11th Day - Human Barometer

Today has been a bad day for me. I have been struggling with my health due to the constant changes in weather. We'll have a sunny day in the 60's and the next minute it's rain w/sleet and 18 degrees with wind. It is wreaking havoc on my system because I can feel every slight change in barometric pressure before, during and after. Need to know if it's going to rain? Just ask me -- I am a human barometer. There are millions of us -- we walk among you in constant pain. We are the few, the proud, the brave... no wait, that's something else.

Most of you probably don't know that I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia almost 9 years ago. After several years of thinking I was losing my mind I was able to get a diagnosis & medical help. Though there is no cure, the treatment is to manage the symptoms. That sounds easier than it actually is. The easiest way to describe the pain is to imagine that you have the aches and pains that come with the flu, then imagine having it everyday -- all day. It's in the tissue, not the bones like arthritis. With fibromyalgia comes the lack of deep sleep and most often you wake up from a nights sleep feeling just as tired as when you went to bed. It's quite lovely.

Most of the medical community embraces fibromyalgia as a true medical condition, unfortunately not all people do - even some doctors. Despite this there are actual criteria to determine a diagnosis. I try not to complain because I can still see, hear, walk and talk. But truth be told, it is tiring and it makes its presence known in most everything I do. Sometimes I snub my nose at it -- and then I pay for it with a day in bed.

M has been praying for a white Christmas, but my barometer reading says it's not going to happen. Now, if I could just get paid for my accurate weather forecasting.