Ajijaak

Oh, God, Ed, I'm so sorry - I know exactly how you feel, both physically and in terms of friends not wanting to deal with it.

I think we all tend to overdo it on the weekends, too - I did. Here, we finally(!) have a potential storm front moving through, and the temp has dropped from 103 to 69. It's gray and - for here - humid - and while I'll be SO glad if we get some rain, my body is screaming at me. I think it was Taurus who used the phrase "torqued up" in a post last night, and that's really what it is.

A couple of suggestions:

First, DON'T answer the damn phone! You don't feel like it, and it's *your* phone, to answer or not as you please. Turn the ringer off, turn down the volume on the answering machine, pop in a video or turn the TV to something indulgent, pop as many pain pills as you're allowed, and try to forget that the outside world exists, just for today. "Normals" don't want to be bothered with dealing with FMS, so why should you be bothered with dealing with them when you're in a flare.

Second, do you have a heating pad with a massage function? Soemtimes that really helps the bottom of your feet. If not, get one of the dog's tennis balls, sit in a comfy upright chair, and put the tennis ball under the ball of your foot. Then roll it around under the foot, pressing as firmly on top of the ball as you can stand. Start with the ball of your foot, then move under the arch, then back to the heel. Five minutes per foot helps keep me from getting shin splints and stress fractures (I'm very prone to both) during my workouts.

Third, even if you do hagve the massage pad, maybe use the tennis ball anyway for the feet and use the pad for body. If you don't have one, I highly recommend getting a multi-setting heat and massage seat cover. It set me back 100 bucks, but when I had to drive 2000 miles out here last December, I don't think I would have made it without the seat cover. Brookstone has them on their Web site; they're designed for cars, but can go in any chair, upright or recliner. Mine has heat and ten massage settings, stretching on a car seat from top of head to knees. And when I'm really in massive all-body pain, or my legs are beyond myh ability to cope with, I lay it down on the bed, leave the heat setting OFF, and use the massage under my body and legs for awhile. Just the sheer vibration helps block some of the pain.

Finally - and I have done this when I was really desperate and had no help! - next time you go to the pet store, invest in a package of puppy training pads. (I think it's about six bucks for a package 56, or some odd amount like that.) That way, when you have a day when you can't take the dog out, you can put them down on the kitchen or bathroom tile. The dog doesn't suffer, nothing gets damaged, and cleanup is just grabbing the edges of the pad, folding it over, tossing it in a trash bag, and throwing it out.

I don't mean to tell you anything you don't already know, or have tried and found doesn't work for you. But I know how hard it is when you can't figure out any way to deal with a flare, and I just try to give people as many things as possible that I've found over the years that might work. And keep venting to us - at least you know we get it!


Ajijaak