goes.

Gentle hugs and happy muscles to you!

PS A lot of your nerve endings are in your feet! So if your whole body is aching, a foot soak, rub, or massage will help your whole body. So get those husbands and boyfriends of yours to work on your feet!! =] 

Inspirations!

Hi everybody!!  Today I thought that I wasn't going to post anything.  I decided I would just look around and read your blogs, to get to know a little bit more about how everyone else is doing.  As I was reading, I came across all these really,  kind of amazing, blogs.  They got me thinking about what's important, especially to people with fibro.  I guess before I always thought it's obvious, the most important thing is to stop hurting.  But I don't know how true that is anymore.  I think the most important thing is being happy.  So first off I want to thank all of you for inspiring me, and teaching me through your blogs, that happiness is most important.  I think it was Aristotle who believed that the whole point of people existing, was to achieve happiness.  So let's do that!

It all kind of started when I came across the Tilly Rose blog.  She has fibromyalgia, but when you are reading her blog, you barely know it.  She is so cheery and is so happy doing crafts. I told her that it inspired me to see somebody with fibro flourishing so completely in a hobby.  It reminds that it IS possible to be happy and to enjoy life even through the fibromyalgia.  

Karen over at My Fibromyalgia Journey posted this quote that fits perfectly.  

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
-Charles Kingsley 

 

I want to know, what is it that gets you out of bed in the morning? Is it your blog? Your family? A hobby? And if you don't have anything, find something that inspires you.  Something that makes you happy, and that helps you forget about your fibromyalgia!

Gentle hugs!!!

Back to School!

It's back to school season!!!! I hope that all you teachers and students and parents of students have a great school year!
As a student, and ex-school employee, I have some tips to make the school year bearable for all you fibromyalgia sufferers!
1.  Make sure your school knows that you have fibromyalgia.  Whether its your disability office or your teachers, they tend to be more understanding if you miss a day or if your homework is not written in the perfect handwriting.  Just don't abuse it! Don't fake a fibro day for a fun day!!!
2.  Don't let yourself get so stressed that you end up hurting even more and have to miss class.  It's OK to take breaks, or get a 95% on an assignment instead of 100% once in a while.  It's not OK to miss all your classes on a regular basis.
3.  Make sure you sleep at night!!! No sleep means more pain.
4.  Try to enjoy your classes!  I've realized it's pretty easy to feel even more pain and foggy if you're really dreading a certain class. 
5.  Make sure you are always taking your medicine!
6.  If your hands hurt as much as mine do after taking only a couple of little notes, find somebody reliable to help you out with notes. 
And most of all find time to enjoy yourself!!!

Gluten Free and Eating So Good

Hi again! When I first started eating gluten free I was at a loss.  So much stuff has gluten in it that I had no idea what I could eat.  So for those of you who are in the same boat, here's what I've been eating!
Chex Kellogg's cereal (it says gluten free right on the box!)
Eggs and bacon
Homemade smoothies made with fresh fruit
Betty Crocker gluten-free baked goods (including cookies, and brownies!)
Salads
Mexican food with corn tortillas in stead of flour tortillas
Wraps with lunch meats, cream cheese, lettuce and tomato using white corn tortillas
Meat
Hamburgers, minus the bun
Kettle chips (Not all kettle chips are gluten free, I stick with the Kettle brand, it says gluten free right on the bag!)
Lay's Stax
Home made pasta and macaroni & cheese using gluten free noodles
Popcorn
Rice Cakes
Potatos
Mission Brand tortilla chips
Salsa
Rice
Some brands of soy sauce
Fruit
Vegetables
Rice pudding
Ice cream (be careful of what brands and what flavors though)
Lumpia springrolls
Be careful, things containing Barley Malt, Wheat, and Flour all have gluten.  So Corn Flakes and rice crispies are a no go!
Be creative when you are cooking! I have been substituting Originial Flavor Lay's Stax for croutons in my salads, I go to Fast Food restaurants and order a burger and fries, remove the bun and eat the burger with fries on top, and I've been using corn tortillas as a substitute for bread a lot.  Make sure to do your reasearch and you will find all kinds of delicious gluten free recipes.  Eventually you will barely notice that you are eating totally different from before! Happy eating!

Why?!

I've pretty much come to accept that I have fibromyalgia, and really bad flare-ups come with the territory.  I know that there are different things that can cause flare-ups, but I've never taken much thought as to what those things are.  Cold weather, rain, snow, sleet, a sudden change in weather, stress,  not sleeping, and being sick are all things that cause the pain to be worse.  For me they do at least.  Well, these past few days I have been in a lot of pain.  My boyfriend and my parents both asked me "Why are you hurting so much, you should be fine the weather is perfect, you don't have anything to be stressed about, there's no reason to hurt."  (Which of course is aggravating, I want to just scream at everyone and say I HAVE FIBROMYALGIA, OF COURSE I HURT!  That probably wouldn't not solve much though, so I held it in.) But then my boyfriend said something that got me thinking, he said if we could just figure out what's causing this flare up we could fix that problem and your pain could go away with it.  I think sometimes for those of us suffering with fibro we expect to hurt and instead of fighting it we just accept it.  In this case I ended up having a fever, and was probably a little bit sick. 
So today I hope you will take my boyfriend's advice and try to figure out what's causing the flare-up, and once you do fix it! I hope you have a great, pain free day! Gentle hugs!!

Gluten-Free Baking

Here's what I've discovered while baking gluten free.  The delicious Rice Bread that I talked about in previous posts is made of all natural ingredients, so while it holds well in the freezer, when left out it molds pretty fast.  Make sure you keep it in the fridge, or keep whatever you won't be eating for a while in your freezer.  (Trust me, it does NOT taste good moldy. =] )
I have made Betty Crocker gluten free cookies a couple times now, and because gluten acts like a glue in wheat and flour products, the cookies crumble very easily.  This time I stuck them in the freezer and not a single one fell apart.  So I recommend freezing some of those gluten free baked goods.  Happy eating!!

Relax!!!

I was talking to a woman who also suffers from fibromyalgia the other day, and she was telling me about all kinds of things that have happened in her life because of the fibro.  As I listened all I could think was how stressful all that must be.  So here's the message I want to give all of you today, RELAX!!!!! Stress agitates your fibromyalgia, so the more you stress or panic or worry the more you're going to hurt.  (Which will probably lead to more stress, it's an endless cycle!)  So after you read this do something to spoil yourself a little bit.  Take a hot bath, or just soak your feet in warm water, curl up with your favorite book, watch a funny movie, go get a pedicure or manicure or massage and let your body and your mind relax a little bit. 

I strongly believe in aromatherapy as well.  Lavender is the best aroma for stress.  Try some lavender scents in your bath, or lavender candles or lotions.  My favorite lotions are the aromatherapy sleep lotions from bath and body works.  If you use any other aromas that help you relax let us know what you use!!
Acupuncture helps with stress as well.  Make sure to let your acupuncturist know that you have fibromyalgia along with a lot of stress.  There are special points in the ears that help relieve that stress.

One last thought for the day.  Some doctors believe that people with fibromyalgia have a shortage of vitamin D.  (If that thought makes you want to go buy supplements, make sure you have your doctor test your vitamin D levels first! I'm not here to tell anybody to take any kind of medication!!)  I noticed that on days when I was in a lot of pain it helped to go lay outside for a while.  The little bit of vitamin D coming from the sun, and all the fresh air was very beneficial.  Besides, it's no good to be locked up in the house feeling miserable all day!!

Make sure you all find a reason to laugh and smile every day. My thoughts are with you!! Gentle hugs!!

The power of a simple touch

I always tell people who don't have fibromyalgia but are trying to understand how it feels the story of my mom gently waking me up.  I had been having a terrible week, I was in loads of pain and even just having the blanket on me while I was sleeping was painful.  My mom knew that I was in a lot of pain so in the morning she came into my room to gently wake me up and see how I was doing.  She barely touched my knee but it hurt so bad I accidentally kicked her.  It felt like somebody had stabbed me in the leg. 
Even though those of us with fibromyalgia happen to be extremely sensitive to touch, I have learned that it is still important for our friends and families to touch us like they would if we did not have fibro, just maybe a little bit gentler.  I went through a period of time where people were afraid to touch me or hug me because they did not want to hurt me.  This lead to a horrible feeling of loneliness.  When we as humans are touched it helps release stress, and reminds us that somebody cares about us.  So for those of you who have friends or family with fibro make sure to give them a soft hug, or a little backrub, or even just a soft hand on the shoulder.
And for those of you with fibro, keep your head up.  Your not alone in this battle.  Gentle hugs to all of you!

Useful Websites

For all of you who are new to fibromyalgia, or just haven't visited these websites yet I recommend that you do.  They are both great websites that have a whole lot of useful information!
www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org
www.fmaware.org
The second link is from the National Fibromyalgia Association. They can also be found on facebook.
FibroFreakout now has a facebook page! Find our page, we'd love to be friends!

Blog Inspiring Rice Bread recipe

Here's the recipe for the famous rice bread. 
2 cups cream of rice
4 tbs sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cup mashed banana
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil

In a 4 qt bowl combine cream of rice, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir in bananas, eggs, milk, and oil.  Bake in well greased 8x12 inch pan at 375 for 45 minutes.

I found that using a bread pan worked best.  You can use two bread pans and the recipe will still work out perfectly!

Rice Bread!

I was inspired to start this blog by a loaf of bread.  It's called rice bread.  In fact it was so delicious and perfect that I had to tell everybody I could!  Let me start at the beginning.  I have fibromyalgia, and I've spent this last couple of years experimenting and researching and trying to find ways to stop hurting!  So far I've found that weekly massages, chiropractic, and acupuncture have done wonders! My pain is already way less just from those three things.  I also received some great advice from a family friend who also suffers from fibromyalgia.  She told me to try eating gluten free for two weeks.  She said that it made a world of difference in how she felt, and that a lot of people with fibromyalgia are also gluten intolerant.  You should know at this point that I'm German and Italian, loving bread and pasta is in my blood! However, I reluctantly took her advice and started eating gluten free.  I did it for two weeks and then started eating gluten again.  Once I started eating gluten again I also started getting really bad stomach aches and just generally feeling awful.  So I'm back to eating gluten free and feeling way better.  That's where the rice bread comes in! The day I started eating gluten free again I started having serious bread cravings.  I looked all over online and finally came across a recipe for rice bread.  I figured I'd give it a try.  I'm not claiming to be a chef by any means.  But that bread came out absolutely perfect.  It was easy to make, it is gluten free, and it tastes great!!!  So here are my recommendations for the day.  If you haven't already tried massages, acupuncture, and chiropractic give it a try!!! You'll be surprised at how well it works.  Also I challenge you to eat gluten free for two weeks.  See if eating gluten free will help you out as much as it's helped me. 

Let me know how it goes for you.  If you are suffering from fibromyalgia and have found something that helps you, no matter how big or small it is let me know! E-mail me at fibrofreakout@gmail.com  or just post a comment, I'd love to hear from you!!!

Remember, don't ever give up! Your fibrofam knows how you feel, we're here to support each other.  Gentle hugs to all of you!