Month: December 2018

Fibromyalgia, Weight

A general update……..

louiseissy

In my post of November 3rd I wrote about the final barrier I had to overcome in my fight against fibromyalgia i.e. stretching my tight muscles. True to form I have been procrastinating due to the fear of pain. I decided that I really had to do something to prevent me from putting it off any longer. A lot of fibromyalgia self help books recommend yoga. I did a bit of research into local groups and found a qualified instructor who offered an initial one-to-one session and lessons for a month for only £65. This means that I can try it out without having to worry about interacting socially with lots of new people all at once.

The instructor is called Ben Parkes and he has his own company ‘imaginatively’ called YogaBen. He was encouraging in his emails and I’m actually looking forward to getting started. Besides the muscle workout some of the class is spent on relaxation and mindfulness which in the past have proved very difficult for me. I am willing to give it 100% in the hopes that it will improve my overall health albeit in the long term.

In the past I have been known to get obsessed with new hobbies so I have made myself a rule that if I take to yoga I won’t do any more than two sessions a week.

Today at Slimming World I reached the milestone of dropping below the lowest weight I reached in 2014. I am now the lightest I’ve been for 23 years and I’m only 3lbs away from losing 100lbs in total. I don’t think my brain has caught up with my change in size as when I move around I feel like parts of me are missing. It’s a really odd feeling. I’m almost annoyed that it’s Christmas next week as it’s going to slow down my weight loss next week. I know I could stick to my eating regime 100% over the Christmas period if I really wanted to but it would only make me feel resentful of other people that can let themselves go. I’m not going to go mad though, I’ve decided to allow myself a portion of any dessert I want on Christmas day and that’s it. For anyone reading this, I must sound like a crazy woman but I’ve learned over the years that I cope better when I plan in advance.

Depression, Fibromyalgia

Medication……..

louiseissy

Everyone today is fortunate that we live in a world where many of our ailments can be successfully treated or prevented altogether. I am on a load of medication for my depression and anxiety and a lot of painkillers for my fibromyalgia. It took a long time to find which medications were best for me.

For the first time I am now questioning whether it would be beneficial for me to at least try to reduce my dosage and/or even come off some of them. David has recently come off his antidepressants and has said that he feels more alive now that his brain is not numbed. He is certainly different and although he occasionally gets a little stressed most of the change is very positive.

Painkillers are known to not work effectively for fibromyalgia sufferers and I am on so much I’m sure my mood is affected. I’m not fully alert and often have trouble motivating myself to do my hobbies. There is also the worry of addiction. I have been taking high strength opiates for over 10 years and do get symptoms of withdrawal if I’m late taking them. I know that I am addicted. My two main painkillers are tramadol and codeine. The tramadol is sustained release and I am on the maximum dose and the codeine is taken every 4 hours throughout the day.

I have made the decision to try to come off the codeine altogether. If I do it slowly I will me able to minimise the withdrawal. The tablets I take contain 30mg of codeine and are prescription only; you can get 8mg codeine over the counter so it will be easy for me to taper off my dose. I think I will be able to do it over 12 weeks. Of course if my pain becomes unbearable I will start taking it again.

I’ve been taking these medications for so long that I don’t know what my pain levels are without any relief. If I can stop the codeine successfully I will then make an appointment to see my doctor to discuss trying to lower my tramadol dosage. Following this I will then look at my antidepressants.

Eventually I hope to find the minimum amount of medication that I need to function. Hopefully this will lead to me feeling less doped up and be able to experience more of life.