Chronic Pain & Fibromyalgia

February 9, 2019   Health & Wellness   2 Comments

The last part of January and the first week of February have been a bit rough. I was diagnosed years ago with Fibromyalgia and for almost 10 years I spent a good majority of every day trying to just cope with the chronic and incessant pain. For the better part of the last 3 years though I have had a huge decrease in pain to the point it was not top priority anymore. However, the last 2-3 weeks has been a bit rough. I am sore all over, my muscles and joints throughout my body hurt. I think maybe the pain in my hip and leg and the falls are what brought it on/brought it back.  That and sitting 10 hours a day or more typing doesn’t help. I tried Lyrica again but at the same time my doctor also put me back on metformin to see if we could get better control over my blood sugar and the side effects of the two made me miserable. Lyrica causes me severe vertigo. To the point, I won’t drive, and I need to drive so I am not going to take it.  My doctor wasn’t thrilled that I refused to take any medication for the pain so instead, he suggested I look into CBD oil, which I am not thrilled about so after researching it a bit I decided that was a no-go as well. Too expensive, not covered by insurance (obviously), etc. Just not an option.

On the plus side, we were able to afford insurance, only for me though and not Eddie which I am also not thrilled about. He will have insurance in another 9 months through work anyways I think, so we were more concerned about me at the moment and making sure I can still afford insulin, my Libre, metformin, etc. The insurance is only going to cover 80% to a maximum of $1000 a year towards medications and for the medical equipment such as my Freestyle Libre sensors it will only cover 80% to a maximum of $1000 in the first year, $1500 in the second and then $3000 in the third year onwards per year which means the first year it will only cover about half of the year for my sensors, but hopefully at that point I will have secondary insurance through Eddie’s work which will cover 50% but again it’s better than nothing at all.

Since I am not taking anything at the moment for the pain which is pretty bad, like 8 out of 10 pretty much continuously all over, almost every muscle and joint, I have been searching for other alternatives and I think the only thing that seems to help relieve and make me comfier, or in other words 4 out of 10, effectively halving it, is heat. I had Eddie buy me a heating pad the other day and it seems to help. So does having the wood fire going, I think it’s maybe the dry heat. I want to get a heated throw blanket. I think I am going to get one next time I have a little extra if I can find one for a decent price. Tea seems to help too. I think it’s the cold. This cottage is so bitterly cold sometimes, it isn’t insulated very well and it’s damp. The weather has either been quite cold, like -20 with snow or it’s been around 3 and raining out. It seems to go back and forth between the two, which isn’t helping at all.

Life’s what happen’s when your
busy making other plans

January 19, 2019   Everyday Stuff   4 Comments

As John Lennon once said. I’ve been so busy typing that I have hardly had any time for anything else, including making any plan’s, so I would say the opposite applies here.  We’ve had so much work that there is little time for anything else, including taking the course for the job that I ended up having to turn down because I didn’t have the time to do the course for it. It was only going to be seasonal and part-time anyhow. I may try to take the tax preparation course later on my own time and next year try and prepare some tax returns for people on my own. It’s not like the job had any benefits anyways, minimum wage, no guarantee of hours, seasonal, no health or dental. All things I would need if I decided to make it my primary job.

Edward’s only found part-time work here at the moment, but there is a decent chance he can get full time sometime down the road as it’s a department store. Unfortunately since the job we moved down here for didn’t pan out it’s left me without health benefits for a year until his kicks in, at least he will have benefits being part-time as most part-time jobs don’t even have benefits. It’ll only be 50% coverage and not 80% as we currently have till the middle of next month, it’s left us in a bit of a pickle as my grandmother used to say. We have a year with no benefits and my medications and libre cost upwards of $350 a month. So, I’ve made an appointment next week with my family doctor to beg him to take me off insulin, which I only went on because we were trying to get pregnant and put me back on metformin or something else that is much cheaper and will save me the cost of the insulin pens and needles.

I am hoping we can swing the $89 every 2 weeks to keep getting the Libre sensors so I can keep a close eye on my blood sugar and that an oral medication will hopefully work and be cheaper. If not I really don’t know what we are going to do as paying for health and dental privately is super expensive when you have a pre-existing condition We didn’t think this would be an issue because my insurance was extended for 3 months and Edward’s was supposed to kick in in three months leaving us only a 2 week period in between with the other job and it was 80% as well.

Its kind left me worried and not sure what’s going to happen. I am sure my doctor is not going to be very thrilled with me at the moment, but he’s going to have to help me figure out a different solution because $300-350 a month is not something we can afford. I want off insulin anyways. I understand that eventually, I may end up going back on it but it was only supposed to be pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and a little bit after pregnancy anyways and then back to oral medications, so since pregnancy is pretty much out of the picture anyways I might as well see if he will consider another alternative for now.

Money is so tight right now and it’s stressful but I don’t regret the move here at all. To help with the finances Edward has started transcribing as well and he’s actually really good at it We both can type 49 wpm, his accuracy is about 95% and mine 97% so we are acutually really close. He just has to get used to listening and typing what he is hearing and the formatting but otherwise he is doing really good and it’s extra money for us. I think once we get everything ironed out it will still have been better for us in the long run, even if right now is a little bit rocky. I am sure we will get things sorted out and we will get back 100% on our feet again. I have plans. Plans that include, healthier eating, getting fit, losing weight, and hopefully reducing the number of medications I need or maybe reversing diabetes altogether, it’s probably rare but it’s possible with type 2 and I am determined to do it.

I plan to walk as much as I can, swim and skate. I want to start hiking again in the spring and maybe try softball or something. I would love to get on a softball or bowling team with my husband, he was all for us getting healthier and losing weight and eating better. I am not really good with healthy eating but I am going to make an appointment with the diabetic nutritionist in Annapolis and try and see if they can help me come up with some meal ideas and plans. There is so much I want us to start doing, but I have no idea how to put it into action, organization and planning has never been something I’m very good at, but right now I am looking up ideas online as I write this

2019 New Year’s Resolutions

January 1, 2019   Everyday Stuff   10 Comments

Happy New Year everyone! So, today is January 1st, 2019. Wow, one more year until 2020! Can you believe it? I can’t. I remember being 10 years old in 1990 and watching movies that were set in the future and I remember one of them being 2020 and I remember thinking that was so far away and that we would likely be living on other planets and driving flying cars, etc. I think I likely watched too much of The Jetsons! But honestly, it seemed just so far away and I never really thought much beyond just being old enough to get married and have kids. Now that it’s here it seems like just yesterday that I was that 10-year-old kid.

I have never been very good at making and keeping New Year’s Resolutions and when I did I always made the same ones and then forgot about them a week or two later and I’m sure this will end up being the same but I might as well give it a try. I like to make lists and checking things off is so satisfying but I always get side-tracked and end up doing/getting things that aren’t on my list and not doing/forgetting about things that are on my list. It’s the same at the grocery store. I make a list, I go aisle by aisle and I end up with tons of things in my cart that were not on my list and always end up forgetting half the things that are on my list or deciding that I really don’t want them and getting something else instead. I am sure there is a word for that. Some sort of term

Anyways, here are 5 New Year’s Resolution’s that I hope to achieve in 2019:

1. Loose 36 lbs – I know this seems pretty specific and it is. I want to make it achievable so that would work out to 3 pounds a month, I know that doesn’t sound like a lot but at about 185-190 pounds and 5 foot 1 inch that would make a huge difference, and is achievable for me, especially in the beginning while I’m still recovering. I think it will make a big difference as well in how I feel and help me with better controlling my diabetes. If I can achieve it then next year I will set a bigger goal.

2. Walk 25 km a week – Again a very specific goal, I would like to start walking again and try to get 5 x 5km walks each week which would equal out to 25 km’s a week. I figure that a 5 km walk used to take me about an hour and if I factor in 2 days a week that I just can’t get out for some reason, either needing a break or being sick or the weather being too bad I would like to try and get in 25km a week. Even though I have some apps on my phone I would really like to get a fitness tracker like a Fitbit or maybe something cheaper to start out with to track walking.

3. Try a new food/recipe every two weeks – I am a very picky eater and since we go grocery shopping usually every two weeks for the majority of stuff I figure if I grab one new vegetable, fruit, cheese or another food item each shopping trip that I have never tried and give a new recipe a try with it so that I can add some more variety to my diet and start getting away from processed foods.

4.  Finish our foster care application – Last year, early in the year, I can’t remember exactly when we went to a foster care info session in Halifax. I remember there was still snow on the ground so it’s been almost a year. I am unsure where the application went with the move and all but I want to sign us up for another info session near Digby and get the paperwork filled out, do our background checks and get everything submitted before the winter is through.

5. Save $1040 – We want to purchase a house in a couple of years and to do that we need to save up a down payment. Last year we saved up just under $1700 dollars in about 9 to 10 months and still have about $360 of it, the rest we had to use when I hurt myself to help cover the bills. I would like to save $20 a week for the next 52 weeks so that in the end we will have $1400 by December 31st 2019. Next year if we increase it a little we can have small down payment for a house under $100,000, which is what we are aiming for. It’s going to take us a long time to find a house for that price but they are out there, we expect to have to put work into it and are fine with that, as long as it is livable, the rest is cosmetic and we can make it what we want it.

That’s probably the most specific I have ever been with New Year’s Resolutions, but I want to make them achievable and be specific enough that I have to actually work towards them and not just say “oh, well that was pretty general, does this count?”. I am so excited for 2019!