Tiara? What was that? Did you get the fixed NaNo cover I made you and the banner? I can't decide whether to put my Voices of the Dark banner back up since that's the book I'm working on, but now that I have a publisher interested it seems weird to advertise it with a cover that won't be the actual cover.
Kara, I get that about how frustrating and never ending and not have much to show for it cooking and cleaning are. But really, I think they are one of the hardest parts of life and requiring the most work. I get the envy thing, too, and then other times I get the opposite when I wonder why I get to be so blessed when others don't. My writing career is falling into place amazingly, and though I have severe health issues, I'm still more functional than many of my other chronically ill friends are. I guess recognizing our blessings is an important part of life, though.
lauralnm wrote:Amy, I have been wondering about what illness you suffer from. I see there are times when you struggle so to get through a day. I would like to pray for you, but not having been on the Boards long, I'm not sure what to specifically pray about. I have severe Anemia and of course Lupus and Kidney Disease so I know what it is to have no energy at all at times. But isn't God good when we have those good days?
Laural, I had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia until just a few weeks ago. I was more and more convinced it was a misdiagnoses and my doctors agreed but couldn't figure out anything else. So finally my parents flew me back east to see a renowned specialist and she was amazing. She confirmed our suspicions and said I have a genetic connective tissue disorder, probably Ehlers-Danlos. It explains ALL my symptoms and why all of my body doesn't work right. Makes so much more sense to have one thing causing everything than that just randomly none of my systems work right.
Basically it means my body doesn't make enough collagen, so it affects pretty much everything: joints, muscles, skin, organs... It can vary in severity like from my Dad, who has very few symptoms, to me who am quite debilitated by the pain and fatigue that comes with it. My joints pop out of place frequently and sprain easily and my muscles are very weak and painful as well. The fatigue probably comes mostly from the sleeping problems (tests show I come awake or into light sleep every few minutes all night) and from the heart issue--my body can't circulate blood well enough so my heart pumps like three times faster than normal to try to compensate. Medication has slowed it down a little, but doesn't seem to help the fatigue that much.
I do have some medicine and physical therapy type treatments that help some, but mostly resting a lot is the only thing that really manages my symptoms. If I am too busy then I get quite severe and not very functional, but if I can rest enough then I have a lot more good days. Right now the editing job that took a lot of hours near the end to finish up, back to back with the four day writing conference, has me crashing so I'm pretty much sleeping or doing nothing much for most of the day. Hopefully I'll pull out of that soon and be able to do more writing again.
From what I know of lupus, it has some similar symptoms. It's a tough disease and scary since it can be progressive, which the type I have of mine supposedly isn't (though the joints can deteriorate). Which type do you have, if you don't mind my asking. Do you have good care and have things managed as well as possible? I know often we have to fight so hard for good care.
Becky, Kara has a good point that your car accident could have put your nerves on edge more. Not just from the fear of the accident, but because of what it would have done to your body. Many people don't realized that a bad accident like that will take years for your body to recover from (and sometimes causes some problems forever). I pray in your case that you'll gradually get better. Hugs.