Please don't JUDGE!

Please don't judge!
Every single day I get up and try my best.
Some days are better and some days are worse.
Some days I can do a little and some days I can't do much at all.
Some days I can put a smile on my face and some days I can't.
Some days I can get dressed and some days I stay in my pajamas.
Some days it takes all my courage to push onward.
Some days it takes all my energy to accomplish anything.
Some days it takes all my strength to battle my own body.
Some days I just want support.
Some days I just want encouragement.
Some days I just want understanding.
Today I don't want to be judged!
~Cindy Bremer

Difficulty Swallowing (Dysphagia)

 What is difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)?

Difficulty swallowing is also called dysphagia. It is usually a sign of a problem with your throat or esophagus —the muscular tube that moves food and liquids from the back of your mouth to your stomach. Although dysphagia can happen to anyone, it is most common in older adults, babies, and people who have problems of the brain or nervous system.
There are many different problems that can prevent the throat or esophagus from working properly. Some of these are minor, and others are more serious.

If you have a hard time swallowing once or twice, you probably do not have a medical problem. But if you have trouble swallowing on a regular basis, you may have a more serious problem that needs treatment. 

What causes dysphagia?

Normally, the muscles in your throat and esophagus squeeze, or contract, to move food and liquids from your mouth to your stomach without problems. Sometimes, though, food and liquids have trouble getting to your stomach. There are two types of problems that can make it hard for food and liquids to travel down your esophagus:

  1 The muscles and nerves that help move food through the throat and esophagus are not working right.

  2 Something is blocking your throat or esophagus.

 **Click here to see source of photo**

• 
• What are the symptoms?
  
  
• Dysphagia can come and go, be mild or severe, or get worse over time. If you have dysphagia, you may:
• Have problems getting food or liquids to go down on the first try.
• Gag, choke, or cough when you swallow.
• Have food or liquids come back up through your throat, mouth, or nose after you swallow.
• Feel like foods or liquids are stuck in some part of your throat or chest.
• Have pain when you swallow.
• Have pain or pressure in your chest or have heartburn.
• Lose weight because you are not getting enough food or liquid. 
• **Click here to read full article**

I Miss SLEEP!

Gosh, I Miss - Want - Need - SLEEP!

One thing that is very hard for me to adjust to is the lack of sleep I get. I find it ironic when I was younger I took sleep for granted and now I yearn for it. It is no wonder we are all so fatigued.
Lack of sleep and pain do not mix well.
Bring on the Sleep!
Blessings, Cindy 

The Four Agreements...

I can't sleep due to Insomnia and Pain and I am actually glad about it for once. I was scrolling through Facebook and found this post by....
Healthy Appetites Natural Foods on Facebook. :)

Click here to go to Healthy Appetities Natural Foods

I love these!

First Agreement

Second Agreement

Third Agreement

 Fourth Agreement

Great job!
<3 Cindy (FibroColors)

I support Awareness!

Moment of Gratitude!

I wanted to take a moment and share my overwhelming Gratitude for being Nominated for 9 Health Activist Awards and being a Finalist for 2.

 

1532 Endorsements
Thank you EVERYBODY!

I am beyond grateful for any kind of recognition

we get to get awareness out there so others know they are not alone. I took some time today and thought about how far FibroColors has come. It is sometimes incomprehensible that one thought could lead to such a great thing. Because of that one thought I am able to get awareness out there with the help of every single person on the page.
I wanted to capture this in this Blog so I can remember what a great moment this is.

On Feb 10th 2014
This was posted on FibroColors
WE DID IT!
We are getting Fibromyalgia Awareness out there!
FibroColors is a finalist in two categories from WEGO Health
Best in Show Facebook
Best in Show Pinterest
Proud moment



On Feb 15th 2014

This was posted on FibroColors

Press the audio button on the Butterfly
THANK YOU from the deepest part of my heart!
FibroColors was chosen as a Finalist for two Wego Health Activist Awards- Best in Show on Facebook and Best in Show on Pinterest. We were asked by WEGO Health for each of us to submit a video or voice recording talking about our Activism. Here is my audio voice recording. Please click on Butterfly to hear this recording. I want all of you to know that being nominated is an honor and any recognition we get for this is fantastic. After all the goal of this page was to get awareness out there and to help others know they are not alone.
Remember... Alone we are small, Together we are Mighty!

* Click to listen to Wego Health Finalist Audio *

On March 2nd 2014
This was posted on FibroColors

I want to say a big THANK YOU to WEGO Health for the gift package I received. I really appreciate that FibroColors was chosen as a finalist for two of your Health Activist Awards.
Best in Show Facebook
Best in Show Pinterest
I love the T-shirt and gifts you gave to me!
I want to give a big shout out to all the finalists and tell them how proud I am of each and every one of them. I think it is amazing how much awareness is getting out there for all health issues. Because each of you made a decision to be an advocate for your cause, awareness is getting out there.
I see this as a Win-Win situation. NO matter who wins, awareness is getting out there for everybody to see.
Blessings, <3 Cindy

 

Funny thing about this picture is I am missing the HUGE button that came in the gift box. I was so busy setting the picture up I forgot the button. :)
Fibro Fog strikes again! :(
Here is pic of button!






 I love my Button and so does OM NOM

This is a Win Win no matter who wins. Awareness is getting out there for every kind of Health issue!
This is a Great Moment and I am HaPpY to be a part of it. Congratulations to everybody who was nominated. Blessings, <3 Cindy

The Fibromyalgia Spectrum

I wanted to share a post made from Haullie Volker creator of Facebook page....Voices of Fibromyalgia.

Thank you Haullie Voices of Fibromyalgia for writing such an amazing, well articulated story based on my beliefs of color and what they represent to me with Fibromyalgia and Fibro Colors.
You truly gave me an heart felt gift and I appreciate every single word of what you wrote.
Bless you! <3 <3 <3





Haullie writes....
I was on the phone yesterday with my friend Cindy, the owner of the page FIBRO COLORS which is one of my favorite pages. You can visit it here at: http://www.facebook.com/fibrocolors - She reminded me so much of myself and we had so many things in common. We talked for 4 and a half hours, it was great. I asked her if I could share this story on my page because I feel it's very important and encouraged her to also write about it because the wisdom I took away from it I will carry with me for a lifetime and she said she was thinking about it but that I could share and make a pic about it because I was so inspired. This is amazing!

**Click here to go to "Voices of Fibromyalgia"** 


THE STORY: So I asked her out of curiosity, "Why did you name your page Fibro Colors?" I was so surprised by her amazing answer and the meaning behind this title. She told me that she decided to call it Fibro Colors because fibromyalgia had such a large SPECTRUM of diversity amongst people and the symptoms that follow this illness. She told me that for example the color red can make you think of pain or anger, the color yellow can make you think about a non-flare day, blue can make you think about depression, green can make you think about nutrition, purple can make you think about empowerment, and so on and so forth and that those colors are unique to the people who identify with them so say I think red makes me think of something like pain, for someone else, red could make them think of something completely different but the whole point is that all-together the colors make up the spectrum of Fibromyalgia which is extremely complicated to live with.

She also told me she needed color in her life. That fibromyalgia is already such a dark illness to live in every single day, so she surrounds herself with color everywhere and is in touch with her inner child. She told me her entire house is colorful and every single room is painted a different color and the colors brighten her mood when she feels like all is dark in the illness. She said she is always surrounded by arts and crafts to distract her from the pain and bring more color into her life so Fibro Colors has double meaning to her. I was truly blown away by her spirit and wisdom. I was inspired by her. I remember I posted a picture of someone's drawing one time and it had the word "PAIN" across it and it was so colorful but there was barbed wire, nails, DNA strands...ect. And someone said to me, "I don't know why you posted that, there's nothing colorful about living with fibromyalgia." Well, I beg to differ.

 Fibromyalgia is very colorful. It has every color and in between. Not to mention, it affects everyone on the planet. Every race, both sexes, even children. It has no boundaries. Then I told her that is too weird because I never ever thought about it before and if you look at my timeline cover for Voices of Fibromyalgia there's a rainbow of people's faces. So it's like subconsciously maybe I was. We had a good laugh about that and I thanked her because now even that has new meaning for me now.

 And she taught me the most important lesson of all. To see the good in the spectrum. Don't let fibro steal all your colors. Give some of those colors to the things that make you unique. Like the ability to sympathize with others, or appreciate things you didn't before this illness took so much from you. You possess colors inside of you that are radiating out like the chakras. Thank you Cindy for this wisdom. We will all carry it with us forever. Please feel free to click on the link below to visit her facebook page. It is truly remarkable and one of the greatest fibromyalgia communities there is.

 Love & Support, Haullie

Set In Stone

Having Fibromyalgia is like having a heavy weight sitting on you.
There is no way to take the pressure of this weight off your body.
What you thought you could do is now being restricted.
There is no right or wrong way of treating Fibromyalgia.
At this time there is no cure for Fibromyalgia.
-Cindy Bremer

3 Types of Swelling

What is Swelling?
It is an abnormal enlargement of a part of the body, typically as a result of an accumulation of fluid.
Swelling can occur whenever the organs, skin, or other parts of your body enlarge. It is typically the result of inflammation or a buildup of fluid.
Treatment of swelling depends upon the cause and there are three types of swelling that can occur with FM:

1. Diffuse swelling, interstitial edema, which is idiopathic edema. 
2. Localized swelling takes place around a lymph node from chronic infection, as seen in many chronic fatigue/ME patients. 
3. Swelling from myofascial entrapment of lymph and blood vessels.

Idiopathic edema is a form of swelling in FM that occurs because of an abnormal biochemical fluid retention in the spaces between tissues for which we do not know the cause. These spaces, called interstitial spaces, are part of the ground substance in the myofascia. It is difficult to treat, and attention should be on identifying the perpetuating factors. If you keep a daily log of what you eat, medications, therapies and symptoms, you will be better able to identify what perpetuates swelling for you.
Lymph node swelling should be discussed with your doctor so he/she can help you identify an underlying chronic infection and treat it appropriately when possible.
Swelling from myofascial entrapment by trigger points (TrPs) located in close proximity to lymph and blood vessels is best treated by myofascial trigger point therapies, including myofascial bodywork and trigger point injections.
You may find the following tips and therapies helpful:

• Movement - movement improves circulation of both blood and lymph fluid. Try to avoid static positioning for any prolonged period
• Vodder Manual Lymphatic Massage/Drainage
• Trigger Point Therapy
• Trager Work
• Spray and Stretch
• Myofascial Release
• Active Release Therapy
• Alexander Technique
• Massage Therapy

All of these therapies are discussed thoroughly in the book.
*Caution: Any therapy that manipulates body tissue, including exercise and movement, releases the byproducts, toxins, into your blood stream. Drink plenty of water to help move the toxins out.
Be sure to clear any of these therapies with your physician.
 http://www.sharecare.com/health/fibromyalgia-treatment/how-can-i-treat-swelling-from-fibromyalgia

I'm Trying!

Please know...
I am trying my best..
I have good and bad days.
I have days I can do things and
I have days I can't do anything.
Please understand....
I am doing the best that I can.
~Cindy Bremer

Bed thoughts

Nobody knows unless they are living with Chronic pain just how much strength it takes to do the most basic of things. I find getting into bed, laying in bed, staying in bed or just trying to get out of bed one of the hardest things to accomplish each and every day.
Fibromyalgia is a living-breathing nightmare.
~Cindy Bremer

Tired of being Tired!

I wake up being tired,
I stay up being tired,
I go to bed being tired.
When do I get some relief from being tired?
~Cindy

Support is Priceless!