Oh wow,

Hello April

I have decided I am famous

lol just kidding

Does anyone else get really hyper/excited/anxiety when they take Excedrin, I know it is because of the caffeine, but seriously ugh.....

Lets see

I ordered computer parts and built my own computer! Along with my husband and youtube :) I love how so much information is just so easily available and I can do stuff like this, Next thing I am going to continue learning about is Electrical stuff. I started a class, but couldn't quite finish because of my lovely CFS, but I still plan on reading the rest of the book and taking the rest of the quizzes.


I have finalized all my house plans and picked out all of the  stuff for the inside! yay! Our dig date still isn't until June, so probably won't be anything exciting going to on that front until then.

I have been sick with a nasty cold for two weeks, spent most of last week in bed and half of this week in bed. This is why I am so  paranoid about getting sick, I  have a compromised immune system and I am completely wiped out by a simple cold! I thought for a day or two I might have to go to the ER to get pumped with fluids.


I wan to talk for a little bit about why CFS is such a stupid name, Let me name just a few of the things I deal with,

1. Cold night sweats- I wake up drenched and freezing to the point that I am shaking! It is the worst!
2. Insomnia- Yes, it is weird, but Chronic fatigue people usually deal with insomnia, sometimes you   are just passed out and you are basically paralyzed with fatigue and other times your body is just so tired, but your brain is awake and you just lay there not sleeping at all.
3. Feeling Feverish- For a lot of people (including me) I seem to get very low grade fevers, so most people wouldn't even consider it a fever, but it sure feels like it.
4. Brain Fuzziness- It is just really hard to think straight, like sometimes how an antihistamine makes you feel, really head tired....Does that make sense?
5. ACHY MUSCLES- Mostly this occurs in my arms- Sometimes I cant even lift my arms over my head because of the pain, and this also occurs with me just trying to do anything with them, this is not a constant thing (which I am extremely grateful for), but taking Vitamin D3 helps to alleviate some of the pain. I usually take about 1500mg a day
6. The Fatigue- Of course there is also the fatigue. Next time you are sick and you get out of bed to do something and you feel like you are about a thousand pounds and you can't do anything because you feel so exhaust just doing anything, that is how it feels a lot of the time....

I also want to include some advice, and remember it is just advice and not law!

When I was first diagnosed/trying to figure out what was wrong with me, my doctor prescribed me  Ambein, thinking that I was feeling all these things because maybe I was not getting a good night sleep. Honestly I don't remember not being able to sleep back then, but I started on this regiment to see if It would help get me better. Some days I think that it just made me worse in ways. Doctors will tell you that this drug is not addictive, but you can get dependent on it. BUT I don't believe that, because I am telling you it is addictive in my opinion! My body craves it when I don't have it, It leaves you with an almost happy feeling that leaves you wanting more, how is that not addictive? And the worst part is trying to get off it,your body doesn't sleep because it has become dependent on it! So night after night you don't sleep or you don't sleep well until your body has gone through withdrawals. This can take a while (for me, at least a couple weeks). I have been on and off the ambien train for 7 years and I wish I never would have started...but I didn't know it would be like this.........

UGH

Well Here it is in February all ready.

This week has not been fun at all.  When I start on a downward trend like I have for this week I am constantly thinking what I could have to done to avoid getting this episode of "laying in bed feeling like I am going to pass out every time I get up and try and do something", ( yeah, I know I am being dramatic, but I get kind of crazy being coupped up).  Was it going to the gym on Monday and overdoing it? Was it the cupcakes I had to many of? was it a type of food that I usually don't eat? I have no clue and I guess maybe it is not preventable and it its just something my body does, Maybe it is my ebstien barr virus acting up?

 I have had a bad ear ache since yesterday and the the side of my face is in pain.

January

Oh January oh January! How you haunt me sometimes!

The winter months are always so hard on me, and it seems like it always is the worst in January! Last year I had the whole Rib and weird side pain  going on, and that was a nightmare. This January (knock on wood) is going better than last January.  I have doubled my vitamin D intake and that has helped my arm aches (at least I hope that is what is helping) a lot along with the arm compression.

I am so silly, I love planting seeds and watching them grow, I bought myself a little jiffy greenhouse and I am going to start planting some things. I will take a picture and show you, I don't even have a yard to put anything I grow in, but I don't care I will give them away when the time comes :)

So my husband and I have made up our minds finally on getting a house! I am super excited because we are building! YAY! We have found our floor plan, our builder, and the lad it is going to go on, But they can't start building it until about  March. So it will still be a bit before we move in, but hopefully by next Christmas we will be in a house! This is the one thing I am looking forward to this year! I never intended to stay in this apartment as long as we have, but we were so indecisive about what we wanted and where we wanted it. I am sure in the months to come you will be getting picture updates on the building of our house!

I got a membership to a gym! I decided that I should try it out and see how it goes, I am only doing strength training as per doctor's orders, I am not supposed  to do aerobic exercise as it will make me have serious PEM, and I hate when I have that! I have only gone twice so far and bring lysol wipes with me to disinfect all parts of the machine I will be touching before I use it. Since it is right in the middle of the sick season, I would prefer not to get sick to avoid being in bed for weeks at a time. So no judging me if you see me at the gym :). I really only can get up to about 10 minutes and then I am hurting,  but they have the hydro massage beds there....oooh they feel nice and I have done them both times and it has helped a lot with the pain. I hope to try and go at least twice a weak! So wish me luck, and we shall see if this helps me feel any better.

If the time is posted with this, yes you can see that is is really early in the morning.....no I have not fallen asleep yet, my sleep has been all over the place lately, trying new meds for that.... I miss my ambien.....yes, I sound like an ambien addict.....but it has been the only thing that really helps me get on a normal sleeping schedule, but it is just so addictive.....I don't like being on it.....so it is a love hate relationship I guess, but I am not on it right now, and I hope to not go back on it.

Thanks for reading!

Get Prepared for a long post!

Well Hello to my 11 followers,

The following is me ranting about sleep and then about my doctors appointment I had recenlty.

So just FYI, It is long and stuff and you don't need to read it :) Mostly for my documentation. 

I have been terrible at updating recently. Right now I am waiting for this sleeping pill to kick in, Yes it is 1:30 in the morning..... Isnt that the best time to write a blog post, it seems like it. Why can't my brain shut off? I am jealous of people who can just lay down and fall asleep. I usually am fighting a couple hours just to fall asleep. My doctor contributes the insomnia to my CFS. It is pretty common to have insomnia when you have it apparently. Weird I know, sometime I just sleep and sleep and sleep.....Like for days, I mean I get up and eat and maybe try to stay awake for an hour or two, but then I am so drained I go right back to sleep. I hate those days, but they only last usually for a couple of days.  

My sister Skype me and I love it, but she always sees me in bed. I don't like being in bed all the time....But why am I so wide awake at night sometimes. I purposefully drag myself out of bed at around noon, and make myself stay awake the rest of the day. It takes hours just to feel like I can function normally and then my body seems to be awake in the late afternoon and evenings.....and I get a little sleepy so I go and lay down, but I can't fall asleep. I just struggle and struggle. Counting sheep does not help.  I seem to finally fall asleep after hours of trying, once I am asleep I have no problem staying asleep. 

My life is the same as always, nothing really new has happened. It is the season of everyone getting sick, so I must try and keep away from all the people who are sick, because then I am in bed for at least a week. 

I had a doctors appointment on Monday. I really love the doctor I go to because she specializes in CFS. I feel so lucky to have found this doctors office. Anyways, we talked about my sleep. I have a big dependency on Ambien and I have not taken it for a whole week and a half, maybe two weeks. It has been extremely difficult and I  was up most the nights the first week without it, and I was wishing I had some so bad! I think I have made it through the worst part of it. Now at least I am asleep by 2 am. This is the third night I have been on this drug and I am not sure I feel like it is working. I am supposed to take up to so many doses to fall asleep. Well I am on my third dose and I am not going to go any higher then that....Still within what the doctor prescribed, but I hate taking so many pills.  I also was able to get a full lean test done and surprise surprise I have  OI (orthostatic intolerance) or some people refer to it as POTS. It was very interesting to see the results. 

My doctor thinks that my heart is perfectly normal, it just everything else is not really getting the blood back to my heart sufficiently. That is why compression helps. I am currently wearing compression daily on knees down, and half the time on my arms. My arms have been in pain, but the compression arm sleeves really help.

Oh I just remembered something fun I did, On Sunday I was able to go to my sisters house and play games in the evening with her family, it was a really fun evening. We played betrayal at the house on the hill with the expansion that recently came out.  It seemed the haunt that we got wasn't

at well written as it could have been, but we eventually understood what we were supposed to do and had fun playing it.

Ignore all my craft stuff in the background.

So I just felt like this long post needed a picture! So here you go, this is me right now! Oh how lovely my hair is, I straightened it today. Oh that is another thing. A couple of months ago I got a perm. I love the curls, but I hate how it has made my hair unhealthy. I think it would have been better if I hadn't colored my hair a month before. I am giving it a break for now and not getting it dyed for the winter. hopefully to let it grow out and get healthier feeling.

Wow this is a really long post! Kudos to you if  you have read the whole thing!

Thank you all for being you! 

Signing off at 1:57

Krista Lyn

Wow

I slept for like a whole day......I hate when that happens..

Birthday

Today is my birthday! I really can't believe another year has gone by

I just got back from Yellowstone yesterday, it was a fun week. 

I was able to catch a rare geyser this year, called Fan and Mortar. This year it has gone off between every 4-5 days. It was on its fifth day without going and according to the geyser gazers on the radio it was having really good signs of going. So I drove to the Lower Ham store, and walked very slowly, with many stops down to the geyser....It isn't that far of a walk for a non-CFIDS person :) Probably not even a mile, but alas this is my life. I had my nice big umbrella, Plenty of water, my compression socks on and I was off! Although my awesome husband was carrying all of this for me. It was perfect! He is a foot taller then me and so when he holds the umbrella it covers me perfectly (and also him, so it works out for both of us). Most of the other family members were down there, and we got there perfect timing. I will have to post a video of RB explaining why the water levels and stuff looked good when I get it edited. I probably only waited a half hour and BOOM it was going off! It had a bit of a rocky start and kept teasing all the really serious Geyser Gazers :) It was so spectacular! I have a video of the whole eruption, including me almost being run over by a crowd of screaming people because the sudden shift of wind made a lot of water come raining down on them, it was great! 

Other geysers I got to see :

Grand Geyser!

Beehive Geyser!

Old Faithful Geyser (of course)!

Mugwump (very small geyser but it hasn;t been active in years and years)

Lion Geyser ( from a bit of a distance)

Castle Geyser!

 I have to give a big shout out to my sister in law! I would not have seen about half of these geysers if she didn't push my around in a wheel chair on geyser hill! THANK YOU!!!!

It's hard to drive over about 30 minutes for me..... so when my doctors an hour and a half away it causes me major anxiety... because getting there is one thing, and then getting home is another issue....hmmmmmmm...... but it's the only doctor in the state that's specializes in cfids......so yeah..I just need to plan better..