A Flare For Me

 

Welcome to Chronic Illness Chat. I'm Julie Hamilton.

I wanted to talk about a flare. I'm just coming off of one and one of my triggers for flares is weather patterns. Where I live, we've had a weather pattern of rain and storms and things. Weather patterns trigger things in my body.

With my fibromyalgia, I have brain fog, brain inflammation, fatigue and body aches. So usually during that time, I just feel really horrible. Sometimes I'll feel really nauseated so all I can do to get rid of it is just sleep through it and wait for that pattern to leave. I'm not really hungry during that time. I want a cool, quiet, dark room. And I don't really feel like socializing or talking to anyone. So during those times, I just kind of like to be left alone to sleep it off.

But the other thing that I know during flares are three things that I cannot do. One is I cannot shop on the internet because during one of my flares, I ordered something directly from China. I did not remember it until it was delivered, and I still had no recollection of it. I can't drive because I'm just not really with it. I can't remember where I'm going, and it's just not safe for me or for others when I'm out on the road. Sometimes I will tell stories that aren't real. One time I told my husband, I went down and got a tattoo that day on my elbow. I described it as a black heart with a corkscrew and a rose through it. And I was so concerned he'd be so mad at me and everyone would hate me for it. And the next day he was telling me this and I'm like, oh my God, that so did not happen. But he's so good with it. He just kind of rolls with the punches. And so he's just learned to deal with that kind of stuff. The other thing that I know when I'm not feeling good and in a flare is I will say the wrong words for things. I might call the refrigerator, the dishwasher or the wash machine. Call the car the freezer. And so sometimes if I'm talking to somebody, they have to interpret what I'm saying and sort of read my mind.

During this time, my husband has really adjusted and learned to roll with the punches. He knows what my needs will be and just kind of takes care of me during that time.

I wanted to share what the flare is like for me and how I isolate myself. I don't want to be around people. I just sleep a lot. That happened this weekend when we were having company. I just felt like so bad because I didn't want to be around them at all. And I felt like they probably thought I was upset they were there. I just wasn't really feeling well as we were having a lot of rain.

I wanted to share what it's like to go through a flare.

 

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