an explaination of sorts -

[staxxy]

why is being in the cold *such* a big deal for me? Why do the weather changes matter that much to me? What exactly does it mean when I am having a "flare up"?

Comments

[staxxy]

thanks for the heads up on arthritis. I appreciate this knowledge.

I am sorry to hear it is creeping up your fingers. that sucks. :(

and yeah, Snow=THE SERIOUS SUCK.

There are times when I really *can't* leave my apartment. Hell, I can barely move *in* my apartment (hooray for laptop computers that can be used in bed).

It just occurred to me that there *were* people on my friends list that had no concept at all what living with pain meant. Let alone that having CFS or FM *means* living with pain. It is the biggest frustration to having these illnesses for most of the people I have spoken with - the fact that the problem is mostly "invisible" (not easy to see for the outside observer) - It means that we are often labeled as "lazy", "weak", or "whiney" because it is really HARD for us to do the things that people who don't have this kind of pain do without thought. These are people who have never had to *crawl* into the bathtub or out of it in their lives.

I am just glad that I have managed to keep my eyes from watering too much from it. ;) It makes it hard to get work done when I can't see the screen. :D

I am thinking that I should probably just break down and *take* some drugs for it. I just *hate* taking drugs all the time. Swollowing pills is an expenisive and annoying hobby.

I hope you are doing okay today yourself. Does it help if you can keep your hands *warm*? I know that it helps me if I can keep all of the parts of my body on an even temperature keel, and my mom has arthritis and I know she uses a heating pad to loosen up her joints. Does that help you too, or is it more a matter of humidity and barometric pressure?

[icprncs]

Yeah, keeping my hands warm helps quite a bit. I have a pair of black spandex "compression" gloves with the fingers cut out (so I can type or write) that I wear regularly in cold weather--I look like a refugee from a Dickens novel. :) They help insulate and support the cold joints. The largest problem the past couple of years has been that I haven't been able to afford to keep my apartment warm enough all the time, so my hands are stiff and sore much of the time. I can't realistically keep my hands under blankets all day long to keep them warm, so I just have to soldier through it. (I also have a chronic injury in my left arm, soft-tissue damage from an old skating accident that didn't get proper treatment, and that can often make the pain in my left hand worse. And guess what, I'm left-handed.)

Humidity and barometic pressure cause the most noticeable changes--I can get sore thumbs during summer rainstorms--but cold worsens it because it slows my circulation and therefore my ability to keep myself warm.

I have the beginnings of arthritis in my left hip as well, and an injury to my left knee, both of which can sometimes complain about cold/damp weather.

I don't like taking a lot of drugs either, and have actually been working on cutting back my ibuprofen intake (I'm so far not on any 'scrip meds for this stuff, thanks to a smart doctor who taught me how to take OTC meds intelligently). But sometimes, it just hurts too much, and the meds will ease it.

[icprncs]

Oh, and as a somewhat interesting tangent--don't know if you remember when my kitty-boy had some weird apparently neurological thing going on back in December, but I'm fairly sure now that what he was having was a cold-induced nerve inflammation, similar to what CFS/FM people deal with. His autoimmune condition is similar to rheumatoid arthritis, which I hear is also affected like that by the cold, and this happened to him during one of those near-freezing-for-days snaps we had in December. I actually worried about taking him to his vet appointment this morning, because it meant taking him out in below-freezing temps, but he seems to have done okay.

[staxxy]

that is interesting, and I am REALLY glad that he did okay going to the vet today. :)

[staxxy]

yeah, I broke down and took 800mg of ibuprofen, because I know that any less won't touch my pain. Bleh.

It should kick in at about 12:40. only 20 more minutes.

It is good to know that keeping your hands warm does help. It certainly makes you much easier to get gifts for suddenly! I am thinking you need some microfiber yarn mittens for when you are *not* typing. :) Now I am wondering if they *make* them. *sigh*

[wendolen]

They do make microfiber yarn, and you know knitters... :)