While I have been thinking about this post for a few days, I have not written it. There are many reasons it needs to be written…I think someone else wants to know that I understand. The products I use to “close the gate” are listed at the end.
Imagine if you will, that you have to get up and go to the store. Maybe you don’t like going to the store, but you have your list, you get dressed, and you go. Imagine a fibro friend has to go to the store. You haven’t gotten a full night’s sleep so when you wake up you are groggy. You ache in places you didn’t know could ache, but it’s normal, so you try not to let it interfere as you know you have things to do. You hold tightly onto the handrail as you slowly creak downstairs. I say creak, because in your head, you are imagining that you are 85 years old. But of course, you are barely 40.
When you get to the kitchen, you look at the list, because without it, there is no way you will even know why you are going to the store. Memory-schmemory. You read the list 3 times because you know, you just know, you will forget something. You get the keys, you say to yourself, I can do this. You don’t even sit down after getting up. Why? Because you know you won’t go. Again. To the damn store. You realize you have to go to not one but two stores because of the special items on your list. You tell yourself you can rest after this. You look for your keys. Wait, you have them. Ok. You leave the house. Task one is complete and it just felt like you ran a marathon.
When you get to the store, you see an elderly woman walking slowly in. You quicken your pace even though you ache all over. If she can do this, so can I. You actually make it into the store. You check your list, again. As you go down the aisles you begin to get tired. You tell yourself to push on. You get what’s needed, after checking the list multiple times. And then you check out only to realize it wasn’t that bad. But you have to go to another store. You realize you are exhausted, but you can do this. Task two is complete, and the marathon has now turned into an ultra-marathon.
The next store. You sit in the parking lot telling yourself that this is it. You only have a few things left. You go into the store. You don’t think. You can’t dwell. Get in and out. Do not abort the mission or your dachshunds will have no food. That would be bad. You get the items you need, plus some gluten-free things they have here, and on that particular aisle, it’s almost like they know. They just know, you needed a song. So “Roar” starts playing. Sweet. Now even Katy Perry is cheering for me to finish this trip. And my damn eyeballs are teary because it’s the part, you know the part, “Get ready cause I’ve had enough…I see it all, I see it now. I’ve got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire, cuz I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar.” Sooo, I’m like, let’s go store. I got this. So now it’s like a decathlon or something. I don’t know, because I was a ballet dancer and soccer player…and now I do yoga, but it’s like I ran a freaking marathon. If one liked that sort of thing. Which I don’t really. Task 3, done.
And that my friends, was just the trip to the store. Not the putting away of groceries. Not the actual making of things with these groceries that you stare at and hope perform tricks after all of that, and jump into something nice like a soup or a 3 course meal. That was just the trip. The TRIP.
To further explain, I want to share this research on a pain analogy:
Old housePain is affected by how much we attend to the pain sensation. You can think of pain intensity being like the experience of trying to go to sleep in an old house. If you listen quietly, an old house will often creak and groan at night. If these sounds are familiar because they happen all the time, you assume they are just normal creaks and groans, do not pay much attention to them, and drift off to sleep. But, if someone had broken into the house recently, then you’d be on high alert. You’d pay close attention to every creak or groan, wonder if it meant that someone was trying to break into the house again, and stay awake for hours. Similarly, if you don’t attend to your pain you may find you don’t have too much difficulty doing what you want to do. But, if you think a lot about what all your pain might mean, or attend to how much the pain is bothering you, you will find that the pain interferes more with your life (S. Tupper, personal communication, 2012).So, I kind of like this except for the fact that I wasn’t trying to “attend to my pain”; however, I have been to my Applied Health Doctor this week and worked on things we don’t usually work on. So those pain receptors were stuck open. Like an open gate. Bingo. That works. So read this: Railroad crossing gate The gate control theory is a very popular theory, originated in the early 1960’s by Melzack and Wall. This theory posits that there is a virtual gate that controls the magnitude of the pain signal that reaches the brain (Melzack & Wall, 1965). It can be effective to describe the path to families as an actual gate. You can think about pain signals being like trains passing through a railroad crossing gate. When the gate is all the way open, trains pass right through. Similarly, when the gate to your brain is open, pain signals have free access to your brain. Medication might close the gate partway, but for many people, medications do not close the gate completely. Other interventions such as learning cognitive behavioral therapy skills, distraction, engaging in acupuncture, and increasing activity can all be effective ways to close the gate and help to keep it closed. So for the trip to the store I described above, all the while, the pain receptors mess with my concentration, my ability to think about anything but pain at times, and my desire to do things in the cold because the cold magnifies the pain I feel. However, that being said, when the gate is at least partway closed, I function better. That being said. I am not on any other medicine other than what Dr. Marion and I talk about. Many traditional medicine doctors have tried to put me on other things. I looked up all the side effects. It went from bad to worse. That being said, if it is working for you, that’s great. No one should have to be in pain. I hope it is working for you. I am stubborn, hard-headed and afraid of the horrible side effects since I already have other conditions. Here is what I do when I am trying to close the gate. If I have eaten something that causes a Hashi’s flare, which can flare fibro pain, I use a wrap. One theory that we have come up with is that my lymph nodes are not exactly taking out the trash so to speak. When I wrap, I feel better. The bloating goes down, the flare is shorter, it just works. Ha. Get it. And yes, this is a company that both my doc and myself are in. I actually met her at one of the meetings. Okay, so the next thing I do is to take some Relief. I have done extensive research in the last 3 years on anti-inflammatory foods. Guess what’s in here? Well, the cool thing is that we don’t hide any ingredients and they are all-natural. So turmeric, which is one of my favorite things to use, is there, plus yucca root. Did you know that An international research team reviewed data from previous studies on the anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic properties of Yucca schidigera, a type of yucca native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They noted strong evidence that yucca’s active components, including steroidal saponins, resveratrol and yuccaols, all seem to exert anti-inflammatory effects that may explain their historic use by folk medicine practitioners to treat arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. Researchers recommended further research to try to pinpoint more accurately the mechanisms through which yucca prevents and/or treats arthritis. They published their findings in a 2006 issue of “Journal of Inflammation.” So when people tell me they don’t need this because they are already on a glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate formula, like maybe my husband, I say try this. And after generic versus mine, his pain was improved within one week of taking this. So, I met a new lady this weekend and after doing an event where we set up our booths, something told me to speak to her about my fibro. She said she was undiagnosed for years but was always in pain. She described her pain as continuous, not being able to be touched and having the pressure points. I immediately told her about my products and since she looked exhausted, I asked her if she was going to have to rest the entire next day after the event. Her eyes welled with tears and she said “How did you know?” I lightly touched her arm and said I just know. I then told her about something that helps me sleep and recover. New You. It is again, phytotherapy, meaning plant-based. Years ago, when I was first doing research on natural therapy remedies, I heard about MSM. Plant based, and anti-inflammatory. Did not know how to find it back then. I had never heard of my company, It Works Global, and if I had, I wouldn’t have known about their leading phytotherapy research because people only associated them with “getting skinny”. I know, because the book of Face polices the website link. Anyway, New You helps to stimulate natural production and release of HGH (human growth hormone), while it aids in building lean muscle mass for those of us over ummmm 35. It enhances exercise endurance, AND helps improve sleep quality and memory. So for those of you not aware, fibromyalgia causes us not to get fully into REM sleep thus not feeling like we slept. This one supplement is a life-saver for me. Gate closed at night!!!!! Yes. So why did I put all this in here? Because I am actually a tiny treasure trove of hopeful knowledge for people who think they can’t get help. I don’t advertise my other business page a lot, but I should. The tab on this blog says Vitalize You, and I invite my clients to ask me questions so we can get their body up and running again. Believe me, I do understand.
