Hooray!!

I cant believe I found you all!
Hi, my name is Laura obviously! hahah
The doctors are doing some tests at the moment but suspect i have fibro myalga.... I was really sick at the beginning of the year with a strange virus they could not identify and was off work for three months. Thats when I first got FM and now it lingers. I look wantingly at my garden unable to have the strength or resolve to do it.
I read someone saying that the depression and tears are part of what they endure with it and i felt like crying when I read it as finally I had found people who understand. The doctors have told me nothing about it, how I got it, is it curable, how can I help it and is the depression going to get better or am I a looney tune!!
Sound desperate dont I?

Think I am........hahahaa and my plants miss me!

any help would be soooooooooo appreciative...
Looking forward to hearing from you all

kindest regards
Laura

Hi Laura,

Kathleen here. i don't have FM yet, but have been told that it is often associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis, which I do have. Both diseases are in the category of auto-immune and apparantly related. There is some good info online here: http://www.ivillagehealth.com/conditions/autoimmune/articles/0,11299,242980_251222,00.html
A US site, but quite helpful.

Ah, if you are a looney tune, you are in the right place. We all have those feelings and are tempted to give in to them. If you've read down through, you know you are among friends and people with very similar challenges.

Make your doctors talk to you about what you're facing. I have learned that asking questions is the only way to get answers, and if they hem and haw about, tell them to refer you somewhere else! Sound very assertive, don't I - it's all an act, and I often sit there rubbing my knuckles and wishing that my doc would just say, do this and this and that. She's a very good doc, but she likes to give her patients choices, and I am stubborn and unwilling to introduce any more drugs into my system. I also put up with more pain than she thinks is good for me, but I'm a farmer, we're used to pain.

Tell us about your garden and how you deal with it. You probalby have a wonderfully different list of plants than I do here in the northeastern US where they are talking about possible frosts tomorrow night, and you are in the midst of spring. Remind us all that it will come again.

Welcome, and join in!
Kathleen

Wow! thanks Kathleen........... so encouraging. Interesting that this diseas is auto immune as the virus I had attacked my immune system and I suffered post virul fatigue!
hmmm my garden... well I am just a beginner but it is shaping up quite well. I live near the beach and the soil can be sandy.... where I am its a little more to the clay side of things.. its a strange area, it can change from street to street. Where i am used to be a natural wet land with native birds and such and used to be inhabited by the aboriginals and used to be called carrum carrum.

My garden consists of a lot of pots as I cant get on the old hands and knees at the moment but you should see the pansies!!! they are gorgeous! Burgandy's, yellow's purple's! I have a little porch you walk through to get to the front door and as you walk through there they all are to welcome you. Its a lovely day today.. warm and balmy 18 degrees celcious. I have them planted in old wheelbarrows and tub all around... there is also daisy's and along the brick paving on the ground and at the edge of the house is alysum and it smells devine.

I also have a fernery full of lush green ferns... elk horns... fish fern..... and impatience blooming everywhere! I have a south americam bromilade and a full size well that is filled with allysum. I sit out there on sunny days and listen to the birds and relax when I need "time out". I also have a big old gum tree out back and it fills in the afternoon with rozella's. Their bright yellow,red and green colours fill the tree!

I have just planted my first lemon tree in an old wine barrel out back.. its a meyer lemon.... I am so happy as i have always wanted one.. they are so...... country... home like and welcoming I think.
In the fernery I also have a monsteria that continually fruits and the fruit is delicous!
so there you have it..... usually a plant killer but slowly learning. I will be keeping a close eye on this site to pick up tips and such.

So yes... spring is definatly in the air, the sun is out... the birds are singing and it bring with it hope....

best wishes to all

LauraX

hi Laura,
I love pansies. I have a strain called Antique Shades that i've been planting for about 5 years and gathering seeds from. This year, I added Pink Shades and a coppery color mix. With the Johnny-jump-ups (viola tricolor) throwing their purples and yellow in, I imagine I will have a rather deliciuos mix next spring.

My yard is full of old garden roses - overwhelming for about a month in June and July - peonies, foxglove, lupines, and a host of old fashioned plants. We bought the farm from an elderly woman who had let things pretty much run rampant. I have been taming some, but will probably let it grow more and more wild as it is hard to weed. One lovely thing that happened this fall is that my husband gave me a HUGE load of wood and bark chips, so I have been busy eliminating as many weeds as possible and putting down newspaper and covering it with the chips. I know it won't eliminate the weeds, but it may give me a fighting chance!

Yes! I lovethe antique variety i have some!
I also have been on the look out for a creeping rose that is very hard to get... its called old world rose or old country rose and the variety is cottage pink. it is thornless and the flowers look a little like azaleas. It gorgeous, lush and soft.
hopefully i will get more time to spend in my garden...

chat soon
Laura xxx

Hi Laura,
Welcome to the old bodies young mind group. I have FM and it helps if you can rest some each day and not over excert your muscles. I keep moving but at a slower pace and try not to over use the muscles. I also find that air conditioning that is set to low is hard on me. I am in catch 22. I am on oxygen and need the air conditioning to breath better so I keep room pretty cool. Have to wear sweaters.

Regards

HI,Laura and welcome, Your garden sounds wonderful. I have had Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia, for about 4 years now, and the advice to take it easy is good. When I overdo, I am down for a couple of days. I have been trying to catch up with my neglected garden, but I have to learn the word moderation. Mood swings are a part of the illness and people who understand and support you are necessary-. It has taken my family a bit of awhile to understand,as I look quite healthy now (in my family-that means quite "plump"). I look forward to gardening with all of you. Marcia

Hi all!
I know I am raving but I am finding out so much just from your messages...........yes..... mood swings.. all this time I thought I was going mad... I thought I needed some medical therapist or something. And yes its true... the family and friends look at me and say well I cant see anything you look fine.... but your not! So glad to know this is part of the illness... some days I feel as though I could sleep for a week. My mum has had CFS for about nine orten years now and I know its hard.
Honeybee, how interesting you should mention air conditioning! again I thought it was all in my head. I work in a jewellers and my work station is right under the vent. Due tothe lights in the store, sumer and winter the cooling is on.. there are vents under wvery work station and so I find it really sets me off! I tell them at work but they just look at me funny.... its a releif to know I am not imagining it! thankgod for my garden! I work about 4 hours a day in the store and that exhausts me. Unfortunatly I have to work due to finances but it is taxing these days. Some days are better than others though. But in the nice weather, I can come out and sit in my little tranquil garden.. smell the earth and it makes me feel better.

I suppose I am raving a little but it is so nice after all this time to chat to someone who can say "Yes, I know what your talking about, its real and its going to be o.k."

thanks so much

Laura

hi laura,
i have a chronic pain disease called chronic regional pain syndrome (crps) or reflex sympathetic dystrophi (rsd). i've had it for 8 years now. i do one day at a time. one moment at a time mostly. i ask myself "is this activity worth the pain?" yes or no. sometimes it just isn't and sometimes it is :) i've learned to take a lot of breaks to get anything done. i got a load of mulch in early june and i'm still putting it out. almost done, but now i need more. :)
the hard part about living with chronic pain is that it is depressing. lets face it. and depression hates activity. also, our bodies chemistry changes because of the chronic pain and we need to take anti-depressent medication that changes the chemistry back to normal. well, we can't do what we used to. so there is a catch 22. i've learned to enjoy the simple things in life, far more than i ever did before. it is a blessing. i've also learned that i am going to be depressed some of the time. i am also going to be angry at the disease. this is normal. just think how people are upset and angry if a flu or cold interrupts there lives. well make that a lifelong illness and wow.

i also say to myself "i can either choose to have a good attitude or i can choose to be in a bad mood." "which one do i want?" well i usually choose the good attitude. sometimes this is really hard but i've learned over time to have a lot of positive self talk.

it is frustrating when people look at you like "there is nothing wrong with you" , you look normal. LOL I got my dream car 2 months prior to getting RSD. A lebaron convertible. it is a beautiful caribbean sea blue color. well i pull into a handicap spot (when i can drive, usually once a week i can get out, in the summer months here) forget winter. anyways..l the looks i get. i guess if your handicapped, 1. your not suppose to drive a convertable. :) 2. you need to be in a wheelchair etc. :) 3. you should be dragging ass and looking like you should be in the hospital. :) oh well, there problem, not mine. but it sure can be frustrating.
i remember when i first got sick and had no idea what it was and the docs did not either. how frustrating. i agree with kathleen about asking your doctor questions. my memory is effected by my disease, so i have a list of questions with me, to discuss. i learned, the hard way, that i had to be assertive with my docs. plus they are not mind readers. if i have questions and they don't want to answer them.. bye bye.....i pay them. it is my money and i'm hiring them to take care of my body and mind. i can't feel comfortable if i have a lot of questions running around in my head, without answers. that causes me stress and stress causes me pain. so, if the doc isn't for me, then bye bye.....and i let them know why too. :)
this helps too in giving me some control over my care and my desisions about my body and my illness. i have lost so much control, it seems over what i can and can't do, that i definately need to have control over my health care.

well i've rambled on enough i think. :)
god bless and welcome laura'
debi z

HI Deb,

Thankyou so much for sharing your story with me.. I feel very encouraged. You know your going to think it strange but I have only just noticed that this is christian based! I suppose I was so excited to find people who understood that I diidnt take the time to look properly. I have been a christian since I was 18 and I am now 43. About three years ago I had a really bad experience in a church and just couldnt bring myself to go back... some much hurt made me angry and frustrated.. you know how it goes... you blame god and so on. So it has been three years that I havent attened church and because of this I lost all my friends. They were church pwoplw and I suppose they were afraid because I wasnt at church and maybe 'backslidden' as tey call it ver here. Its a funy mentality to have cos I think thats when people need you most!
anyway, lately I had been thinking about god after goingthrough many issues and talking to him again.. and thinking about getting back on the horse so to speak and look where I find myslef! lol its amazing isnt it?
I feel very encouraged by you all, kindness has its own way of being a healing balm doesnt it?

It wonderful the way we can find encouragement and strenth in the most unexpected places.... thankyou.

I have has a couple of good days lately with my illness and subsequent depresson but today I have taken a couple of steps back... oh well............it will be o.k.

The sun is shining today and the sky is blue... my flowers are all out and my miniture hyasynths ( I cant spell it) are on there way with their cheery little blue heads ready to poke out... I will try and make the most of my day and work on a positive attitude...

regards Laura