Feeling bad

I'm having a bad fibromyalgia flare up right now.  The weather triggered it by fluctuating wildly.  It would be around -20 F at night  and early in the morning and then it would drop to 0 or 1 F.  There was some light icy snow and wind that blows straight through you and the snow stung my face.  That's been going on for about 4 days I think.  I went to lunch with my husband on Friday and when we were walking to the door the wind was blowing in our faces.  It was so cold!

My neck has been hurting so bad and that's a new thing for me.  Fibromyalgia doesn't usually affect my neck that way.  Usually I get pain in my arms, shoulders or hips.  I've been having such a hard time getting to sleep at night because I can't get comfortable.  I can't sleep with my usual pillow and had to get out a softer one and I put a rolled up towel under the back of my neck.  That helped a little.  I also put some lidocaine cream on my neck but I barely felt anything.  I just felt a little bit of tingling but it didn't help with the pain.  It usually helps when I have pain in other areas but I prefer the patches over the cream.  I just don't want to stick something with adhesive on the back of my neck and end up pulling out my hair when I try to take it off.  I've been using ice today and I think that helps more.  

If it keeps bothering me tomorrow I will probably called the place that does Osteopathic manipulation to see if they can help.  They fix my muscle knots but the neck thing is new for me.  I hope it either goes away or they can do something to help.  

For now I'm trying to focus on something else.  I found a crochet blog post - Marly Bird - about planned pooling (color pooling).  They are using Red Heart Super Saver Stripes and the granny stitch to create a neat design.  My brain is a little slow today but I got it figured out and I can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished.  

Oh, and I finally reached my first weight goal yesterday.  I officially reached 218 lbs. and I set my next goal for 199 lbs.  I really want to get below 200.  I can tell my gut is smaller and that makes me happy.  I know my doctor will be happy because we talked about me trying Intermittent fasting again and just trying to go a little longer each day.  I did 16:8 before and didn't lose much weight.  I would just go up and down by little bits.  She suggest I start there and then go a little longer each day.  Now I'm doing one meal a day and haven't been hungry at all.  I also haven't been having the late night cravings anymore.  I think I've lost about 12 lbs and ready to lose more.  I saw her on Jan 24th and started fasting that day so I've lost this weight since then.  I can't wait to tell her I'm finally losing weight.

~D

Valentine's Day

We had a nice date today.  We wanted to avoid the crowds so Chris left work a little early and we went to a bar that has the best fish & chips.  Here in Alaska it's made with halibut and this place has the absolute best.  It was not crowded at all and the food was nice and steaming hot when we got it.  We both do intermittent fasting so we only have one meal in a day.  

When I open the door to get into the car there was a gift in my seat.  My husband surprised me with a new fairy for my collection.  This one is really big and is a steampunk fairy.  It has such cool details all over and I can't stop looking at her.  There are gears all over her wings and they are huge!  Even the thing she is sitting on is neat if you look down at it.  

Her eyes are turquoise blue but it's hard to tell in the picture.  I just love her.  I think she is the biggest one I have now.  She's not the tallest but she is huge with those wings.  The tips of her wings are probably between 6-7 inches apart.  I bet she was expensive.  

My husband bought me a blue fairy for Christmas that probably came from the same place.  They both have clear epoxy on the base but the blue fairy looks like she's sitting in a pond with some cattails around it.  I'm running out off room for my fairies now.  I might have to get another cabinet or shelf.  

He bought me 2 bouquets of flowers because it was hard to pick between them.  He knows I love purple flowers and white roses so the one was perfect but it didn't have any lilies.  I love bouquets that have closed lilies so I can watch them open.  That's why I ended up with two bouquets.  I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day.  

31st Anniversary

My 31st Anniversary was Sept 1st.  My husband and I had a great time.  It was totally unscheduled and easy going.  He took off work until today.  He mainly just wanted to golf so he went as often as he could on the other days since they will be closing it soon depending on the weather.  On Thursday we decided to drive out to this place called the Knotty Shop which is a touristy place with neat Alaska stuff to look at.  They have a great gift shop and an ice cream shop.  We both got ice cream but I didn't see anything I really wanted to buy.  I saw a lot of things I've already bought before.  We just enjoyed the drive and the fall colors.  On the way back out we watched some jets take off from Eielson air force base.  They are so cool to watch.  We stopped and had lunch at a place called Little Richie's Diner which is a 50's style diner in a silver trailer.  The food was so good.  Then my husband took me to a place to buy a pair of small hoop earrings.  He had already scouted out some places before hand.  He knows my style very well.  He knows I don't want anything too big or flashy and I hate pushy sales people.  I found just the right pair and I love them.  We looked for the Samsung Watch 5 I wanted but they didn't have any in town yet except for the cellular ones.  I don't need it to answer calls.  I'm just interested in the health tracking features.  We ended up ordering one from the samsung website and it should be arriving soon.  

After that we took a nice nap and then went out to eat dinner.  He made reservations for the Turtle Club.  We both had prime rib and of course it was fantastic.  

I really enjoyed the fall weather and it is so interesting how different areas have more or less fall colors.  Out at the Knotty Shop there were just small amounts of leaves here and there but mostly it was still green.  Out towards the Chena Hot Springs area it was more like fall with swirling leaves in the air and dancing across the surface of the road.  This is my favorite time of year.  I just wish winter didn't come after.  

Feeling Sick

I've got some sort of cold I think.  It's not very bad so that's good.  I just keep getting a headache that lasts forever.  I can feel my sinuses but I don't have congestion.  I've also been really tired and I've been sleeping a LOT.  I have this feeling that my body is trying to fight something and I get a little dizzy at times.  I am just going to stay home and rest and read.  

I have been reading this ridiculous mystery series that's been in my kindle library for 5 years.  I got the whole bundle for free.  I figured I'd start reading the first one and see what I thought.  I didn't really plan on reading them all since they look like silly books and I prefer the more serious mysteries or thrillers.  It's a set of 15 books by Belle Knudson called the Mrs. Fix it series.  I've been reading through them pretty quickly since they are light and short.  They are pretty bad actually and full of typos and flawed logic.  I just keep reading them because I don't feel well and my head is fuzzy.  I'm having a hard time concentrating so it's kind of nice to have something that doesn't take many brain cells.  You may actually lose brain cells reading these.  I can't even link to them because they are no longer available.  They are that good lol  I only have 2 left and I've given all of the ones I've read 2 stars.  

I plan on feeling better soon since I want to go for a bike ride.  The weather man says the sun is going to come out and it will be nice this week.  I really want to get outside and enjoy what's left of the summer and sunshine.  I can feel winter drawing near and I'm not ready.  Are we ever really ready for winter?

D

Dry Eyes

I am having the worst problems with dry eyes.  Who knew such a thing could totally derail your life.  I've noticed when you tell someone you have dry eyes they respond like it's no big deal.  It's like they're thinking, "oh, is that all?" and act like you are making a big deal out of nothing.  Some people tell me to take fish oil and drink lots of water.  Oh yes, I do.  What people don't seem to realize is that it can be caused by certain prescription meds and it is not such an easy fix.  I have an autoimmune disorder so I take drugs that suppress my immune system.  Those drugs are pretty strong and I wouldn't take them if I could avoid it.  

When I wake up my eyelids stick to my eyes and I cannot open them.  I mean, they are really stuck like my eyelids were glued to my eyes.  I always have to use gel lubricant before I go to bed and my eyes soak it up so I usually have to reapply during night time trips to the bathroom.  The gel makes it hard to see though so then I have to feel my way back to bed.  I also use lubricating drops during the day and also prescriptions drops for dry eyes.  I take fish oil capsules, guzzle water and use a humidifier.  It doesn't seem to be a thing that gets better and then goes away.  I thought it would bet better in the spring/summer because it is so dry here during the winter in Alaska but I haven't seen any improvement.  My eyes burn all the time.  

Sometimes I just fall asleep when I wasn't planning to, like when I'm reading or listening to an audiobook, and so didn't use the lubricating eye gel.  A few days ago that happened and then my phone rang and startled me awake so I opened my eyes too fast when they were stuck.  I hurt my left eye, causing a corneal abrasion, and that eye started pouring out tears like there was something big in my eye.  It wouldn't stop and I couldn't see to do anything.  I put lubricant in that eye and then put a gauze patch on it to keep it closed.  That helped some but the vision in my right eye is a lot worse than my left so I couldn't see to do anything.  It also hurt all day so I was pretty miserable.  I kept lubricant in that eye and it was not so bad the next day so I could stop being a pirate.  Now I can barely feel that spot but I'm being very vigilant about using the gel and drops etc. because if my eyes get dry again it can pull of the new cells where it is trying to heal.

So, dry eyes can be more than a minor inconvenience.  I wish I could just take fish oil and drink water and make it go away but that's not really how things work.  

I'm Vaccinated now

 I thought I'd never get an appointment to get a Covid vaccine because the appointments always got snatched up before I even knew about them.  I finally found a website through my state to help know which places had vaccine available.  If you are in Alaska you can use this site to find a provider.  Just select your language and city to find out which place has vaccine appointments available. Here is another link that was helpful (part of the same website).   Every state has their own system so I hope people in other areas are able to find a way to get an appointment without too much trouble.  I basically googled "Covid vaccine appointments in Alaska" to find that information.  

I got the Moderna vaccine and when I got the first shot it was only a bit tender at the injection site.  I think the person giving the shot just wasn't as gentle and put the needle in pretty deep.  When I got the 2nd dose yesterday the woman giving the shot was a lot more gentle and I think used a smaller needle.  I barely felt anything and the injection site was not painful.  After a few hours I did start to feel tired and laid down but never actually fell asleep.  During the night I woke up with that arm feeling painful and got up and took some Excedrin.  That helped so I could get back to sleep.  I did have a Fibromyalgia flare up also but it wasn't really bad.  I woke up late but I'm up and moving around okay.   I'm still dealing with the flare but Aleve has helped with that.  

I did ask about how being on immunosuppressant drugs would affect things.  I take Humira and Plaquenil for Psoriatic Arthritis, an autoimmune disorder.  They said I may have less of an immune response to the vaccine so I may not be as protected from the virus as someone who is not taking those drugs.  

I hope other people who have similar health conditions will be willing to get the vaccine.  I know I was pretty scared at first but my husband got the vaccine and didn't have any problems.  He also talked to several other co-workers who either had no side-effects or very minor achiness or fatigue.  I also did a lot of researching online to see what I could find out about it and finally decided to give it a shot (pun intended lol).

I'll post if I have any more problems but I think the worst of it is over.  

DJ