This is something I have not really blogged about. Most because it has been a somewhat dormant issue the last few years. When I was in high school, I was diagnosed with Fybromyalgia. At that time, I was treated with a heavy dose of drugs, which resulted in two things. One I spent some time completely high in school, and two, the lining in my stomach was damaged and I couldn't even handle taking Tylenol and was in considerable pain for a few days.
Since that experience I have for the most part sworn off drugs. The pain meds I was on stopped working after a few doses ( this seems to be a normal trend for me with pain medication) and they did more damage than good. I decided to just deal with the pain and push through it. There were days that I did not get out of bed. There have been many tears out of frustration from feeling anywhere between achy to upright pain on a regular basis. But I learned my limits, and for the most part was able to manage the pain.
Fast forward to 3 years ago when I got pregnant. Some times, those with fybromyalgia gain relief from their symptoms while pregnant. I was one of those people, and since I just had 3 children next to back to back, I have been for the most part, symptom free. It has been wonderful.
I was completely unprepared for the flare up that happened and is still happening about a week after Olivia was born. Everything hurts and I am extremely tired. Granted I know these two things come hand in hand with having a baby, but this is different, this is fybro pain. I am stiff and I feel like an old woman.
Another symptom of fybromyalgia is something called brain fog. This is something I have been experiencing a lot lately. It makes it hard to even put a sentence together. So focusing on work as been an interesting task. Actually, it has been down right frustrating as everything has been taking me twice as long.
It has also made breastfeeding a huge challenge. If I am having a really bad day, then breastfeeding hurts. It hurts when she latches and sucks. It hurts to be sitting or laying in one position too long.
I also have to really manage stress, as stress makes it much worse. Stress also hugely affects the quality of my milk, so it is important that I keep stress down for Olivia.
And all I can do is laugh at this.. As I am writing this, Olivia is nursing, one toddler is freaking out beside me because he can't get my now trashed sunglasses on, and the other one is freaking out at her dad for getting her dressed. Low stress environment? I think not.
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