Hi, everyone! Welcome to August 2024. Time is flying past so quickly this year! This is post 4,900 – woo hoo! – which I thought was exciting.
I wanted to write this to give you an idea of what’s going on with my health. The short answer is that I’ve been going through a lot of more pain than usual over the past five weeks. I have a chronic pain condition, but it ebbs and flows with some days and weeks being much harder than others. July has been one of those harder months.
The longer answer is that I was diagnosed with ME/CFS way back in 1991, and working with my fluctuating energy level and fatigue has always been a challenge. Going through cancer in 2022 and 2023 kinda sapped my physical resources, so I get tired much easier and I’m having fewer good days than I did before.
I wish I could get in more exercise, but a month like July means even going for walks can be difficult. (And the post-exertional malaise sucks if I do too much. Sigh…)
The cause of this round of annoyance? Five weeks ago, I took an ill-timed shower and tweaked something in my back that’s led to be not being able to stand for a few minutes, and needing to lie down a lot. (If you were here in 2018 when I was bedridden for 7 months and worked from bed, you’ll remember.) I’m doing all the things I know will make it better – exercise, stretching, mindfulness, resting, medications, massage, and such – and things are definitely getting better. (Today, Friday, is much better than Tuesday, for instance, so woo hoo to that!)
Medically, I have a hyper charged nervous system that responds too vigorously to any stimulus, resulting in muscle spasms and cramps through my body and chronic pain. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia back in December, but I’m still doing tests and such to see what more can be done.
I get Botox for the spasms in my head, neck, and shoulders; anesthetic, steroids, and dextrose shots in my arms for my hands and arms; and epidurals for the two herniated discs in my back to help with spasms for my back and down. (It really takes a team to keep me going, eh?)
Even with all this, it’s still a struggle to do things like hold a knife to chop something for dinner or to sit in a kitchen table-type chair most days.
When things get bad, like they have been for the month of July, I have to take various medications that make my brain slow down and make it much it harder to be creative. Writing posts or e-books when I’m in this state is difficult, and what I do produce isn’t up to my usual standards. I’m using this time to outline future series and e-books, which doesn’t require as much creative process.
When I have had good days, I’ve been preparing posts, looking at drafted posts to see what needs doing, working on the e-books, and so on. I’ve been working on graphics to go with posts or to be shared on social media, but they take so much longer than a post would at times.
Fortunately, I know an amazing artist, Aoife Enns, who has been doing a lot of the fancier graphics and diagrams!
What does this all mean?
I’m not sharing this to get sympathy or have you say nice things about me, although that’s always nice. It’s just my explanation about what’s been happening because I’ve had people ask. I have these down spells happen all year ’round, but I don’t normally share anything because I know most people don’t want to hear about other people’s health issues as they’re sooooo boring.
I wanted you to know why the January e-book still isn’t finished – I’m very close, like 7/8 of the way there – and why we didn’t get a July e-book done.
As I’ve said before, because my time to write is so limited, I don’t have time to answer e-mail, especially long and frequently sent ones. I would love to have long detailed conversations about cosmetic chemistry and help you troubleshoot formulas by e-mail, but if I have that kind of time, it needs to be devoted to all my readers, not just a few.
If you have a question, please share it in the Q&A as that is part of my daily priority list. And I do check comments you’ve made on other posts when I log in, so you can ask questions in the other 4,899 posts on the site!
I know I’m in a profoundly privileged position to be going through these things as Raymond is an amazing husband who does almost all the work around the house and on this site, and I have access to all kinds of doctors and medications and services to make life easier.
I have you, my wonderful readers, who are so kind and supportive too.
I can work from home when I’m able, which reduces so much stress.
I am such a fortunate person, and I am so grateful for all of this, even in my most frustrating moments.
Okay, I’m just going on about things now, so I’ll stop here. Thanks for listening and for all your support.