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Well, here I am, awake at an unGodly hour. I had been falling asleep and staying asleep on most nights for the past few months. Now for the past cou[le of days, I wake up at about 3:30 am and have just enough energy to be unable to fall back to sleep but not enough to do anything useful. By the time I am able to go back to sleep it will be close to the time to get up and half the time, when this happens, I will then sleep through the alarm. It's just as if I was starting all over, like I hadn't been to sleep at all.
I follow all the advice about going to bed at the same time every night, getting up about the same time everyday and trying not to nap during the day, and that does help a bit, but at times like this, not so much. Not napping during the day can be the difficult one because by 1 pm I can barely keep my eyes open. I've even stopped taking anything for pain after 12 noon and before 5 pm so that I am too uncomfortable to sleep. If I were to fall asleep during the day, I risk not being awake to go pick the kids up from school. If I fall asleep during the day, chances are good I will sleep until the next morning. Where's the insomnia then?
Most of the sleep aids may work for a while, but then the tolerance builds up and then they might as well be sugar pills. Some of them make it even more difficult to wake up in the morning, and I don't need that!
There is an up-side to waking up this early..... Peace and quiet! Everybody else, including the pets, is still sleeping.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Dealing with stress
Stress seems to intensify the pain of fibro and my life is more stressful now than when I was able to work. I am always trying new tactics to at least temporarily reduce the stress. The tactics I try are generally things that can be done in just a few minutes since I may fall asleep if I relax for too long.
Mindfulness is the most recent addition to my stress relief effort. Simply put, mindfulness is briefly acknowledging what ever thoughts or feelings are troubling you and letting it go, not dwelling on it. This does not work for me with every situation, such as when worried about a sick family member, but for situations like being angry with some one, it does seem to do the job quite well for something so simple.
Another thing that helps is journaling. I have used this off and on for years which is what led me to try blogging. When Mom died in 2006 I began addressing the entries of my journal to her and wrote as if I were writing a letter to her. This accomplished a few things: 1) It eased the pain of losing her. 2) It helped me resolve some issues that were bugging me about some things that went undiscussed when she was alive. And, 3) It made it a bit easier to transition into life with out her, I still felt as if I were still able to tell her about things I would have shared with her when she was alive, like when one of the kids did something cute or funny or if I read something I thought she would be interested in. Sometimes I even tried to write back as if from her point of view, which really helped with the guilt I felt about letting the doctors give her morphine when she was near the end even though she had said years earlier that she never wanted morphine. My reason for allowing it was the right reason, I wanted her not to be in pain as she died, but I still felt guilty.
Also, on occasion, I try diversion. This has been especially helpful when dealing with the pain that is not relieved by my medicine, and, to a lesser extent, the fatigue. If I can distract myself with a quick game of "Chicken Invaders", I am not bothered by the pain as much.If I play a game on the Wii, sometimes I can get past the need to take a nap. I have found that diversion works only for a short while, since the pain creeps back to the center of my attention or the fatigue will over come me and cause me to fall asleep.
After using these coping strategies several times a day for many days, I find that I start doing them without even thinking about it so it becomes less a chore.
Mindfulness is the most recent addition to my stress relief effort. Simply put, mindfulness is briefly acknowledging what ever thoughts or feelings are troubling you and letting it go, not dwelling on it. This does not work for me with every situation, such as when worried about a sick family member, but for situations like being angry with some one, it does seem to do the job quite well for something so simple.
Another thing that helps is journaling. I have used this off and on for years which is what led me to try blogging. When Mom died in 2006 I began addressing the entries of my journal to her and wrote as if I were writing a letter to her. This accomplished a few things: 1) It eased the pain of losing her. 2) It helped me resolve some issues that were bugging me about some things that went undiscussed when she was alive. And, 3) It made it a bit easier to transition into life with out her, I still felt as if I were still able to tell her about things I would have shared with her when she was alive, like when one of the kids did something cute or funny or if I read something I thought she would be interested in. Sometimes I even tried to write back as if from her point of view, which really helped with the guilt I felt about letting the doctors give her morphine when she was near the end even though she had said years earlier that she never wanted morphine. My reason for allowing it was the right reason, I wanted her not to be in pain as she died, but I still felt guilty.
Also, on occasion, I try diversion. This has been especially helpful when dealing with the pain that is not relieved by my medicine, and, to a lesser extent, the fatigue. If I can distract myself with a quick game of "Chicken Invaders", I am not bothered by the pain as much.If I play a game on the Wii, sometimes I can get past the need to take a nap. I have found that diversion works only for a short while, since the pain creeps back to the center of my attention or the fatigue will over come me and cause me to fall asleep.
After using these coping strategies several times a day for many days, I find that I start doing them without even thinking about it so it becomes less a chore.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Another day
Well, given my intent to try to help others, let me begin with saying that I have found the cookbook "$5 Dollar Dinner Mom", by Erin Chase, is my new favorite cookbook! The meals are not only economical, they are super easy and seem to be better, nutritionally, than frozen dinners.
I cook very well without a cookbook, but the food I am used to cooking required a lot more time and energy than I currently have. By the time I get the kids up and ready for school, my energy seems to disappear, so you can imagine my energy level by dinner time!
Now if only I could find a book that helps with getting the kids to help out just a bit more..... Well, actually, they help out probably more than most kids their age but since I have fibro and want to have a tidy home AND still have energy to do something fun with the kids once in a while, extra help would be wonderful. I miss the days when I could work 8 hours, come home and make a decent meal and then watch the kids play outside, or, better yet, take them someplace and still have energy to bathe them before bedtime and do a load of laundry.
Soon I hope I can blog about the details of my life and what I believe brought me to where I am now.......Hmmmmmm............ an autobiography, I guess.
Well, time for bed, morning comes way to quickly.
I cook very well without a cookbook, but the food I am used to cooking required a lot more time and energy than I currently have. By the time I get the kids up and ready for school, my energy seems to disappear, so you can imagine my energy level by dinner time!
Now if only I could find a book that helps with getting the kids to help out just a bit more..... Well, actually, they help out probably more than most kids their age but since I have fibro and want to have a tidy home AND still have energy to do something fun with the kids once in a while, extra help would be wonderful. I miss the days when I could work 8 hours, come home and make a decent meal and then watch the kids play outside, or, better yet, take them someplace and still have energy to bathe them before bedtime and do a load of laundry.
Soon I hope I can blog about the details of my life and what I believe brought me to where I am now.......Hmmmmmm............ an autobiography, I guess.
Well, time for bed, morning comes way to quickly.
First post
I've heard a lot about blogging and thought I would give it a try.
I am a single mom of 5, three of whom are still at home. I have 2 granddaughters and a grandson. I also have been diagnosed with fibro. As one would imagine, fibro makes single parenting even more difficult....... My kids have missed school because of my fatigue and pain. I had to stop working at a job I loved. And my home is usually in disarray. I had to stop doing many things I enjoy, such as camping, because of it, it's just too much activity for a tired, sore body.
So, anyway, I hope to post about my experiences and what I find helpful so maybe some one else will possibly benefit from my trial and error ways of doing what needs to be done when raising a family as a single mom with fibro.
I am a single mom of 5, three of whom are still at home. I have 2 granddaughters and a grandson. I also have been diagnosed with fibro. As one would imagine, fibro makes single parenting even more difficult....... My kids have missed school because of my fatigue and pain. I had to stop working at a job I loved. And my home is usually in disarray. I had to stop doing many things I enjoy, such as camping, because of it, it's just too much activity for a tired, sore body.
So, anyway, I hope to post about my experiences and what I find helpful so maybe some one else will possibly benefit from my trial and error ways of doing what needs to be done when raising a family as a single mom with fibro.
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