Endometriosis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Right now, I’m napping on a daily basis and struggling with newly diagnosed, Endometriosis. I finally have a real reason for the pelvic pain I’ve experienced for years. I thought it was just part of getting older; I’m very glad to have a gynecologist to finally explore this and discover the source of my pain.

I will be having surgery in early December; exact date will be determined later. I admit that with so much happening this year, I’m struggling with my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome symptoms. It’s mostly my energy that’s lacking right now. I still work every day; but need a nap every day when I get home/finish if I work from home and the weekends spent at home include 2 – 3 short naps each day (usually 15 – 30 minutes).

I’m working on improving these symptoms the way I know works for me:

• Cut out refined sugar. No desert!
• Rest when I need to. Sometimes that means sitting more than I prefer but in the long run I’ll get back to my earlier energy levels.
• Exercise lightly (jog/walk for 30 – 45 minutes 2 – 3 times a week).
• Take care of my brain; audio books to stimulate me, detailed coloring books to keep my brain focused, great conversations.

I believe that with proper medical and self-care, diligence and the support of my friends and family, I will get back to my “normal”. Endometriosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, life’s challenges; not one of these are obstacles that will stop me from being who I need to be everyday.

What do you do to overcome obstacles that seem to hold you back? What motivates you to keep working on improving your own life?

 

Life carries on. Handling life, with all the ups and downs, still living fully with CFS!

Due to circumstances I will keep private, the start of 2015 as a newlywed has changed to a separated woman with her first condo! My ex and I split in March, after only a year of marriage. To say this is unfortunate is an understatement for 2015. I am now focusing on healing my heart, health and mind, rebuilding my life. 

Our marriage was rocky from inception; this lead to stress, bad habit triggers and more stress. This stressful situation brought on symptoms of various degrees. I “enjoyed” (insert sarcasm!) frequent nausea, including the joyous vomiting I do not usually get with my nausea (and no, I did not feel better after throwing up), almost daily low grade fevers, general fatigue, mild depression and different aches/pains. 

Since our split, my nausea is down to a rarity, no more vomiting and aches and pains are the typical ones I’ve experienced for years plus new ones due to a more active exercise lifestyle. Fevers are still frequent, an annoyance but dissipating as time moves forward in my life. Through it all, I continued my health and well-being quest – releasing 110 pounds from January 2013 to April 2015. 😀

I do not have pictures specifically from when I started my weight transformation but here are a sampling of photos over the past decade. 

    Now in April 2015:   

 As with everyone, life is a journey. I am determined to keep focus on respecting myself which includes caring for my entire being: body, mind and soul. I am a single woman again; this does not equate to a lesser life but lessons learned. As long as I honor myself truly, I will continue to have a happy life, no matter what is thrown at me. I will continue to grow as a strong, energized (even in mind only sometimes!). 

I am ready to explore what is around the next corner! 

 

Reflections Then and Now: A Typical Day (what is that?!)

Today I got up at 4:15 am (on purpose) because I have a busy at work and need to catch up on things, or at least have 2-3 hours before the meetings begin. As I drove the 45 minute commute, I thought how much my world has changed since 1988 when my symptoms first began. Back then, I was in high school, working part-time in the family janitorial business and doing hours of volunteer work. When I got sick, I began sleeping in – as you saw by my first sentence – not a common thing in my world. I could not stay awake. I came home, if I made it to school, exhausted. I fell asleep, Mom woke me up for supper, and then after eating, I was back asleep until the next morning. This went on with numerous doctor appointments, school discussions, etc. trying to figure out what was going on with my exhaustion.

Fortunately, around a year after my symptoms began, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. in this post, I will not go through the roller coaster of exhaustion, insomnia and years of herbal remedies, diets and various methods we used to give me some energy and relief of symptoms.Eventually, I was able to stay awake and live off between 4 – 7 hours a sleep most nights. Currently, this is still the average amount of sleep I get nightly. On this schedule, I’ve been working full-time since 2001, and most of the time have some sort of extra-curricular volunteer, part-time job and/or social life.

Today, I work 5 days a week, 7 – 8 hours per day, more hours when needed, write in my spare time, include time for many other hobbies and interests. I have a busy career, active life and work out a few times a week at my own pace. There are many more things I plan to do in my life: I intend to write full-time and leave this working for someone else (as satisfying as it is; truly it is!) so I can travel and pursue my other interests.

It’s been about 27 years since I began sleeping 18-22 hours a day. I am extremely grateful I can manage my symptoms enough to lead a full life and I will continue to listen to my body; feed it what it needs spiritually, emotionally and physically. I take one day at a time and treat my symptoms as it comes. Rest when I need to rest or as soon as I can get home. I appreciate the energy I have, the family and friends and support and I look forward to my future adventures!

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, or in my case, a ladybug tattoo starts 2012 with a sunburst in The Grand Bahamas!

The Grand Bahamas January 1, 2012

2012 began for me in the Grand Bahamas. New Year’s Eve was a quiet, sumptuous dinner at the resort restaurant with my buddy Joanne, followed by reruns of The Big Bang Theory. Then on the first day of the year, I laid in the sun, the cool breeze kissing my skin and a good book in hand. I managed to get only a little sunburned, but it’s all good.

I’m home now, still enjoying the sun, albeit without palm trees or the ocean.

The trip was a lot of fun. Joanne and I left on Christmas Eve and returned to Calgary, January 3, 2012. We were in Orlando, FL first where we picked up our rented Mustang at the airport. After a few days around Orlando, we headed to Daytona, FL for a couple, chilly days. Neither one of us is into car racing, so we walked on the beach and checked out the neighborhood. We ended up seeing a couple great movies (the new Sherlock Holmes and the American release of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).

Pit stop break for pictures in St. Petersburg, FL

Next stop was Port of Palm Beach to drop off the car and head on an overnight cruise with the Bahamas Celebration cruise line. I didn’t do so well with the smaller ship; that isn’t stopping me from trying a bigger ship with hopefully less movement! Also, didn’t impede my new-found ability to whip Joanne’s butt at darts (who knew?!). We stayed two days in The Grand Bahamas in Freeport at a beautiful resort.

Next up, back on the cruise ship overnight again. This time was better, though I slept most of the afternoon (possibly a wee bit too much sun the day before…). We docked and headed to Hollywood, FL for one last hotel stay. We found an awesome diner, Moonlite Diner where I had the most delicious milkshake ever – Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana. Need I say more?

My friend Nicole was kind enough to pick us up at the airport when we arrived at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. The rest of the week was a planned stay-cation at home, catching up on rest, Coronation Street. I usually take a day or two off after a vacation, because no matter how much I rest, the travel home is always physically exhausting and draining.

So, here I am, last workday of stay-cation almost over and have to prep to go back to work on Monday. This is a very good way to start a new year!

 

The Start of 2011

It’s been a rough start to the year. My vacation was not restful like I’d hoped between too much travel (little as it was), fighting a cold and plus my increased CFS symptoms. So my first two weeks back to work were beyond tough; even had to bite the bullet the second week and take two sick days.

What’s been happening? My CFS symptoms: exhaustion, nausea, headaches, muscle aches and pains, etc. have been in full force. I’ve spent as much time as I can resting, drinking water and relaxing. Yesterday I got a massage, went to see The Green Hornet and just chilled out. Today I spent the entire day in my chair knitting and watching TV or movies; only moving to get food or water. By the evening, I had enough steam to do some chores in slow motion. I am feeling better though – my nausea and headaches are much better. My energy is actually better; I made myself stay still for the active rest therapy that works well for me.

I am hoping that I sleep well tonight and can start the week with a realistic amount of energy. Last week was up, down and around; one day I would feel okay then the next it would feel like a truck snuck into my apartment and ran over me! I’ve got plans to bus to work again this week so I can sleep in an extra 20 minutes/day. I might walk once or twice, but I’m leaving that open. I have my clothes ready and my vegetables chopped for my snacks.

The week is off to a good start. Fingers crossed that my insomnia remains in moderation or even better – nil!

 

Surviving the Holidays

Vacation is a wonderful thing. I am so glad that I have nearly another week!! At this point in my holidays, I’m not sleeping properly, eating way too much sugar and not walking nearly enough (or at all!). Moving forward, I will be starting a sugar-free sort of detox again. Normally I can have a little bit of sugar and be okay, but this is just over the top and I am seriously feeling it. I wish cookies didn’t taste so yummy! I put the chocolates away already. Next step is to put the cookies into the freezer (no, they do not get thrown away or given away – stop thinking that crazy talk!). After that it will be a massive intake of water daily and a reintroduction to light exercise. Wii Fit here I come!

I will starting Thursday, December 30, 2010. Why then? Why not January 1st when everyone else starts their New Years resolution?

1. Because I’m still around family and friends today and tomorrow.
2. I don’t buy into the New Year’s resolutions. Every single day is the time to start a new goal, new way of living, new start so it doesn’t matter when I start, as long as I start!
3. Waiting until January 1st puts me too close to back to work; having to deal with the sugar withdrawal and go back to work is no fun. It will be much better to get the sugar withdrawal over with. After awhile I’ll be able to have a little sugar – in moderation! 🙂

Here’s the plan laid out:

• Zero cookies, chocolates or sugar
• At least 8 cups of water/day
• No Diet Pepsi during the day
• Go to bed at a reasonable time (no later than 10:30 except maybe New Year’s Eve of course if I’m out)
• 30 minutes of Wii Fit/day while on holidays
• Rest as much as possible
• Rely on my friends and family for support

I realize the first couple days especially will be tough but as long as I’m disciplined I know it will be worth it. I anticipate massive movie watching, knitting and random calls to friends! Thank you in advance!

 

Little Things

Little things make a huge difference. I know it’s a cliché. However, with CFS and FM, it proves true. Last night I was limping around my apartment getting my things ready for work: lunch, clothes, bag prepped. The habit of getting my clothes ready the night before (another little thing) saves me the decision-making process in the morning and at least 10 additional sleep minutes (a little thing again!). Even with my limping around, still sore from the shoveling, I forgot to account for my extra pain in my clothes choice. Why would my clothes choice make any difference in my pain? Well, I planned to wear a dress and heels today. This is not a good plan when my entire body hurts; if there is ever a time for comfortable slacks and flat shoes, this would be it.

One of the advantages of CFS is my short-term memory or lack thereof. Absolutely at times, it poses serious disadvantages – forgetting how to get somewhere (coupled with my non-CFS related total lack of direction), having to write every little thing down, losing my train of thought in mid-sentence, etc.). Here is where the advantage for me is: sometimes I forget the disease and/or the current symptoms. Because my pain is usually under control, when I sit still or limit my movement, I forget that I have the pain. Until I stand up again. Last night, after I’d been sitting for about an hour with everything prepped for work, I stood up and my body reminded me of the pain I’m experiencing. I promptly changed my outfit from a dress to pants. No heels today thank you very much!

It’s the little things that differentiate the coping with this disease:

• Drinking enough water
• Resting
• Sleep – solid, restful sleep
• Practical expectations about physical strength
• Reality checks with what I can accomplish

My life is great; I have great family and friends. I have the support of wonderful people. I don’t put that in the little of little things. Why? Because that support is the BIGGEST thing. Without support, those little things wouldn’t add up to squat. Without support, without that major thing in my life, I wouldn’t count it as a life. I appreciate the people in my life. Thank you to all of you who love, listen and are there for me, no matter what I need!

“Only when you are safely sheltered… can you tell which way the wind is blowing. Only from the calm… can you see how to protect yourself from trouble.” The Book of Negroes, Lawrence Hill