Great cartoon from Ragged Edge. I want to get that notepad printed up!

The magazine also has an excellent blog and some very good articles. I just finished reading their spotlight on invisible disabilities, which linked to the cartoon. There’s plenty of excellent reading material on their site.

It seems that many of us who suffer from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue are perfectionists. I know that I am.

One of fibromyalgia’s harder lessons has been pacing myself and adjusting to changing (but always lower than before) energy levels and concentration. I know I’m not the only one who isn’t as considerate of myself as I am of others.

I’ve fallen into the perfectionist trap again here, with the podcast. I’ve had a hard time posting unless I feel I have something “important” to say, or to release a new episode of the podcast that isn’t a certain length. I’ve been using things like the length of my partner’s podcast episodes as a standard for myself. We have different abilities and audiences, and his standards aren’t appropriate for me.

Expect an episode soon, in a new format.

Originally uploaded by ChatOmbre.

This is a one flower of the lovely bouquet in my living room right now. Sam knows how much I value fresh flowers, so he usually brings them to me every week or two. Katie knows that I adore them, so she photographs them, allowing me to enjoy them even longer. Actually, the image in my blog header is from another bunch of flowers Sam bought for me. I arranged them and Katie photographed them.

This is one of my little joys, one of the things that distracts me from the pain and discomfort of fibromyalgia and other diagnoses. What’s one of yours?

I’ve been almost afraid to talk about it, but last week my pain management doctor prescribed breakthrough pain medication for the first time. I’ve been leery of taking it too often, so I’m taking it once every few days instead of once a day as directed.

Miracle of miracles, though: all the pain except for the neuropathy goes away.

And I’m functional. Well, I’m rather loopy right after taking the medication, but for the next day or two, I’m far more physically functional than I have been in a very long time.

I cannot stress this enough: if you have chronic pain, see a pain management specialist. There are no other doctors who are as qualified to treat pain.

From a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Press Release about findings being presented at the International Congress of Neuroendocrinology June 19-22, 2006:

Stressful or traumatic events experienced during pregnancy can have long-lasting effects on the fetus, yet these effects may not become apparent until many years later, according to a study suggesting that girls born of such pregnancies may be at greater risk for developing a painful muscle condition called fibromyalgia as adults.

The details sound very much like recent findings regarding abnormalities in reactions to stressors in chronic fatique sufferers. That could lend credence to those who believe fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are related conditions.