BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome New here, diagnosed w/fibro. single mom of 4

hello all...i, new to this site, i did apply to be the Wicca editor since i claim christian/wicca. im a single mom of 4, 23 yrs old, studying business management to start a small business selling herbs and such, i started out looking for something natural that would help my fibro., there are lots of choices for ppl like us but unfortunately none work for me but they could work for u!I make herbal remedies and teas for the members of my household and myself. its healthier since they dont have any harsh chemicals, its something im very passionate about but if anyone wants to learn more about the benefits of certain herbs and what they can do for your fibromyalgia please let me know id be more than happy to help!:) i do have pain medication but without it i go through a tremendous amount of pain and agony. Without the medicine i feel worthless, i have to have some help with my kids and cleaning because i am stuck in bed until i get to the Dr. i hate living like this and thats why im still searching for something natural, its not curable but maybe i hope to find something to substitute the pain meds so i dont have to worry about taking them anymore. my children are my world and they are my motivation for everything i do, audrey is 8,clair 5, then my twins maverick dayne and jackson wayne are 18mo. i have had horrible pain for 5 years and after many different docters and none of them caring enough i finally found one to do some tests, my rheumatoid levels were low so they thought i had rheumatoid arthritis, nope, fibromyalgia and nerve damage that results in my legs being in constant severe pain, which the fibro. makes worse than it should be. sometimes i wonder why God gave this to me and why i have to go through this but as im sure most of you might believe, everything happens for a reason, or so i like to think. maybe its to make some of us tougher and strengthen our hearts so that we may enjoy our families and friends and not take a day for granted that we arent in pain. i know i do, every day i have my med. i am so thankful that i can play with my kids,keep theyre home clean and just have a decent day. but on the days i feel the pain i still wonder "why". maybe it just happens, but what we need to focus on(i believe) is pushing through to a better day, make the best of what God gave us and learn something or get something good out of it.Somehow we have to keep fighting through the pain knowing "it could be worse". Its hard sometimes i know but it doesnt help to just lay there and wallow in pain and feel sorry with ourselves(like i do when i hurt)lol i am working on that so i can handle it better so yes i do take my own advice and work towards it. I just wanted to tell yall a lil about how i feel towards it, sometimes i hate it, sometimes i just try to forget it, either way we are all in the same boat one way or another so im glad we have a place to come together and let each other know "your not alone".:) *tish from oklahoma*

Hi Tish,
I'm fairly new here myself. Been a reader, now am an Editor of the Creativity section. I can relate to a lot of what you are saying. I'm surprised the doctor hasn't tried you on more preventative meds like Cymbalta or Savella. Many people have success with Lyrica. I didn't, but Cymbalta worked for me. I have bad days, but they are more like 2-3 days a week instead of everyday. I am hoping to return to work soon.

Nice to meet you!

Hi Tish,
I'm new here too...I'm the new Mental Health Editor.
I have heard that a grain free diet could work as well as adding healthy saturated fats like coconut oil.
I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome years ago and I recently changed my diet. I take one tablespoon of coconut oil a day.
I have very less episodes and when I do they last a day to three days instead of the typical week.

Hi Tish my name is Lori. I have had fibro for 10 years. Kudos to focusing on your kids. In the beginning they were all that got me through. Don't let ANYONE not doctors, social workers, other people with fibro make you feel guilty about the pain meds. I take Methadone myself and though it doesn't take all the pain away it makes it so most days I can function. I wasted a lot of time trying all kinds of stuff :chiropractors, physical therapy, a bunch of meds, pushing myself to the point of collapse just to satisfy doctors that told me pain meds were the "easy" way out of fibro. I did get a TENS unit thru physical therapy (at my Ads IL Grandparent Visitation www.goldberglawoffice.com Learn about Grandparent Visitation from the attorney who wrote the law Child Support Attorney www.MerelFamilyLaw.com Speak to a Lawyer Who Specializes in Divorce, Paternity & Custody. The Medieval Child, Part 3: Surviving Infancy, Page Three Childbirth, Childhood and Adolescence in the Middle Ages By Melissa Snell, About.com Guide (Continued from Page 2) Infanticide The notion that infanticide was "rampant" in the Middle Ages has been used to bolster the equally erroneous concept that medieval families had no affection for their children. A dark and dreadful picture has been painted of thousands of unwanted babes suffering horrible fates at the hands of remorseless and cold-hearted parents. There is absolutely no evidence to support such carnage. That infanticide did exist is true; alas, it still takes place today. But the attitudes toward its practice are really the question, as is its frequency. To understand infanticide in the Middle Ages, it is important to examine its history in European society. In the Roman Empire and among some Barbarian tribes, infanticide was accepted practice. A newborn would be placed before its father; if he picked the child up, it would be considered a member of the family and its life would begin. However, if the family was on the edge of starvation, if the child was deformed, or if the father had any other reasons not to accept it, the infant would be abandoned to die of exposure, with rescue a real, if not always likely, possibility.1 Perhaps the most significant aspect of this procedure is that life for the child began once it was accepted. If the child was not accepted, it was essentially treated as if it had never been born. In non-Judeo-Christian societies, the immortal soul (if individuals were considered to posess one) was not necessarily considered to reside in a child from the moment of its conception. Therefore, infanticide was not regarded as murder. Whatever we might think today of this custom, the people of these ancient societies had what they considered to be sound reasons for performing infanticide. The fact that infants were occasionally abandoned or killed at birth apparently did not interfere with the ability of parents and siblings to love and cherish a newborn once it had been accepted as part of the family. In the fourth century, Christianity became the official religion of the Empire, and many Barbarian tribes had begun to convert, as well. Under the influence of the Christian Church, which saw the practice as a sin, western European attitudes towards infanticide began to change. More and more children were baptized shortly after birth, giving the child an identity and a place in the community, and making the prospect of deliberately killing him an altogether different matter. This does not mean that infanticide was eradicated overnight throughout Europe. But, as was often the case with Christian influence, over time ethical outlooks altered, and the idea of killing an unwanted infant was more commonly viewed as horrific. As with most aspects of western culture, the Middle Ages served as a transition period between ancient societies and that of the modern world. Without hard data it is difficult to say just how quickly society and family attitudes towards infanticide changed in any given geographical area or among any particular cultural group. But change they did, as can be seen from the fact that infanticide was against the law in Christian European communities. Furthermore, by the late Middle Ages the concept of infanticide was distasteful enough that the false accusation of the act was regarded as a salacious slander.2 While infanticide did persist, there is no evidence to support widespread, let alone "rampant," practice. In Barbara Hanawalt's examination of more than 4,000 homicide cases from medieval English court records, she found only three cases of infanticide.3 While there may have been (and probably were) secret pregnancies and clandestine infant deaths, we have no evidence available to judge their frequency. We cannot assume they never happened, but we also cannot assume they happened on a regular basis. What is known is that no folkloric rationalization exists to justify the practice, and that folk tales dealing with the subject were cautionary in nature, with tragic consequences befalling characters that killed their babies. It seems fairly reasonable to conclude that medieval society on the whole regarded infanticide as a horrible act. The killing of unwanted infants was therefore the exception, not the rule, and cannot be regarded as evidence of widespread indifference towards children from their parents. How did the child who survived infancy spend his early years? Please join me next time for The Medieval Child, Part 4: The Playful Years. The Medieval Child Table of Contents Notes 1. Gies, Frances, and Gies, Joseph, Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages (Harper & Row, 1987), pp. 34-35. 2. Hanawalt, Barbara, Growing Up in Medieval London (Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 45. 3. Hanawalt, Barbara, The Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 102. Sources and Suggested Reading The links below will take you to a site where you can compare prices at booksellers across the web. More in-depth info about the book may be found by clicking on to the book's page at one of the online merchants. Growing Up in Medieval London: The Experience of Childhood in History by Barbara A. Hanawalt The Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England by Barbara A. Hanawalt Medieval Children by Nicholas Orme Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages by Frances and Joseph Gies The Renaissance Man and His Children: Childbirth and Early Childhood in Florence 1300-1600 by Louis Haas request) and that helps localized pain that is increased but over all I got nothing out of it but feeling like a failure when it was the medical profession failing NOT me. I was an RN for 20 years before the fibro hit so I was very pro listening to your doc and following thru. Now that I am a ways down the fibro path I no longer suffer fools. If a doc doesn't believe in fibro (and they are out there) I don't waste my time. I have a good pain specialist now who works with me not against me. This past summer I wanted to add Remeron to the Pristiq that I was taking. After we talked it over she went ahead and let me try it and it worked! I was so thrilled. My pain level decreased but even better my energy level went way up. So if you have not tried any of the SSRI antidepressants talk it over with your MD and give it a whirl if you guys think it might work. Hang in there sweetie and give those babies big hugs and kisses every day. I hope maybe something I have said has helped. I will be praying for you.

Hello TishMarie: I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Had extreme pain....I would sit up at night and cry. So I know how you feel. I was put on various prescription drugs. Nothing helped. Ten years ago an "angel" offered me a natural supplement. Within 5 weeks or less I was relieved of the pain and to this day I have had the same result. If you have any questions I can help you out. Just send me an e-mail me at awesome@pa.net. Put in the subject line about bellaforums so I don't delete it.

'pushing your way through it' is a prescription for another bad day of pain and discomfort. pacing is better: figure out where the flare starts, then do 10-20% LESS time, and then rest until you are ready to do the 10-20% less again. Takes a little longer, but you end up being able to continue, instead of being in bed for days because you overdid *whatever*. give it a try!