Re: New Lyrica commercial... to

[Guest guest]

What says is true. But I understand your feelings. It has got to be

humiliating for you to go through what you do. I am going to go over a limb

here and say that it is probably even harder for you because you are a man. Men

have been programmed to be the " strong " one, not to have any weakness, not to

show pain, and carry the world on their shoulders.

However, men need to realize they are human beings just like women. It is ok

to cry, it is ok to show emotion, and you are ALLOWED to be sick if you are

sick. You did not ask for this crap. None of us did.

Dignity. Yes, I can understand that too. Fibro takes away everything in our

lives to some extent. And , if I am not mistaken, you are a fairly young

man too. That even makes it worse for you. Hey, I am here anytime you want to

write me a personal email also... to vent about anything you need to. I don't

blame you for feeling like it has taken away your dignity . Not a bit.

hugs,

Debra V.

Zimmy zimmy2@...> wrote:

> I am the same way. I have a chair for the shower but I can't stand

> to be in

> it.

> I cry the whole time I shower because to me it is the most

> humiliating thing

>

> I have done so far. I am so fat - even in the chair I can't lift

> my feet to

> wash them well.

>

> It does help but it is still exhausting. Anyway, gt the chair it

> does help

> when you are

> up to taking the shower.

Geez. This is like my grandmother walking down the street holding

her cane in the air to show everybody she didn't need it.

I hope that you will stop crying from humiliation for using the

shower chair. For pete's sake, is anyone going to *know* that you

use one? Use what you need to when you need it to do things. What

on earth does it matter if you can't do things the way you used to?

As for washing your feet, get a long handled brush. It feels

wonderful. If you can't reach to wash your posterior, use a longer

wash cloth or a hand towel and stuff it in various crevices to soak

while you're sitting, and use a shower massage to rinse. If you

can't stand to do the dishes or load and unload the dishwasher, or to

chop vegetables and prepare food, get a stool for the kitchen. If

your posterior doesn't fit on a small sized stool, get one with a

bigger seat. If carrying laundry hampers is to hard, put the hamper

on a luggage cart and wheel it. If it's too painful to walk around

the bed repeatedly to make it, learn to make it one side at a time.

Maybe it's because I've been so badly mobility impaired, and was

super morbidly obese for so many years - I've found many ways over

the years to accomplish tasks that I could no longer do in a

conventional way. There's a great deal of satisfaction in coming up

with clever ways to accomplish ordinary tasks that most people take

for granted. Some people will never understand why others do things

differently. I remember one co-worker calling me lazy because I e-

mailed or called instead of walking over to his office; he didn't

care that every step was excruciating for me. The heck with him.

So use the danged shower chair and stop crying about it!

Z