Posts Tagged ‘too tired to think’

26 Apr

Without the label of fibromyalgia

Posted by DOGKISSES in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, fibromyalgia, health. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

why do some people dislike labels when they help us understand what is going onWithout the label of fibromyalgia, I’m a human being in severe pain.

I am a human being who feels pain 24/7, 365 days a year.

Without the label of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — I am a human being who is more than simply exhausted.

I’m not talking about the kind of tired I used to feel after a hard days work.  Not the kind of tired some people say I might have, “because I don’t run ten miles a day like they do,” or “because I write,” or “because I need to get out more often.”

People who think they know why I’m tired or in pain, who don’t know one little iota of truth about fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, are people whose opinions mean zilch to me.

I was a firefighter.  My training made me so tired I had to go to the doctor.  This was before any diagnosis of fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  This was before Lyme disease in 2003 and near death from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in 2005.

I got over being tired after that training.  The doctor, who is a homeopathic physician, told me to rest and drink fluids with electrolytes.  So I did and after a day or two,  I could run with the best of them again.

Without the label of fibromyalgia, I am a person who has severe problems sleeping.  I never get good sleep.

Without the “label,” I am a person who sees days where taking a shower wears me out.  I get all nice and clean.  I get dressed.  I fix my hair.  Sometimes I even put a little makeup on.  Then I take my shoes off and fall on my bed from sheer exhaustion.

Without the label, I am a person who cannot live an active life.  Some days I’m a person who spends the day in bed, not sleeping, too tired to read, too tired to move, who just lies there like the living dead.

Without the label, I am a person who strives to make it through one trip to the grocery store and 98% of the time I can’t get all that I intended to get.  I could if I used one of the riding carts or whatever they are called, but I’m not there yet.  I’m not at a place in my mind where I feel I’m ready to reveal to the public how disabled I am by FATIGUE.

Without the “label” I am a person who hurts when I take wet clothes out of my washer.  I am a person who hurts when I push a vacuum cleaner.  Many days, I’m a person who feels like a plastic bag weighs ten pounds.

Without the label, I am a person who gets so tired that my brain seems to collapse inside my head.  This is called, brain fog, but some people can’t take labels.

Without the label of brain fog, I’m a human being whose brain stops functioning and I have a hard time adding 2 + 2!

Without the label, I would be quite confused as to what the hell is happening each and every moment I live!

Too tired to say how tired I am of people who don’t know squat about what it means to live with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the pain of fibromyalgia.

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Image of ferns by, “The Graphics Fairy”

I chose the image of the fern because even plants have labels.  I stand on both sides of the fence, or perhaps I’m the FenceSitter, regarding the use of labels in medicine.   Labels are useful but can be abused.  Labels can be used to identify a whole person and I believe, those of us who have an ongoing health issue, illness(es) or disease(s), know that we are more than a label.  We remain fully human.

Thank you for visiting my blog.



6 Apr

When being too tired is an emergency

Posted by DOGKISSES in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, depression, fibromyalgia, health. Tagged: , , , , , .

night light

I write with little energy.  I cannot communicate with my favorite blogging friends for now.  What I thought was a severe episode of chronic fatigue syndrome and with it, some serious brain fog, is unfortunately more than this.

I went to the ER because I was exposed to pneumonia followed by a weird chest pain with a new cough.  The fatigue had worsened and the brain fog turned into confusion.  I couldn’t do my paperwork.  I got scared.

I don’t have pneumonia but was admitted to the hospital so they could watch my heart, which they did.  They watched it run slowly all night. It stayed between 45 and 50 beats per minute until the nurse came in at 3am with the maintenance man to fix the heater’s thermostat, which wasn’t broken.  It did go up then but not for long.

They discharged me early, partly because I had begged.  I can’t leave my dogs.  I have bills to pay.  Things that must get done this week.  I agreed to follow up with doctors, which I’ve done as I write.

Right now I’m like my sister’s cell phone was a few minutes ago — working with only one bar.

My discharge papers reads, “Sinus bradycardia.”

What I know is I’m dead tired.  I got to where my fingers couldn’t type.  I couldn’t pick up the telephone when it rang and it was beside the bed!  I couldn’t do anything.  I knew I had to seek help.

After monitoring my heart all night, then having a few conversations with a very good doctor, he decided that the slow heart rate is a nutritional problem.  He believes that I’m not eating enough.  He may be right.

When I said I had a broken heart, well, I guess it goes to show that our emotions are very much a physical part of being human.

I had a lot of grief over the past year.  I had many changes too.  Lately, things have actually been changing for the better, but I guess life gave me a bit more sadness than my heart could take.

The sadness I have gone through reminds me of the Kudzu that grew in the mountains where I lived, as well as where I live now.  You pretty much have to go in and blast the foundation to get rid of this plant.

The new leaves are supposedly nutritious and can keep a person alive.  I think there are medicinal uses for the plant, but of course, I can’t remember what they are.  I’m running on low.  I do remember that you can only eat the fresh leaves in the springtime, otherwise it is a poisonous plant.

I had myself a session with a psychopath, exposing me to an awful growth of toxins.  I ate from the autumn vines with the darker bigger and poisonous leaves and they made me sick!

Hopefully, and I am hopeful as I write, I think simply from having written, I will heal and very soon.