By: Diane Bierbrauer,
I’m one of the luckier ones that have flares mainly in fall and springtime with a few in between. But when I flare, I really flare. Living in Wisconsin there are extreme weather changes from 90 to 40 degrees in one day. Storms move in slowly and stick around. Fall and Spring bring about the most extreme changes and that is when I’m the worse. I have learned to try and not get to stressed out as it will also cause a flare. Some say sugar causes flares, but I have never been able to prove that for me.
I was taking a muscle relaxer Melaxicam that worked wonders, but it gave me a bad case of intestinal inflammation and had to quit taking it. I do mostly over the counter grape seed, MSM, Turmeric, and CBD Oil. The only thing to do for a flare is sleep it off and put up with the pressure point pain for a week or two. My family still has issues with it, not understanding what is wrong with my body. My husband knows when its bad just let me sleep, thank goodness I’m retired. But when I was working, I had a boss that knew if I fell asleep at my desk for 20 minuets it was a bad day for me.
There were times I had to take a break in my car so I could sleep, setting an alarm on my phone to wake me up. That was tough to do in extreme heat or cold, but I survived. I got a puppy now that makes me walk and move and he has helped me de-stress. Just wish they could come up with a cure for this awful disease to help people. Sleeping is tough, walking is tough, stairs is tough, standing in line is tough, exercising is tough, keeping sane is even tougher.
Diane Bierbrauer
