If you haven't read my previous post on what Fibromyalgia actually is (and how it is for me specifically) and you would like to find out. Be sure to read part 1. I was told that I could do just about nothing, that I had to live a calm static life. Take it easy for the least amount of pain. But I was never one to listen too such a thing, I want to do something in life, so I've made it my goal to find active, fun things that I can do with the least amount of pain. And I'm hoping that if any of you have such an illness you can find some inspiration in my trial and error. My CHALLENGES![]() Finding energy This used to be a lot worse seeing my doctors have helped me throughout the years to find ways to get my energy back up, but that doesn't mean I don't still have trouble with it. Even after a good full night of sleep (which is rare), I still feel tired and worn down half the time. Especially days after a big event like going to an amusement park or just a full day of active work. The thing that helps most with this is oddly enough being active as well as taking extra vitamins and supplements. Now I do know someone that has multiple energy drinks and claims that helps her through the day and that's totally fine. as long as it feels good for you and you listen to your doctor, you can find your own rhythm. ![]() Not pushing my body This is something I used to hear often when being around finessboiz and health gurus. "You just need to push your body that extra mile and you'll see results." And well yeah, I did try that, but every time I did I was completely dead the next day. My energy would be completely depleted and my body aching, and not in a good fitness goals kind of way. A few times I even had to rely on a wheelchair to get me around. This doesn't only apply when it comes to fitness. Even in everyday life, going out with friends after a long day of internships could already be pushing myself. I have a lot of trouble realising when I'm pushing too far, and even when I do realise I still don't want to quit. This especially when in a group of people. ![]() Keeping up with loved ones The two previous challenges fall into another one. You must have heard it before that friends and family of fibro patients can get quite salty about them canceling because of their illness. Now I'm lucky enough to have people around my that understand (at least most of them) but I do often fear that it always has to be my way or that I'm letting people down that I care about. I often have to cancel dates that I myself proposed and I can't find the energy to skype with friends anymore. I actually struggle with this because I often feel that I should just push myself to spend time with the people I love. I honestly have no idea what to do with this. ![]() Memory and plans You have probably already heard of 'fibro fog'. This is a term used for the difficulties with thinking, reasoning and remembering. I used to be great with math and had now trouble getting As without studying, now I'm lucky to do a simple equation without the help of my trusty smartphone. Now I don't have that much trouble with the reasoning and math but the thing that bothers me most is my memory. I have to write just about everything down and always forget who has told me what, or even what I told someone else. Now at first this doesn't seem so bad. But just think back of that moment of blackout when you were doing an important presentation in front of class, imagine this to be the exact feeling you have most of your day. You feel like you have no memories of what you're supposed to say or do and you have no idea what's going on half the time. Basically like a literal fog in your brain, you know it's there, but it's very unclear. Because of this, everything is distracting as well. ![]() Eating (what I want) I know this one sounds weird but this is truly a challenge for me. It may be partly because I used to not get enough calories in a day, but it is also related to fibro. Some people suffering from fibro will experience nausea, for me it's not constant but it does influence me. I often stop eating in the middle of a meal or just eat small portions because I know that otherwise I'll feel sick. I also don't know what to eat for my body as I can't have anything even with a trace of milk and I'm not supposed to get any sugars in either. So what do I eat? I know I could just eat healthy whole foods but what college student has the time? and I already can't find the energy to make my meals from scratch as it is. ![]() Losing weight & gaining muscle Now I've come to a weight that I'm not unhappy with. I'm comfortable in my skin (most of the time) and am not overweight. However, being the type of person that has always been a health and fitness fanatic, I can't really give up on improving my body. It is believed that fibro itself as well as the medication and supplements will cause weight gain. That for me isn't that much of a problem as I am quite active, my weight just fluctuates a lot. However even when I try to lose weight, I can't actually seem to get there. Gaining muscle is mostly difficult because I can't go at the same speed as others as well as the difficulty I have with getting nutrients. I haven't informed on this completely and the internet can only tell you so much truth so I might get into this at a later time. ![]() Waking up (early) I've always been a morning person, and I honestly work better right after dawn. But as I said I am almost always out of energy and getting a good night's rest isn't always evident. Fibro patients also suffer from stiffness in the joints and muscles and this especially in the morning. All of this results in my just wanting to stay in bed as long as possible. Now I just want to make it a habit again to wake up at 7 every morning. That doesn't seem like much but it's a step in the right direction. There's already a lot of things that changed after being diagnosed but all of these challenges need to be dealt with and there's also some things my doctors recommended I'd do. But changing your life just like that isn't easy and you possibly know that as well. That's why I want to make little goals for myself. RECOMMENDED by my doctors
Goals 2020My main goal is of course to work on the challenges I have in my life. However you should always cut your goal up into smaller goals for a possible amount of time. So these are the goals I want to accomplish by the end of next year:
I will be posting about my progress on each of these goals. So stay tuned for future posts and don't be afraid to leave me a question or a comment. Keep on shining darlings.
![]() Ever since I can remember I have had trouble with my joints and many other things. My doctor always gave me a different possible cause, I was overweight, I went too far when doing sports, I didn't get do enough sports, I didn't eat enough, they were just growing pains and when all of those finally didn't match up, they sent me to the hospital. The hospital visits were weekly and it seemed to bring the same outcome as the basic doctor visits. A lot of speculations, no answers. It might have been reumatism, it might have been my heart, it might have been this or that. But never an answer. Until they gave me the answer that they give when they've ruled out any other answer, fibromyalgia. The doctors have told me that that's the answer they must hand you when nothing else can be found. Not actually because fibromialgia isn't a real thing, but because they don't like giving such a hopeless answer. They don't know the cause so they can't find the cure. This is why most doctors will first rule out all other possibilities before going over to the diagnostics of fibromyalgia. µ Science has speculated however that the cause might be a malfunction in the brain, mostly in the part relating to the pain receptors. Also has been noticed that it often appears after a traumatic emotional or physical experience or with people that suffer from a chronic stress or anxiety disorders. In my case, stress would most likely be the cause. What is fibromyalgia?![]() According to the dictionary, fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread pain, tenderness, and stiffness of muscles and associated connective tissue structures that is typically accompanied by fatigue, headache and sleep disturbances. The symptoms are much more widespread however: pun intended?
I put those that I experience regularly or even daily in bold as well as those that I have experienced for a while in the past. Many of these symptoms used to seem like they had nothing to do with one another.
Myths about FibromyalgiaAs I mentioned before, not everyone has an understanding of what it is or if it is even a real thing. I talked to a few people who have struggled with the illness for a longer time and did some research so I could present some myths and misunderstandings to you.
"Brain scans show that stimuli such as cold and pressure light up the pain centers of the fibromyalgia brain like crazy, meaning that the person is experiencing very real, very intense pain from something that wouldn't hurt healthy people." ![]()
These are just a few so if you have more or have a question, please leave them in the comments. Why 'my fibro journey'?I have been that the way I view life despite the illness, and the way I still try to challenge myself, is inspiring to my friends as well as others even if they don't suffer from a similar illness. Even though I didn't believe it at first, after a while it does stick. Therefore I am hoping to help at least one unfortunate soul out there. But I also want to do this for myself. i want to document my hardship as well as my achievements right here on the blog, so I can look back and see the things I have gotten myself through, and so I can remember those people that helped me through it. So stay tuned for future posts and don't be afraid to leave me a question or a comment. Keep on shining darlings.
![]() I have always been the type of person that, well, didn't study. Simply because I didn't really need to. My first years of secondary school, I paid close attention in class and got straight A's on tests as well as exams. Not because I worked hard, just because it was easy to me. I tended to "study" for the exams that were difficult for me like French and history, but my study style was simply summarise the day before, and read it over and over again. Whatever works right? Now a few years in secondary school and my grades started to drop, at least for the subjects I wasn't particularly good at, however it was never worrying to me seeing my grades were never bad enough to have any real impact, I never really failed a subject. My two last years however, were a mess. I had been noticing symptoms of a chronic disease that has now been diagnosed and I developed CFS as well as a really bad anxiety disorder, this accompanied by the large workload of both my subject in general and my 2 year integrated paper, made the end of secondary school less than pleasant. But I made it through Secondary school, I had my diploma. ![]() And all this was my stepping stone for college. I didn't know how to study, how to take notes or how to plan, and I didn't even have any idea what I wanted to do. It seemed so easy to my brother. He had the same kind of path through secondary school, just with a few more bumps along the way, and he just knew he wanted to major in Biology. Or at least it seemed to me that he had it all figured out. He now has that very major anyway. I however, was a little more calculated in my choice. I weighed the pros and Cons of every bachelor I had an interest in, and ended up with more cons than pros for many. So then there was plan F, something many people saw me doing, and something which seemed to have a minimum of cons, Secondary school teacher. And here my journey began.![]() Venus is the greek goddess whose mere function encompasses love, beauty, desire and prosperity among others. So it may seem a bit shallow when I tell myself and others to 'go for venus'. How could I tell someone to aim for such a goal. Well, I want people to love themselves, share that love with others and find the beauty in everything. Now what kind of sappy crap am I trying to sell? Well, it might sound sappy but this is truly what I believe. every single woman out there can become their own venus. You should not look for love, for acceptance. for you can not love another if you do not love yourself. And someone can not love you when you have changed the way you are for the ones around you. Why should you compromise? Why should you become someone you did not want to be in the first place?
Now I am not saying you should not grow, because everyone has changes they want and therefore should change about themselves. However we should make sure that it is for the right reason, that it is to fully benefit us personally. Otherwise you might find yourself in the position of hating who you are in that particular time. This idea covers both mental and physical change, however it is the physical we tend to focus on. I legitimately believe that healthy is what is most beautiful and even sexy, yet I still find myself in front of the mirror not liking certain aspects of me. Keep on shining, gods and goddesses
strangers is a shortfilm made in a day by my sole self. I always wanted to make a shortflm but school has robbed me from my time, so now that we had an assignment where I could make one, I grabbed my chance and want for it. I realise it is quite rustic but we live to learn.
We all know writer's block as it is talked about quite a bit and we all most likely experience it once in a while, but we fail to acknowledge writer's fear or the fear of writing.
When you have a writer's block you are unable to write or find inspiration throughout a short -sometimes long - period of time. But when you suffer from a fear of writing, this may be more permanent. Fear may takes on many forms. Doubt, stress, perfectionism maybe jealousy and there is more than one way to hide this like procrastination or telling others or yourself that your work is unfinished. I have suffered from writers fear myself but once that I had made myself an internet identity, I wasn't so afraid any more. People couldn't judge me, they could only judge my work. products used in this video:
Vaseline Makeup remover products you could also use: isopropyl myristate soap and hot water (may damage the prosthetic) First move your face around to loosen the prosthetic, Then use a brush or your fingers with Vaseline (or other product) to go underneath the prosthetic and slowly remove it from your skin. This way it won't hurt, it won't damage your skin and you can reapply it later (most of the time depending on the prosthetic itself) After the prosthetic is off, use any makup remover to get rid of any excess makeup and latex.
Good morning sunspots! Long time no speak.
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A Junior teacher with a love for learning, exploring and sharing the information I have found throughout my journey.
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