Time for a Time Out to Tame the Black Dog

It's fair to say that, over the past few weeks, I've become disinterested in being ill, or at least I've become disinterested in writing about my illness.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy writing and maintaining this blog, it's just that I've reached the point in my illness where I want to focus less on it and more on myself. Is this a common feeling among the chronically ill? Is it just a phase I have to get through in order to reach the next level?

I don't know.

I feel like I've written all I can about being ill - regardless of the never ending array of new and strange symptoms - I can only write so much about sleep deprivation, back pain, restless legs, brain fog, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome. Nothing is new. Nothing inspires me to write.

This could, of course, be a symptom of that other invisible illness which is hounding me at the moment -  that big black dog depression (for which I have now been prescribed Prozac, as I couldn't tolerate Duloxetine, and some counselling - we'll see where that takes me!)

In short, what I think I'm saying is: "I need a break from focusing on how ill I am!"

In short, I'm saying au revoir for a while. It could be a short while or a long while - it depends on when and where I find inspiration (so I may be back next week!!)

I have a post scheduled for Monday morning - a sponsored post about a product I think you'll find worthwhile - and then I'm going to focus on taming that black dog!

Telling Tales - A Cry For Help!

I've been writing about my fibromyalgia journey for a few years now and I'm pretty sure that most of my readers are fully up to speed with how my fibro affects me on a day to day basis. I write about it to help in my personal crusade to raise awareness of the fact that men get fibro too - I'm also pretty sure that that fact is now well known in the chronic illness community and it is getting out to the wider community too - even some doctors believe it!!

At the moment I am in the middle of a major flare - which is why you haven't seen me posting very much in recent days on social media etc. I'm sorry about that as I do like to promote FibroMen as often as I can. The truth is I am depressed and my depression is making me extremely tired, so when I'm not at work I have to rest. I'm sure you understand and can empathise with that.

So, I'm throwing open the doors to allow others to 'fill-in' for me whilst I'm resting.

I operate another site called "My-Fibro-My-Algia" - and, as you can imagine from the title, it's about fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions - not just in men, but in everyone! The aim of the site is to get people talking about their condition - sharing their journey of hope over adversity with chronic pain conditions. The ultimate goal of the site is raising awareness but it is hoped that visitors will learn more about their own conditions through positive stories by real sufferers. They don't all have to be positive of course - your story might be one similar to mine, where you're currently in a bad place. We don't want to pull any punches. Living with a chronic pain condition is difficult at best and downright unbearable when things get really bad. We want our readers to understand this - especially the newly diagnosed who might be struggling to come to terms with their diagnosis - there are going to be good days and bad days, as with everything in life, but our message will be "You are not alone."

The site is in need of some content - and that is where you come in. Please take the pressure off me for a while and help me by writing a short piece about your "Journey So Far" with your condition. You can write about getting a diagnosis, what your life was like before and after diagnosis, treatments that failed, treatments that worked, alternative therapies, exercising, voodoo, devil worship, witches covens, witch doctors - literally anything that you have been through on your journey with your chronic pain condition.

By sharing your story you'll be doing three things:

• HELPING TO RAISE AWARENESS

• INSPIRING HOPE IN THOSE NEWLY DIAGNOSED OR STRUGGLING TO COME TO TERMS WITH A DIAGNOSIS

• HELPING ME TO GET OVER THIS FLARE AND DEPRESSION BY RESTING 

(I can manage the cutting and pasting to share your stories though!!)

So, if you're interested, and have the time, I'd appreciate any help I can get to get more content on the site.

You can share your story HERE.

Thank you. I'm off back to bed - when I wake I hope to have an inbox full of your stories!!

(Shared with Chronic Friday Linkup and Chronic Illness Bloggers )

Taking the Rough with The Rough.

I had a colleague come up to me at work the other day and say "You look rough!"

I was shocked. Struck dumb by the fact that someone had noticed I looked ill. Usually people tell me how well I look! I had no response to give her except my stock response of "Oh, I'm not so bad!" Nothing could be further from the truth. On top of my daily struggle with persistent lower back and hip pain, IBS and toe pain (yes, toe pain - new one on me!!) I seem to have contracted the dreaded influenza that has been doing the rounds for the past few weeks. Everyone at work has had it, my wife actually collapsed whilst serving a customer last week because of it, my daughter got it late last week and now it's found me.

When I get struck by flu (or even just a mild cold) it magnifies all of my other symptoms. My famously disreputable bowels become even more disreputable, my chronic pain - which is welded at six or seven, somehow unwelds itself and hikes it's way up to an eight or nine, add to that a sprinking of nasal congestion tasting like one of my bowel movements, shivers, being boiling hot and then freezing cold, sweating, headache, blocked nose, runny nose, sore throat and a raucous chesty cough and you have the perfect recipe for feeling really, really ill!!.

Being acutely ill whilst at the same time battling being chronically ill is what really makes a rough life rougher - but it has its benefits. Most notable of which is actually looking ill.

Resolute for 2016.

On this, the penultimate day of the year, I took a good look at the posts in this blog and one word kept resonating in my head:

Misery.

And another:

Doom.

And another:

Depression.

FibroBlog is depressingly miserable and doom-laden.

So, in keeping with the tradition upheld at this time of year, I resolve to cheer up FibroBlog and make it the blog it was supposed to be - stories of success against adversity, news of research into treatments, medical breakthroughs and positivity!

It was quite obvious that the writer (me) was suffering from some sort of negativity implant.

You can get an update on how I'm feeling over at my personal blog My Fibro Blog, but from January FibroBlog will be about positivity and hope.

And to kick things off in a positive way here's a lovely picture of 2015 being crushed to death by 2016.  Happy New Year to all followers and visitors.

Gary

Do You Want to be in a Book About Fibromyalgia?

We've been approached by author Cris Williams to help her source respondents for a new book she is currently writing which will seek to raise awareness of chronic pain conditions - fibro, IBS and so on - and get the message out there about how it affects each and every one of us.

The writer is looking for responses from anyone touched by Fibromyalgia - male and female patients, carers, partners, children and even doctors - to enable her to write from all perspectives.

If you're interested, or know of someone who might be willing to complete a short(ish) questionnaire, please email voices4chronicpain@gmail.com in the first instance.

For my part I have already received the questionnaire and it looks relatively straightforward from a patient's perspective - how it affects my day to day activities, how I feel about the illness etc etc.

I have also roped in my long suffering wife and her questionnaire from a partner's perspective is equally straightforward!

The questionnaires can be completed in your own time and total anonymity is guaranteed if you wish it. (Never one to shy away from these things I'm having my name in huge letters across anything used in the published tome!! - after all we must all play our part in raising awareness of this hideous condition!!)

So, please, step up, email the writer and get your, your partners, carers, childrens voices heard.

Email voices4chronicpain@gmail.com