Diary: Rollercoaster Weekend

What a weekend it's been! 

I'd been feeling pretty good lately, and was ready and excited to hike up to Tanglewood Nature Center with Gary to participate in the prize drawing for the Golden Shoe Contest. 

No big wins for us, but we got a frisbee to play with! 

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We hiked down the mountain with ease [the whole trip was about 13 miles] and I felt great. 

But later, around dinnertime, the sharp pains I feel mostly in my back [every single day] started growing more frequent and intense. The pain spread to other areas within the hour, and despite the Skelaxin [muscle relaxer], my muscles started tensing up in my back, neck, and between my ribs. I [finally] have an appointment with my primary doctor on Monday [tomorrow], so I tried to stick it out, hoping it'd go away [like it does maybe half the time]. 

[Photos taken with HTC One for Boost Mobile.] 

No such luck. I woke around 3am with unbearable pain, and after trying to stick it out a little while longer, wound up making a 4am ER visit. That's three times within a month- a new record. 

Like most of the doctors I'd seen thus far, the lady had obviously never treated a patient with fibromyalgia. But she was quick to give me some relief- she gave me Norco and a small prescription to last until I can see my primary doctor [for the first time] tomorrow. 

I slept really well when I got back [LOL], and that helped significantly. However, I did wake a little before noon to intense pain shooting throughout my body [again], and I immediately went out to get my meds. Narcotics are not a recommended treatment for FM, but they are making the pain a little more tolerable. A temporary fix until I can see my doctor. 

As I'm typing this, it's been about 28 hours since the flare-up started. My nerves are shot. 

For me, these big flare-ups often last 2-3 days before I start feeling [mostly] good again, and generally occur every week or so. There is no way for me to know exactly when the next one will happen, but stress [the bad kind] has a big impact on how I feel. 

Hopefully tomorrow I can start on an actual FM medication, instead of simply relying on a muscle relaxer that relieves tension, but doesn't do shit for the pain. 

I'm desperate for some sort of relief.