Dry, Itchy & Sore Skin Conditions in Fibromyalgia

One of the many, many symptoms experienced by a lot of
fibromyalgia sufferers is dry skin and uncontrollable itching - with me this affects my hands, forearms, shins and ankles the most. I can scratch until I bleed it gets that bad.

My GP has prescribed various topical treatments - hydrocortisone being the most frequent though he has also prescribed anti-histamines too - and I've invested a lot of money in sourcing the best itch-stop cream on the market - none of which have made any difference.

So I was excited to be asked to trial a product which not only promised to treat eczema, psoriasis and itching but also claimed to provide pain relief! What better invention could a fibromyalgic scratch monster wish for?

The Fay Farm's Healing CBD Hemp Lotion is handmade using only natural ingredients - many produced on the farm itself in Seattle, Washington, USA. None of their products use parabens, alcohol, mineral oil, or phthalates. The ingredient list for the Healing CBD Hemp Lotion reads like a top chef's shopping list;  grape seed oil, apricot kernel oil, emulsifying wax, stearic acid, argan oil, burdock, calendula, chamomile, chickweed, comfrey, licorice, to name but a few. All combined into a deeply aromatic lotion that feels as good as you would expect a top of the range topical lotion to feel but with the added benefit of Cannabidiol Oil to provide effective relief from associated muscle pain.

I'm always sceptical about claims of pain relief from topical lotions - I've tried the likes of Deep Heat and Voltarol in the past and they've been about as effective as chocolate kettles. My experience of them has left me in as much pain as before I used them and stinking like a chemical factory! The same cannot be said about this Fay Farm Lotion. On smell alone it beats the best of the best lotions on the market today. As far as treating my scaly itchy patches I was surprised at how rapidly the lotion was absorbed. I thought I must be doing it wrong so kept applying it, but each time my skin felt softer and more elastic. I must have reached some sort of saturation point when the lotion simply refused to soak in any more, only then did it feel greasy! Within minutes of applying it my itching had stopped and was replaced with a gentle 'tingling'  and warming sensation. After two days of applying the lotion twice daily I began to notice the scaly patches shrinking in size and the itching gone - but what about pain relief?

Like I say, I'm a sceptic when it comes to pain relieving lotions and creams - in fact I'm a sceptic when it comes to even Morphine being effective against my pain to give you an idea of where I'm at as far as pain relief goes - but, as a sceptic, I need to be proven wrong (I pray to be proven wrong some day!)

I have to be honest and tell you that the lotion did not relieve the pain in my lower back - but when you consider that not even morphine takes that pain away then you will probably not be surprised to hear that - HOWEVER - (here's the bit where you say "Oh, he's been told to say that because he got the product for free blah, blah, blah...") HOWEVER - I do suffer badly with fibromyalgia pains in my shoulders and elbows (tennis elbow) and the lotion was effective at providing some relief from that - it didn't take it away completely but it did make things more bearable and comfortable in those areas, especially my shoulders.

Overall I can honestly say that The Fay Farm's Healing CBD Hemp Lotion is an effective moisturiser and treatment for excessively dry skin conditions. It's especially soothing for itchy skin and goes some way to relieving mild to moderate muscular aches and pains.

If I have one 'gripe' about the product it's that the scent - lovely as it is - is not particularly 'masculine' and that's fine if, like me, you spend most of your time at home with family, but if I was socialising with my buddies over a pint or two down at the Rose & Crown I certainly wouldn't want them questioning my choice of 'deodorant'!!

My primary aim in testing this lotion was to ascertain its effectiveness at soothing my eczema and for this it far exceeded my expectations. If you've tried everything else without success you have nothing to lose in giving this lotion a go.

You can find out more - and view their wide range of products - at www.thefayfarm.com - you can also  read more about their CBD Oil range and get a 10% discount and free shipping* on any order (just enter the code "fibromen") here - http://thefayfarm.com/p/cbd 

*Free shipping only available in US.

The Simple Task.

I was left with just one task to complete before my wife returned from work today. I'd woken feeling refreshed and vibrant for a change, capable of anything.

It was meant to be a five minute job. Take down the old shower curtain and hang the new one. Twelve hooks to unclip, remove from the old curtain and attach to the new one, then rehang on the rail.

Dead easy. Dead wrong!

The pain in my back intensified as I reached up to unclip the hooks from the rail - but there's always pain in my back. I could cope with a little more for the short time this was going to take.

After unclipping three of the twelve hooks from the rail I began to get intense cramping in the thenar eminence (the fleshy part of the thumb where it merges into the palm) like I'd been squeezing a rubber ball for hours, or gripping on to a rope. Only nine more of the little buggers to unclip. Perhaps if I stood on a footstool so that my hands were level with the rail it wouldn't hurt so much. I fetched a stool which didn't quite give me the height I needed, but made things marginally easier on my hands. Three. Four. Five. By the sixth hook I had to stop. My thumbs throbbed and I simply couldn't apply enough pressure to unclip them from the rail.  Hooks seven to twelve took a further thirty minutes to unclip - I had to rest my hands for five minutes between each one. 

Now came the task of removing the hooks from the old curtain. Fiddly little things coming off and fiddly little things going on to the new curtain. Another half an hour. More painful throbbing in my hands. Thankfully it didn't last too long, after a short while the cramping diluted to a dull throb and then only hurt if I touched it - like a bruise. 

The pain has gone completely now, but it's got me thinking about how this terrible affliction is affecting my day to day life. Simple tasks, which I'd once do without even thinking, now have to be meticulously planned around the expected pain - allowing for it in terms of time taken to complete and having all I might need to hand so I don't have to go searching for stuff and, of course, in true British worker fashion, having lots of rest breaks and copious quantities of tea!

Today's task was so simple, I hadn't even thought how difficult it would be. For such a simple task to have such an effect on my body concerned me greatly. How much further will this illness take me. My doctor advises that there is no cure and that it will get progressively worse, but the rate of progression is quickening and I'm worried that I won't be able to do anything at all in just a few years. Fibromyalgia might not be a life-limiting illness, but I certainly discovered today that it's an 'ability-limiting' one.

As Coincidences Go - This Has To Be The Strangest..

Way back in 1989, whilst I was working as a quality auditor in a plastics injection moulding factory, I began to develop horrendous pain in my left foot whenever I walked. It only happened when I was at work and wearing the heavy workwear safety shoes I'd been supplied with, but over time it got worse and I visited the doctor as over the counter pain relief hadn't worked.

The doctor didn't have a clue so he referred me to a specialist who diagnosed Morton's Neuroma - a benign growth over a nerve ending between the third and fourth toes. Ultrasound and steroid injections didn't work - so I ended up having an operation to remove the nerve and growth. Some months later the pain returned - this time in my right foot. Another Morton's Neuroma - another operation and all was fine until 2001/2, when I started showing the symptoms of fibromyalgia and was eventually diagnosed in 2003.

This morning I found this article - Is Morton's Neuroma Linked to Fibromyalgia?   

Again - it's more common in women than in men - they blame high heels - though that was definitely not the cause for me! It was the work boots, honest!

Looks like I've been fibromyalgic for a lot longer than I thought!!

I can stand the pain - it's the gut turbulence that affects me most!

Of all the many symptoms of fibromyalgia I find the upset bowels and digestion problems the most debilitating.

I have pain constantly and, over the years, I've learned to live with or manage it in my own way, but the crohn's disease I find the most frustrating and soul destroying symptom of my auto-immune system failings.

The fact that it can turn itself on and off in the blink of an eye - so I go from normal, healthy, quiet gut at 9am to full blown diarrhoea and painful flatulence at 9.45am then back again by 6pm, or not, depending on how long it wants me to suffer.

There's no predicting it. There's no eating or avoiding certain foods (in my experience) There's no rhyme or reason to it. It just starts, last a few hours or a few days, then stops and comes back a few days later or a few weeks later or, if I'm exceptionally unlucky, a few hours later! It can take the form of painful bloating and acid reflux, or painful bloating, acid reflux, nausea, diarrhoea, stomach and arse cramping, excessive wind, ultra-urgent diarrhoea or constipation, or a combination of all of these!

It's the unpredictability of crohn's that upsets me the most. I can predict when and how my pain is going to affect me - because it's there all the time and I "just get on with it." 

But the crohn's is 'quite literally' a pain in the arse in its unpredictability. Of all my conditions it's the one that makes me the most anxious, the one that gets me wound up to the point of raving maniac and the one that controls how my life is lived because at the slightest hint of a flare I batten down the hatches and all other activities stop and, as a result, it's the one that affects my family the most too.