Fibro Update

Last summer I took fish oil and it had an instant, positive effect on my fibromyalgia, with only one pill a day.

So I've been taking it ever since.

Some time last week I began to wonder if it was a fluke and I just hit a positive upswing (since Fibro cycles like that), and concluded the fish oil probably wasn't doing anything. So I stopped taking it.

And within 3 days I was struggling through a mental fog most of the day, had little motivation to do anything, and found myself pretty much confined to my rocking chair, unwilling to DO anything but sit. Sleep problems got much worse. I got snappish at the kids. I craved sugar like CRAZY. Headaches--ooooh man! And I don't usually get the fibro headaches, so that was a new one for me. And I was pretty sure I'd developed an ulcer (abdominal pain is part of fibro, but a part I hadn't had for a LONG time). Actually, I don't usually have long-lasting fibro fog either, so that was frustrating.

Anyway, last night, it occurred to me (finally) what had happened (that maybe I was wrong about the fish oil not doing anything), so I took two pills before bed.

And today I got up and immediately started working on a project I've been trying to get to that is rather intellect-intensive (outlining a complete biology course in which I can index biology sites I find for Learning Lynx). I was relatively cheerful all day, even when it took an hour to get out the door to go grocery shopping. I felt calm, clear-headed, capable. I wanted real food to eat (and when I did eat sugar, I noticed that IT causes the grouchy snappishness, so that has to leave my diet immediately!). No headaches all day. Abdominal pains gone.

It's not a cure: I still can't hold my arms up and gave up half-way through washing the table before dinner. Still couldn't hold a toddler and cook without giving up. But I got up and DID stuff. 2 loads of dishes, grocery shopping, interacting with the kids, etc.

But if fish oil makes the difference between functional and disabled, bring on the fish oil! I'll take it!