OH THE PAIN, THE PAIN!

To quote Dr. Smith from Lost in Space: “Oh the pain!” Speaking of space, I wonder if you feel less pain in space. Does gravity affect Fibromyalgia pain? It would nice to be weightless, just floating around in space. I might get awfully bored though. But I digress; let’s get back to Dr. Smith. Poor fellow, he was always saying, “Oh the pain!” We all know from the way he acted, he was just pretending. At least I like to think he was. I wonder how he would handle pain from Fibromyalgia, probably not very well, not very well at all.

I told myself when I started this blog that I would remain positive and upbeat. I have tried to find humor in most situations. There are some days and nights that can just wear on a person though. Take for example the other night. So desperate I was for relief, I took additional muscle relaxers and sleep aids. I do not advocate this type of behavior normally. I usually follow my prescription directions. The muscle relaxers were herbal though and the sleep aid is a minimum dosage. I knew in the back of my head it wouldn’t work anyway. I knew I was experiencing BTP (breakthrough pain) and nothing helps that. After 6 hours of tossing and turning, moaning and groaning, I finally slept for a couple of hours. I was tired, it wasn’t that. I just couldn’t stop hurting. The pain was everywhere. I knew the weather would be changing, it always does. A low pressure system was moving in and my pain tolerance was moving out.

I was fortunate enough to have the day off and met with a friend of mine for breakfast the following morning. My friend and her husband both have Fibromyalgia. We were discussing the lack of sleep from the previous night and she said to me; “You figure it’s the low pressure system?” BINGO! Give that woman a cigar!

Spot on she was, but what I can’t figure out though, is why does it affect Fibromyalgia?  Are the connective tissues that sensitive, or is it the nerves that are that sensitive? I just know that hurts like the dickens. Nothing helps. Heating pads are useless; pain medications have no affect, not even my precious Lyrica. Heck, even laying in bed hurts. Don’t even think about touching me. I don’t know about you, but in a way I feel trapped when this happens. I do not have control over my body and what it is doing. I want to scream and cry out from the pain, pain that lasts for hours even days sometimes, bound by shackles limiting my every movement. If you look at me, I look fine, just a little tired maybe. You would not know I have Fibromyalgia on most days.

Having lunch with my friend did me good as we sat and caught up with each other.  It’s nice to know that you don’t suffer the pain alone. After a few errands, I was able to go home and get some much needed sleep. Pain can be exhausting when it lasts for hours on end. I might like try a zero gravity atmosphere someday, but I don’t think I would survive the launch. I have this feeling that G’s you pull in a blast off would be excruciating.

Ah well, so much for my space career. Maybe I’ll just keep looking out my telescope at the stars and galaxies dreaming of the day I will weightless and pain free. Maybe I should think over that possibility that maybe Dr. Smith was suffering Fibromyalgia or BTP. For now, I’ll try to catch up on my rest and get ready for the next low pressure system that moves in.