Maintaining my schedule

I stupidly messed up my sleeping schedule last night. When someone survives severe trauma in their childhood they run the risk of a lifetime of different types of illness. I unfortunately have one that will be with me the rest of my life. It is called fibromyalgia. I have been diagnosed with this since 1999. I had the symptoms of fibromyalgia since 1988. There are many claims as to what fibromyalgia is. In order to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia you have to have 11 of 18 pressure points. You also have to had the chronic pain that comes with fibromyalgia for 3 months.The Doctor in North Carolina who diagnosed me told me that there is a high correlation between trauma and this syndrome. Some of the theories about what causes fibromyalgia is are; a sleep disorder, having too much substance P in your spinal fluid, a neurological problem where sufferers experience pain differently then the general population and caused by trauma. This trauma can be a car accident, rape, child abuse, domestic violence, or any other trauma the body sufferers. For me fibromyalgia causes great fatigue.



 I remember asking the doctor what the correlation between child abuse and fibromyalgia is and he said, "94 percent." I lost it in his office. I called Ruth every name under the sun. I told the doctor how unfair it was that because of something I had no control over I have to deal with chronic pain the rest of my life. He told me that, "You don't have any control over what caused it but, you have control over how you respond to it." He spent almost an hour with me talking about what my options were. He set specific guidelines as to what I could do as far as exercise, etc. I told him about not sleeping in my childhood until Ruth went to sleep. He explained to me that, that was probably a trigger for me. He put me on Elavil to help me sleep. He explained that I wasn't getting into REM sleep so my body wasn't getting the rest it needed. He went on to explain that since my body wasn't resting properly that my pain level increased. He explained that it would take four months for every year I had undiagnosed fibromyalgia for me to catch up on my sleep once I start taking the Elavil.

This takes me to the opening comment. I have myself on a schedule of taking my Elavil by 7 pm each evening. This helps me get to sleep by 11 pm and gives me a full 8 hours of sleep. Last night I didn't take my Elavil until 11 pm. I didn't fall asleep until after 2 am and I have spent today very fatigued. I didn't get  to the gym today because of the fatigue. I need to make sure to keep on my schedule so I can keep up the lifestyle changes I have made in my life. Blessings, Rosie