Time Flies

I wish there was time to shake the dust off this old blog, but my 2-year old keeps me busy these days.  Hopefully soon...

Pain Management

It's been nearly 2 years since my last post, but I've been busy. My mother has been told that her kidney functions have 'significantly' reduced due to years of taking analgesics for pain management.

Not wishing to repeat this myself, I have been resisting the urge to use any pain medicine. I have found that there has been very little change in the amount of pain I experience. Also, increasing my physical activity, such as walking, has been a great help in reducing pain and increasing energy.

At first, finding the will to get up and move was difficult, but over time it becomes easier to stay motivated. Speaking for myself, I find that 99% of what keeps me from keeping active is psychological. It is far easier to sit on the couch and tell myself it will hurt if I try to exercise.

The truth, of course, is that staying active feels great. I still have bad days where I can barely move, but overall, those days are less frequent than ever.

The whole point of my rambling is that hopefully someone who might have the same issues can feel motivated to try other pain treatments than simply taking pills. Also, if I get down about my situation, maybe I'll look back at this and find some inspiration.

FM & Malic Acid

From Aventura News, May 9 - 15, 2001:

"Treating fibromyalgia is very difficult and takes dedication and persistence from the physician and patient alike. They need to trust that while the first treatments may not work, if one does stay the whole course and utilize all forms of therapy some relief of symptoms may occur.

The first form of treatment is to correct the sleep pattern. For this tranquilizers and antidepressants may be necessary to induce a form of REM sleep. REM sleep is the level of sleep where dreams of a positive nature occur.

Next, in forty percent of patients the addition of the nutrient know as Malic Acid helps reduce the muscle pain significantly. In theory, this is because Malic Acid is important for the production of energy in the body and oxygenation of the muscles. Malic acid also helps improve the energy of many fibromyalgia sufferers."

Personal Note: I have purchesed a bottle of Malic Acid from a Health Food Store in Canada. It is not available at drug stores in Canada at this time. It does seem to help with my overall pain, but it took about 2 weeks to notice any improvement.

The Malic Acid I bought is "Mag Citrate" from SISU, inc. www.sisu.com

Details:

100 capsules with
- 250 mg of Malic Acid and
- 100 mg of Magnesium (from citrate)
Price: $10.95 CAD (on sale - reg price is $14.99)

New treatments for chronic pain?

According to this Yahoo News article, researchers have discovered that our ideas about what cause chronic pain have been wrong. New pain medicines will hopefully follow.

wow

That was a long space between entries. Things have been kinda weird for awhile, but now getting better.

Hey, Thanks!

Thanks for the encouraging word, It's Pronounced boo-LAY!
Also, it's good to see someone else appreciates Ty & King's X too.

Whatever

Ever feel like you're not making a difference? Maybe I'll change this blog to a p(o)rn site...