SLEEP!!!

Since my 1st night of no sleep this week, I have had little sleep this week at all! The 1st night was 2am, 2nd night the night of my last post at 3am, I didn't sleep at all until 6:30am! The 3rd night was 3am. And finally last night I got 12 hours of sleep! Thank goodness, I was about to go insane. Its amazing the effects that no sleep can do to your mind and body. In my last post I mentioned that I would go in to more info. about Fibro. This illness is a daily struggle for me, some days are better than others, but just to be clear there is never a day that I do not feel the effects of Fibro. Here are a list of my many symptoms:

Insomnia: As I mentioned before it very hard for me to get to sleep, and stay asleep. Also with fibro, most people do not get the important REM sleep. So whether you have slept for 2 hours or 12 hours you can wake up not feeling like you slept at all because all night you are in a constant state of half asleep/half awake.

Fatigue: Pretty self explanatory, if you don't sleep you are tired. Although, fatigue is much more than just being tired. It is an extreme tiredness! You feel as though someone pulled your energy plug. You feel like you are so exhausted you cant move an inch. It would be like someone to out the batteries of the energizer bunny. It is hard to explain how much more tired someone with fibro is than the average healthy human being.

Pain/soreness: Every single one of my muscles and joints hurt everyday! There is not a day for the last 11 years that I have not felt pain. Some days are better than others but no matter what I feel pain. Also, some areas hurt worse like my knees, neck and back are the worst, but every inch of my body is sore 24/7. And not sleeping makes it 10 times worse.

Fibro Fog: It is hard to focus sometimes and I lose my train of thought quite often. I know this happens to other people who don't have fibro too, although it seems to be more frequent with fibro. When I feel like I'm in the fog its sort of equivalent to the fog you feel when your hungover. The fog and fatigue are sort of hand-in-hand. The fog is worse the more fatigued I am.

Stiffness: Muscle stiffness, which is worse in the morning when I wake up and right before bed. It takes me about an hour every morning to work out the stiffness in my muscles.

TMJ: I have had problems with my jaw for the last 6 or 7 years and have to wear a night guard to bed every night to avoid my jaw getting worse or possibly popping out of place.

Sensitivity: to light and noises. One of the reasons it is tough for me to fall asleep is because the room has to be pitch black and completely quite! I have to unplug everything in my room that has a light, and wear earplugs most of the time.

Anxiety/Depression: I am the most anxious person I know! I have had such a hard time with it since I was about 20 years old. It effects every aspect of my life and the stress that comes from it is only make the fibro worse for me. It is a vicious cycle. I am depressed alot lately because of the fibro and anxiety. It is so hard to wake up every day in a good mood and be happy when every morning you wake up you just want to curl up in a ball and stay there all day because you are soooooo exhausted, feel like you haven't slept in weeks, and your in so much pain it feels like a semi truck ran over you! With all of that day, after day, after day it is hard to be positive. What also causes the depression is in the last 11 years I have seen over 30 doctors for my various health issues and not ONE of them has been able to help me! There are not alot of options for fibro relief and believe me I have tried them all! They either did not help at all or the side affects were not worth the risk of taking the meds. It makes me feel like there's no hope for me every feeling even a little bit better, and I have given up on doctors completely. Its also hard the doctors, friends even some family do not truly understand how hard this illness is to deal with. Alot of people think fibro is all in our heads. Its not! Its real and it sucks!

That is a list of all the symptoms that I experience. For a full list of fibro symptoms click here: Fibromyalgia Symptoms

That is all I have to share for today, I'm off to have a fun, relaxing Sunday :) Hope every one has a great Memorial Day weekend!