Oh, how it wreaks havoc upon my body. The humidity, the heat, it makes me wish I could scrape off my skin or dig out the pain in my joints.
Let me throw this out there, before I get started and spiral into full-on rant mode. The spouse- aka the Disabled Guy- has said in the past that he thinks I'm exaggerating my pain. I am not. I'm just more vocal about my pain now that we know it has a name. I've been paying more attention to the pain, the weather, the connection between the two. I've also been more outspoken about what it does to me and how it feels. There's no reason other than to try and garner a little bit of sympathy from those around me. But it isn't working.
A lot of people are lucky, they have an amazing support network of actual living humans who are or are not related to them. They care about them, are concerned for them. I do not. My parents don't live with me, so they don't see me on those days when I'm my worst. They know about them, but they rarely see it happen. Plus my mother has her own very real and visible health problems to deal with and quite honestly, I don't need to burden her with mine.
My main source of support comes from online friends- most of whom I've never met in person- who are either suffering the same fate as I am, or they have pain issues of their own that are different. I also have some who have no major health issues, but they care about me- again, some I have met, some I have not. And while its nice to know that they're there, I don't want to spend my time whinging on to them about how much I hurt or itch or whatever this stupid thing throws at me on any given day.
And that's where the weather comes into play.
You know the incredibly annoying saying- its said no matter where you live- "If ya don't like the weather here in [insert place], just wait ten minutes! HAR HAR HAR!!"
Yes. Hilarious.
I only say that sentence out loud with heavy sarcasm or incredible irony.
Last week, we were having typical Autumn in Wisconsin weather (I live in Southern Wisconsin, for those not in the know). Nights were in the 20s or 30s (Fahrenheit, my metric friends) and the days were in the 40s. Sometimes the wind chill brought down the daytime temps, but hey, it was at least dry. And I could feel it over the last few days. I could feel the weather changing. I knew it was coming.
Along with the all-over flu-like feeling, I had the itchy skin and various points on my body hurt like arthritis. I have thought for years that it was arthritis, but it might not be- it may just be what is referred to as a "fibro hot spot". Last night, I took my Vicodin at my usual time, followed by my muscle relaxer an hour and a half later. It wasn't till about an hour after I took the muscle relaxer that I started to feel any kind of relief. Which to me equals less likely arthritis pain, more likely fibro hot spot.
Today's high- 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity is at 98%. I start feeling the humidity in my skin around 50%. So you can imagine how I feel right now. And if you can't, here's an analogy.
I want to scrape off my skin with a potato peeler and rub sandpaper on my muscles underneath. I'm running low on Vicodin- thanks to the VA hospital's refill policies- so I'm trying not to take any in the daytime till the refill arrives. I may cave in though, because the potato-peeler option is a little messy and I'm not sure the disabled guy would give me sandpaper. And the pain that is radiating from my right hand and my feet- well, I would like to take an ice pick to those joints and give them a thorough rub down with sandpaper too. Again, it sounds messy.
The weather is supposed to change tomorrow and be back down in the 30s. I can only hope so.
On a side note, a friend of mine (one of the online ones I've never met in person, but we've spoken on the phone) started a message board for support. We're not medical people and we offer no medical advice, but its a place to go and vent and rage and cry. And get support from people. She calls it Strength With Pain and she's made me an admin. I'm "Pahz" over there and she's "kcmc". If you're in pain, you have friends there. If you're not in pain, then you can come be a friend.
