Thought I would update on the flare and swelling

[Guest guest]

Well, we know that I was in horrible fibro flare Saturday so I won't

repeat all that jazz. Suffice it to say that I switched my diuretic

back to Lasix (40 mg) on Saturday to attempt to help the swelling. I

took 2 on Sunday (have been up to 120 mg so figured 80 was okay),

drank about 1/2 gallon of water or better, stuck with only 1 soft

drink (diet coke) and kept them propped as much as possible.

By bedtime last night, from the knees down, my legs were bruised and

still swollen from whatever is causing them to swell. DH woke me up

this morning around 4 am because my breathing was off so I got up and

my swelling is down (I can ALMOST see my ankle bones) ***but*** my

feet are so beyond tender from how swollen they are that it may be 20

degrees outside (I am not really sure) but flip flops are going to

be " my friend " .

I will also be babying them today because I know they hurt so bad due

to how badly they were swollen. I am staying on the lasix too and

calling the doctor and telling him I made an " executive decision " .

They have GOT to find me something that works, at least until we get

the testing for the lower body extremities blockages done. I cannot

put my family through what I went thru this weekend. I was at my last

edge of impatience with my kids and DH. All I wanted to do was cry.

I went ahead this morning and took a naproxyn because I know there's

still inflammation. For heavens sake, there is still an extra 10 lbs

of fluid on me somewhere (although I think the steroids are not

helping either - think Tim in " The Santa Clause " and how his

face just poofed up!).

Anyhow, I wanted to give an update. Thanks to everyone for their

ecards and well wishes and tips. I have them saved and can only pray

there won't be a " next time " when I swell so badly it brings on a

fibro flare like that. I'll take the twinges any day!

As for the Lyrica, I am on a 150 mg dose and haven't noticed any

weight gain. Mine is coming from the extremity swelling, as well as

massive amounts of steroids for my COPD. My doctor is going to have

to find " another way " to keep my lungs open and clear!

(((Hugs to all; have a great Monday))))

Darlene

[Guest guest]

Pleae take good care of you, k? Just rest and recover. this has been hard on

you.

Hugs,

ddean228 wrote:

Well, we know that I was in horrible fibro flare Saturday so I won't

repeat all that jazz. Suffice it to say that I switched my diuretic

back to Lasix (40 mg) on Saturday to attempt to help the swelling. I

took 2 on Sunday (have been up to 120 mg so figured 80 was okay),

drank about 1/2 gallon of water or better, stuck with only 1 soft

drink (diet coke) and kept them propped as much as possible.

By bedtime last night, from the knees down, my legs were bruised and

still swollen from whatever is causing them to swell. DH woke me up

this morning around 4 am because my breathing was off so I got up and

my swelling is down (I can ALMOST see my ankle bones) ***but*** my

feet are so beyond tender from how swollen they are that it may be 20

degrees outside (I am not really sure) but flip flops are going to

be " my friend " .

I will also be babying them today because I know they hurt so bad due

to how badly they were swollen. I am staying on the lasix too and

calling the doctor and telling him I made an " executive decision " .

They have GOT to find me something that works, at least until we get

the testing for the lower body extremities blockages done. I cannot

put my family through what I went thru this weekend. I was at my last

edge of impatience with my kids and DH. All I wanted to do was cry.

I went ahead this morning and took a naproxyn because I know there's

still inflammation. For heavens sake, there is still an extra 10 lbs

of fluid on me somewhere (although I think the steroids are not

helping either - think Tim in " The Santa Clause " and how his

face just poofed up!).

Anyhow, I wanted to give an update. Thanks to everyone for their

ecards and well wishes and tips. I have them saved and can only pray

there won't be a " next time " when I swell so badly it brings on a

fibro flare like that. I'll take the twinges any day!

As for the Lyrica, I am on a 150 mg dose and haven't noticed any

weight gain. Mine is coming from the extremity swelling, as well as

massive amounts of steroids for my COPD. My doctor is going to have

to find " another way " to keep my lungs open and clear!

(((Hugs to all; have a great Monday))))

Darlene

When you have nothing left but God,

you become aware that God is enough.

-Guideposts

[Guest guest]

Darlene,

Since my daughter doesn't have swelling like this, I'd like to know how

often people with fibro have swelling issues with their fibro attacks.

Do you mind if I ask some other questions?

Do you have fibro pain at other times without the swelling? If yes, how do

you see these two types of pain as relating?

You had said eariler:

....as a T2 diabetic...I buffed up my fiber

(veggies and fruits) and am driving my hubby nuts because I get the

specific packaged items vs a big bag...

Darlene, some fruits and veggies are very high oxalate so it would be very

interesting to find out if you had eaten high oxalate foods before this

flare happened. Do you by any chance remember what specifically you had to

eat on the day before and on the day this flare took place?

How often do you have this sort of flare? What time of day does it " hit " ?

How well does the lasix help?

One of the things that oxalate hurts is the transport of sulfate into

cells. I studied sulfate's role in the body for ten years, because it

seemed an untapped area of reserach.

I learned back then something very interesting about how sulfate helps our

blood vessels pump blood out of our extremities to get the blood back to

the heart. This involves a mechanism by which blood vessels in your

periphery (like your legs) are told when they need to squeeze to coordinate

with the action of the heart, and its ingenious. The signal doesn't come

from a hormone, but it comes from a physical signal that takes place via a

particular type of molecule that " grows out of " the blood vessel into the

center where the blood is. This big molecule looks kind of like a tree

with branches that might grow out of the ground. The branches of these

molecules (called glycosaminoglycans or GAGs for short) are " sticky " with

lots of sulfate on them (kind of like leaves on a tree). The sulfate

attracts (very loosely) positively charged ions like sodium and caldium.

You might think of these ions as being like birds that are sitting on the

branch of the tree, attracted there by the leaves (the sulfate).

The " tree " loads up with these ions from the blood that is passing by, but

when the heart beats, the force is so strong that the tree is pushed down

by the flow of the blood after a heartbeat. During the pause between

heartbeats, when the pressure of the blood lets up, then the " tree " flip

backs upright, and the physical change of this slings away all those ions

(ike birds flying out of the tree), and the disturbance is communicated

down the trunk of the tree to tell the blood vessel when to squeeze. There

are smooth muscles in the blood vessel that do this squeezing and that

extra push is what gets the blood out of your extremities. I',m positive

that doctors have not been told about this process, but I think it is

really neat! If something is mangling your sulfate chemistry, then there

might not be enough trees around loaded with sulfate to do this job,

because your cells need the sulfate to construct the " trees " . Oxalate may

tangle with this process by limiting the cell's access to sulfate, but that

really has never been investigated.

Anyway, it might be reasonable to ask if something besides what the

diuretic treats, is compromising that process when you have these

flares. ANYTHING you can think of that happened before the flares might be

relevant, but my biggest suspect would be something that might change

daily, like food, and of course, I've mentioned here that my antennas are

up about oxalate and its relationship to fibro because I've heard so many

people say that going low oxalate solved their pain problems. I've never

had a chance to ask about swelling...

Do people without diabetes also get edema and swelling during fibro

flares? Please educate me!

At 05:48 AM 3/3/2008, you wrote:

>Well, we know that I was in horrible fibro flare Saturday so I won't

>repeat all that jazz. Suffice it to say that I switched my diuretic

>back to Lasix (40 mg) on Saturday to attempt to help the swelling. I

>took 2 on Sunday (have been up to 120 mg so figured 80 was okay),

>drank about 1/2 gallon of water or better, stuck with only 1 soft

>drink (diet coke) and kept them propped as much as possible.

>

>By bedtime last night, from the knees down, my legs were bruised and

>still swollen from whatever is causing them to swell. DH woke me up

>this morning around 4 am because my breathing was off so I got up and

>my swelling is down (I can ALMOST see my ankle bones) ***but*** my

>feet are so beyond tender from how swollen they are that it may be 20

>degrees outside (I am not really sure) but flip flops are going to

>be " my friend " .

>

>I will also be babying them today because I know they hurt so bad due

>to how badly they were swollen. I am staying on the lasix too and

>calling the doctor and telling him I made an " executive decision " .

>They have GOT to find me something that works, at least until we get

>the testing for the lower body extremities blockages done. I cannot

>put my family through what I went thru this weekend. I was at my last

>edge of impatience with my kids and DH. All I wanted to do was cry.

>I went ahead this morning and took a naproxyn because I know there's

>still inflammation. For heavens sake, there is still an extra 10 lbs

>of fluid on me somewhere (although I think the steroids are not

>helping either - think Tim in " The Santa Clause " and how his

>face just poofed up!).

>

>Anyhow, I wanted to give an update. Thanks to everyone for their

>ecards and well wishes and tips. I have them saved and can only pray

>there won't be a " next time " when I swell so badly it brings on a

>fibro flare like that. I'll take the twinges any day!

>

>As for the Lyrica, I am on a 150 mg dose and haven't noticed any

>weight gain. Mine is coming from the extremity swelling, as well as

>massive amounts of steroids for my COPD. My doctor is going to have

>to find " another way " to keep my lungs open and clear!

>

>(((Hugs to all; have a great Monday))))

>Darlene

>

>

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