Questioning my ability to judge pain levels

[sunkacola]

@sunkacola The CBD rub you mention...is it the CBD for Life you told me about previously?

Yep.

 

[SBee]

@JamieMarc I am sure that some people swear for heat over ice, and vice versa, but for me, having both inflammatory and osteo arthritis I go with whichever feels right at the time.

Generally, if I know I have swelling it tends to indicate higher inflammation, so I use ice packs ( Therapearls are the best, they mould better onto awkward places like knuckles). If stiffness is my primary symptom then heated wheat bags work better.
It looks weird but many times I have used ice on my wrists and quickly followed by heat on my fingers.
I go by what my body needs at that time.

 

[JamieMarc]

@sunkacola Checking out the CBD for Life page, I'm guessing you use the original rub. However, you mentioned in another post that you prefer a rub with THC. This product doesn't contain THC. Can you help me understand: do you use a CBD topical with THC? Does THC make more more effective pain relief? Also, this CBD for Life rub, could I use it on my hands? Would it interfere with my ability to use my hands after I applied it to them (oily, greasy, messy, etc)? I am so grateful for any help you can provide. I'm anxious to try CBD that works. I did try something years ago that didn't help, but I don't remember what brand, strength, other ingredients, really anything. Now that I am fully invested in working on my pain levels, I want to return to CBD for another try.

Thanks so much for any help or insight you can provide!

 

[sunkacola]

@JamieMarc ....No, I don't use a rub or other topical thing with THC in it. I was talking about gummies and tinctures that have both CBD and THC in them, and also CBG. I found that with the edibles it doesn't help me unless it has at least a little bit of THC in it. If you haven't tried CBD/CBG as an edible, though, it's worth a try. It might work for you without having THC in it, because some people report that it helps them. Just be careful where you get it, because online companies are often scams. The CBD For Life is a good brand, and reliable.

The rub only has CBD, along with other compounds but no THC. You can use it on your hands, but it does leave a bit of an oily residue so I would only put it on the backs of your hands and not on your fingertips or palms unless you were going to be going to bed and wearing gloves. I put it on my back and then put on an old T-shirt. I have never noticed that it stains the T-shirt, but I wouldn't put on a good shirt just in case. After an hour or so it all seems to be absorbed into the skin, kind of like lotion.

 

[Sueb24]

 

[Sueb24]

Not sure how that happened but anyway.. sounds like things are up & down for all of us.
@sunkacola I wish I was a dog person. I love my daughter’s dog and very occasionally look after her but it’s not for me full time. It’s my family that keep me going / I am lucky in that respect at least.

I must say though that I’m also a very social person when I can be so as soon as I’m not suffering too much I get ‘out there’. My problem has always been the overdoing it when I feel marginally better - followed by the crash. You’d think I’d know better by now but being on your own makes it hard to avoid.

Change of subject slightly. There are loads of winter viruses going around in the UK right now - Covid, ‘flu, RSV (a respiratory virus) & norovirus. Trying to avoid those over the Festive season is going to be a nightmare and, of course, they trigger everything else & take longer for those of us with fibro to recover from. I hope all of us are up to date with our vaccines..

 

[Sueb24]

I will have hand occupational therapy for 3 weeks in January so thats a good start. Physio wise?? One year one and still waiting, should be via chronic pain clinic. But still standing. Mostly

Hi SBee Can you drive with your hands problem? I only ever had one session of OT over 20 years ago when I was actually an in -patient. My physio is a life saver. Maybe you need to push more! I know we don’t like to be seen as a complete nuisance to our G.P. but a year does sound a really excessive time to wait. Have you checked you are still on their list?

 

[JamieMarc]

I put it on my back and then put on an old T-shirt.

Thanks, sunkacola. I had forgotten about the tincture you told me about earlier. Remember, the vape was too hard for me to dose plus putting that in my lungs. Bad. Got both on my list now.

How do you apply the rub on your back by yourself? Just the spots you can reach I guess? Like maybe the lumbar/sacral region and the cervical area? I'd love to get some on my middle back/thoracic. I was just wondering if there is a tool available. Wearing an old T-shirt sounds like a great idea. Perhaps some of the oil would be absorbed by the tee and transferred to the middle back? Probably wishful thinking. But heck, any relief is welcome.

 

[sunkacola]

@JamieMarc I went to Amazon and searched for "lotion applicator for back" and there are a whole lot of options, none of which even cost all that much. I don't use one because my pain is all in areas I can actually reach, but I think there may be a tool there that will help you with getting it to your middle back.

 

[JamieMarc]

Awesome @sunkacola
Thank you so much!

 

[male]

Hi Sbee
I too feel pain all the time I have given up trying to explain it to my family and work mates. Unfortunately because like you we just take our tablets and get on with life. That's why I like this forum we can talk to like minded people,my pain seems to get alot worse in the colder months I don't know why? I don't have arthritis or any other condition only fibromyalgia oh and spinal stenosis but it's the fibromyalgia that seems worse in winter. Hope your symptoms get better soon. Regards male sufferer

 

[SBee]

@Sueb24 I am like a pin cushion the amount of vaccinations I have had recently. But after seeing how sick someone I Know who has flu, I am finally grateful for the opportunity to be vaccinated. Only one I didnt get was shingles which seems age related so was not eligible. ( btw you mentioned in another post I'm nowhere near your age... But I think we may be v close? Am 58 though early mornings feels closer to 108) hair colouring and sitting in a gentle light can do wonders!

I'm back in a face mask and using hand sprays when in crowded spaces now. Just cant risk it and hospitals have a 95% increase in flu cases compared to last year.

Boom and Bust? I'm legendary at getting it wrong. The rheumatology occupational therapist said how important pacing is and I gave her a guilty look - naturally she said, in a kind manner ' but you have fibromyalgia, you know how that goes' I just agreed but said, anyone with fibromyalgia knows they are really on their own with it.

Physio request has been a mare. I asked for referral in Jan, the physiotherapist declined to see me, so was referred to a pain clinic. Imagine that waiting list. I am now on a waiting list to go onto their waiting list. Couldn't make it up could you? But I know, always have known, like you, that this is the one thing that will help me with the mass of symptoms from the OA, inflammatory arthritis and fibro.

 

[SBee]

hi @male sometimes the lack of understanding ( or as we see the disbelief in our symptoms) feels like being kicked when we are already down. I know many people just cant\wont try to understand fibromyalgia,but when those close to us make what seem like to them a throwaway comment about our health, it can affect us deeply. It really does me.

I am almost ' lucky' in that I have osteoarthritis. People get that,they know what it means. Inflammatory arthritis, thats less known. And fibromyalgia? Forget it. That still seems to me ( at least in the UK I feel ) as fibro being lumped into the same category as ME was once, as 'all in the head'.
Maybe things are changing a little with the increase in long covid cases? I hope so.

Thank you, I too hope that you have better days. Take care

 

[sunkacola]

I know many people just cant\wont try to understand fibromyalgia,

I have a theory about this.
I think ....and of course this is just my thought....that some people don't want to believe it/hear about it/accept it/ whatever, because fibromyalgia is such a capricious and random seeming thing that if they take it seriously that might mean it could happen to them.

Of course, literally anything can happen to anyone. Car accident, heart attack, you name it. But people like to think they are safe, so they think:: that won't happen to me because______(I am healthy and exercise every day so I wouldn't have a heart attack.....I drive safely so I won't have a car accident.....etc. etc.)
Those things happen to people who are healthy and exercise and drive carefully, but they can fool themselves that it won't happen to them.

Fibromyalgia happens to people who are young, and to people of all ages who are healthy, eat properly, get lots of exercise and have a healthy active lifestyle. Just ask any random selection of people on this forum! And on top of that, it's not "provable". It's not something that can be shown on an x-ray or MRI or in a blood test. So that makes it easy to be dismissed as Not Real. And those of us who have received this diagnosis have to suffer that disbelief.

Of course, no doubt most of you would have, and I would have, much rather received a different diagnosis. Something that is provable, and better yet something that has an effective treatment! But we are stuck with what we have.

So, if it cannot be conclusively proven that makes it easy to dismiss, and some people would rather dismiss it than believe it might, possibly, be something that could happen to them.

The other day I got a phone call from someone I almost never hear from, someone who knows I have fibro. During the conversation, which was almost all solid talk from the other person, they asked me how my health was. I said, "Well, actually not good at all these days." And without ever responding to that, they immediately started talking about something else. It made me wonder why they asked. Now, don't get me wrong....I don't really want to talk about it! There's really no good that comes from me telling someone else how bad I feel these days, how diminished my life has become. But it would be nicer just not to ask than to ask and then change the subject, I think. I ended up feeling dismissed once again.

Ah well. So it goes.

 

[30 plus years]

now on a waiting list to go onto their waiting list

THAT'S NUTS!!!