Apparently I spoke too soon when I said I should be able to resume regular blogging. I am in so much pain (low back) that I can’t really handle sitting in a desk chair and my tendonitis is back, so I shouldn’t be typing anyway — I haven’t knit in 2 1/2 weeks (oh, and my sinus infection came back, after a two week reprieve). There are reasons for this, mostly which involve ATA going bankrupt after I checked in for our flight and stayed up half the night packing our SCUBA gear to go to Hawaii 3 weeks ago — a vacation we really needed, make that *I* really needed, after the shittiest year EVER, health-wise. Our luggage went to Hawaii, because we tried to fly standby and didn’t get on the plane. This included our split ergonomic keyboard, so I typed on a regular keyboard at home for 2 days. No big deal, right? Big deal. After dealing with 2 1/2 hours on the phone to every airline that flies to Hawaii from the Bay Area trying to get another flight followed by a long day at the airport followed by our luggage in Honolulu and us at home, we decided we needed to get out of town anyway, so we drove up to my parents’ place, 1,000 miles north. Hence the horrible low back pain from sitting in the car, because I have fibromyagia and don’t function like normal people do. I actually flew home and R drove home by himself (well, not really, with the 3 dogs), because it took me 5 days to recover once we got there to a point where I could stop taking narcotics daily. Now that I’m back at work, the pain has returned full force and then some. I went to my pain clinic doctor this morning and got trigger point steroid injections in my trapezius muscles as planned and also in my low back muscles, but I’m in MORE pain now. And that’s after 4 different kinds of pain meds. The steroids are supposed to kick in 24-48 hours from now. Cross your fingers.

[Added later] There’s some snow mixed in with the rain too, and I don’t mean the literal snow that fell the last 2 days I was at my parents’ (as opposed to the 80 degree balmy weather in Hawaii).  R is forcing me to abide by this “fibromyalgia diet” that has me excluding the following completely from my diet:

• alcohol
• caffeine
• chocolate
• fried foods
• sugar (anything with sugar/corn syrup/sucrose/etc. added is not allowed, natural sugar like honey and fruit is ok)
• wheat
• green bell peppers
• carbonated beverages
• preservatives
• junk food

So, basically, all of my comfort foods are off-limits.  I’m also supposed to avoid high-fat dairy, but I’m still eating a little bit of cheese, staying away from ice cream (it all has sugar anyway), & other forms of cream.  And I’m supposed to avoid salt, but I have low blood pressure, so I don’t see how that can matter too much.  Without salt I can’t eat popcorn, which is really the only comfort food I have left on the list…  R wants me to be on this diet indefinitely, but he said I might be able to add wheat back in slowly a month or two from now if I don’t feel any better.  I’ve been on this diet now for about 4 weeks.  It’s supposed to make me less tired, give me more energy, and maybe help me to be in less pain.  So far, it’s only making me grumpier…

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