I'm Still Here

Well, I have hit my 3 month marker for the Guaifenesin Treatment I started.

As the treatment states "You will feel worse, before feeling better".

That's no lie! I've been in a horrible flare and can feel my entire body going through many changes.

Almost as if my symptoms I accrued over the years in a slow process has gone into a reversal at at much faster rate.

I've have such limited mobility (hard to sit up at the computer) and horrible brain fog to keep posting on a weekly basis. I have kept notes regarding my progress and will share when I start feeling better.

I'm in this for the long run. I will continue using this protocol for one year as recommended and continue to blog my journey.

For more information, visit the National Fibromyalgia Associations page

FMAWARE

http://www.fmaware.org/site/News2d1b2.html?page=NewsArticle&id=6133

Week 3 Guaifenesin Protocol

Believe it or not, I'm still sick with this cold bug. What typically takes everyone else to get get over it, it takes me twice as long. From the looks of things around here this sounds about right. My whole body hurts, so its hard to tell if the protocol is even working. I'm going to assume deep down inside it is. I'm trying not to give up hope, since it is so early in the treatment. It's hard to tell yourself to give the treatment an entire year to gain the full effect. I'm not one who has a lot of patiences which makes it hard to just give it time. I'm in pain, sick, tired and extremly exhausted and that doesn't help to think with a clear open mind. Sorry I don't have much more to share regarding my progress. 

Are you a Chronic Babe?

If so, come join us!

This is a great place to get to know Babes with Fibromyalgia and other Chronic Illnesses.

Kuddos to Jenni Prokopy the founder of this amazing, welcoming and informative web site.
There is a a Group for us called "Fibrobabes".

Let me know if you join so that I can add you!

ChronicBabe

Week 2 Guaifenesin Treatment

I'm still sick with cold/flu as of today. My entire family is sick as well. It helps to know its not a side effect of the Guaifenesin even though my symptoms aren't listed as side effects to it. Since my body reacts differently to medications, it's good to know I'm
Not the only one sick here.

Even though I've been in bed this week, I noticed that when I do get up to make meals or use the bathroom, I'm doing little things with more ease. The stiffness continues to ease up. 
I'm still experiencing tiredness, fatigue and less pain throughout my body. The pain, instead of being all over every inch of my body, it's generalized in certain areas only. Ie; My left arm, elbows, hands and legs.

I also noticed a symptom I haven't had in over a year which is hot spots on my hands and elbows. (Swelling and very hot to touch areas). This might explain where the protocol states you will notice old symptoms return.


The lumps on my left upper arm don't hurt as much when I rub them. I used to cry if I would just touch them.

My Sabatical

I wanted to appoligise to my followers for neglecting and not updating my
Blog. I'm sure a lot of you understand how our symptoms are so unpredictable with Fibromyalgia and we can have many bad days.

For me, the past couple of years my symptoms have become so debilitating and the pain and fatigue left me doing basically nothing, except to drag my hurting, stiff, tired self out of bed just to suck it up and make it to work for the two days a week I work the 9 hours. Some days my arms hurt so bad I was unable to lift them and unfortunatly the last thing I felt like doing was typing.

I'm trying to update the reference and blog pages. I'm sure some of them are broken links by now. Send me a message if you'd like me to add your blog or if you have a favorite related web sit you'd like to share.

So, I look forward to getting back on the saddle again!

Gentle hugs to you all,
Stacey

H pylori and Fibromyalgia

H Pylori is a stomach bacteria- http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori


The link below is to the article that states that it could be related to Fibromyalgia.

Ironically, I was dx’ed with H pylori when I was 7 years old in 1972. I have had years of Fibromyalgia symptoms and finally a diagnosis in 2008. Interesting theory.

http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2010/12/07/bacteria-tied-to-fibromyalgia.htm

Days 5-7 Guaifenesin Treatment

It's hard for me to assess my progress at this time because
I came down with a bad cold and flu.

I'm still experiencing a little less pain and stiffness.

I can't wait to get over this bug so that I can continue to chart my progress.

Day 4 Guaifenesin Treatment

As I got ready for work this morning I noticed that I woke up feeling less stiffness. (I work a total of 9 hours a week to pay for groceries, gas and medications. Most of those 2 days are torture). I went to put on my boots with little effort. I thought I was being deceived or confused and paid more attention to the other boot with the same result.

Normally, it hurts so bad to bend at the hips and squeeze my hands to pull my boots on. I usually sit on our sofa which is Lower to the ground to help ease the pain and less struggle.

Later in the day, I noticed a worse flare coming on. Shooting pings and pains throughout my body and reoccurring muscle spasam. That I haven't had for about a year. It seemed like my symptoms through out the years finally bundled into one symptom. Massive pain and stiffness which made it hard to notice anything else going on with me. I should note that my urine has this unexplainable order that the doctors can't seem to find a cause to and I have lumps in my forearms both left and right arm. Left side the worse and at the bottom of my legs near my ankles.

Continuing to take the 200mg dose 2x's a day.

Days 1-3 Guaifenesin Treatment

I took the recommended dose of 200mg's of Guaifenesin two times a day for these three days. I didn't notice any symptom changes. Just my normal excrusating pain through out my entire body. My neck, shoulders, forearms, elbows, hips thighs, knees, ankles and feet.

The protocol states that you should feel worse in the first week and that suggests you are at the right dose, before FM symptoms begin to reverse. It also says that for every year you've been sick it could take a month or so per year to see reversal of symptoms. However, every person is different.

I beleive that I have had FM for years. I remember mild symptoms after my first child when I was in my early 20's. I am 46 now. I was dx'ed in 2008 when my symptoms exacerbated and became dibilatating which was about a year prior.

The Guaifenesin Protocol

After stumbling upon this book "What your Doctor may NOT tell you about Fibromyalgia and all the years of suffering with my FM and no adequate treatment, I decided to give this protocol it a try. I have absolutely nothing to loose by trying this treatment option. Especially, since I've already lost the quality of my life, my social life, my career, and some relationships! You can download a free sample of the book which consists of 100 pages of content from throughout the book. I am not solicatating this book or profiting from it in any way. The sole purpose of these blog posts will be to share my own personal experiences using this treatment since all others have failed me.

I thought about the title of the book thinking the reason you doctor might NOT tell you is probally because of their lack of knowledge and information. However, it is mentioned in the book that some doctors use this treatment on their patients. Obviously NOT mine :)

One last thing, the author of the book won an award from the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA). I am having a Fibrofog moment and can't recall the name of the award. I will update that later. Do excuse any typos as well, this is the first post I've created using my
Mobile device,(which is a much smaller device that I'm used to using) unfortunatly since my Mac has decided NOT to turn on.

Here is a link you might want to check out prior to the purchase of their books and DVD 's. It states on this website that all profits goes to Fibromyslgia Research-

What your Doctor May NOT tell you about Fibromyalgia-http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446694444?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1