Jen's Health Journeys

  First, I just want to apologize for my long absence. My health was not great, and my job was busy and demanding. I started walking with a walker, and the hotel where I work became incredibly understaffed. I was so busy and tired that I wasn't able to post. I have been fighting to be able to use my accommodations under the ADA at work, such as sitting down to work and taking regular breaks. Even now, they don't want me to sit on my walker, it's the rollator type with a seat and wheels, and I have a doctor's note stating I can use it as needed at work as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. I have had to open another EEOC claim against them; this is the second one I have had to do. I returned to physical therapy, as the first time it helped me a lot and I was able to walk much better and get off of my crutches. They want one of my goals to be to stop needing my walker so much, but that's not a goal I said I wanted with my PT. The nature of my conditions is such...

  I am suffering from my chronic illnesses a lot right now. Work continues to be a huge stressor, taking a huge toll on my health. It is so busy at work now I don't even get a chance to take breaks most of the time. I leave work in horrible pain and it hangs around for the entire time I am not scheduled to work. Then I am still hurting some when it is time to return to work. The pain hardly ever stops anymore just lingers around in varying levels of severity. That's pretty much the definition of fibromyalgia pain, I guess. My job is terrible for my fibromyalgia with their assistance on standing your entire shift and not sitting down or taking a break so that customers never have to wait and the hotel never has to look bad or something. They really believe my having a chair at the front desk makes them look bad, when really what looks bad is me walking like an extra from The Walking Dead, leaning over the desk, near tears from my pain, and doing my job very slowly because I am h...

My life has not gotten easier since my last blog, on July 24, 2023, I fell at work at the hotel, while trying to pick up my crutch from the floor, my chair tipped over and I somehow landed on the floor with one crutch in front of me, one under me and my chair on top of me. I am having even more pain and struggles now. My fibromyalgia has flared up badly since I fell and the plantar fasciitis doesn't seem to have improved at all. I have missed 3 more days of work at the hotel and at least 2 more days at the condos, not including the Thursdays they just randomly deleted from my schedule and gave to someone else. I am struggling so much with money right now because of this I am so stressed out. I am trying to figure out assistance I can get and it is SO hard, it really feels like nobody wants to help me. I was making too much for SSI lately so I have to wait till I make less to get that, something's wrong with my information for Social Security, I am trying to get my food stamps a...

  I am trying to deal with a lot of side effects from my pain meds for fibromyalgia and it's quite a struggle right now. The Celebrex causes quite a bit of constipation, it's pretty uncomfortable and even painful at this point. When I go to the rheumatologist I need to bring this up with them. I can fix it because I can take stool softeners and/or laxatives if needed. I can also have a big cup of coffee, like 16oz or more and that also helps loosen it up. I think it is also affecting my appetite because not being able to go makes me feel full. The Lamictal can also cause appetite issues and it affects my sleep so I struggle taking it, I can't figure out if I should take it in the morning or at night. I'm beginning to think that taking it at bedtime when I also take my muscle relaxer is the best idea. Another issue is that my Advair Diskus causes chest pain/tightness, coughing, wheezing, and basically aggravated asthma symptoms although not always to an asthma attack lev...

  This week I want to talk about chronic illnesses and the effects anxiety-filled, stressful, and even traumatic experiences, and hormonal changes have on them. My experience with them was a couple of weeks ago, I had a bad, stressful, and even traumatic time with my boyfriend and some bad habits he has had and friends he indulged in them with making him be mia from me that week. He wasn't coming home, answering calls or texts, or calling/texting me, worrying me sick. I was so anxious, panic-stricken, scared, worried, hurt, frustrated, and angry that I could barely function. I wasn't taking very good care of myself at all, barely eating, not sleeping, missing my medications and it caused all of my chronic illnesses to flare up badly. I was in so much pain from my asthma, migraines, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and fibromyalgia that it was just miserable. I was nauseated from the migraines and IBS that just getting through each day was a struggle. I had an appointment with my pulmo...

 I have been having issues with my body lately. I found my very first grey hair, then I had my 47th birthday a few days ago and I was very edgy and my typical "monthly" issues were not so typical. I started early, it looked different than it has before, I've been hot and tired and anxious more than I have in a while and I just didn't feel like myself. My fibromyalgia pain has been through the roof the past 2 weeks, typical of my premenstrual dysphoric disorder symptoms, however, it's more than it has been in the past. I am beginning to think I may have hit perimenopause and this is the end of the reproductive cycle stuff. I also had a false ending with my cycle and I haven't done that in years since a high-stress point in my life when I was also on birth control that WAS NOT doing its job. I am really sad if this is perimenopause because I still want kids. It feels like running out of time. I AM running out of time. I am just having such a hard time with ...