Adolescent Fibromyalgia Research Study Enrolling Today

Thank you for being a reader of The Fibro Frog. I am writing to share some information about a clinical research study that may be of interest to you. Research studies contribute greatly to the overall progress in understanding and treating diseases and The Fibro Frog supports that mission.

Adolescent Fibromyalgia Research Study Enrolling Today

Does your child suffer from widespread, unexplained body pain that impacts their daily routine?

If so, local research study doctors are studying an investigational medication to see if it can help manage symptoms associated with juvenile fibromyalgia in adolescents.

If your child is between 13 and 17 years of age, and has juvenile fibromyalgia or is experiencing unexplained aching, stiffness, fatigue, or trouble sleeping, he or she may be eligible to participate in a clinical research study.

• No-cost investigational study drug
• No-cost study-related care from a local physician

Visit www.FibroStudy.info anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

WWW.FibroStudy.info

   

Sincerely,

Amy Mullholand

Founder of The Fibro Frog

A Catch 22

One of the most frustrating things about living with Fibromyalgia, is all of the catch-22's that come along with it.  My current dilemma is one that I know all of you with fibro, have faced as well.  When you're in a pain and fatigue flare, you seriously cannot do much of anything.  House work is out.  When housework is out, you end up with everything piling up into a whole ton of work.  Like, a pile of laundry:

and a sink full of dishes:

When we start coming out of a flare, we have so much work to do, to try and catch up.  But ....when we do that work, we end up pushing ourselves to get it all done, and then we find ourselves right back into flare mode again.  

It's such a never-ending process that is beyond frustrating.  This is where I've found myself for the past month.  My flare the past week has been horrible.  Fatigue like I haven't felt in some time.  Pain that even occurs while trying to sleep. Causing me to toss and turn the entire night as laying in one spot longer then about 20 minutes causes pressure point pain.  Hips scream in pain.  Arms, shoulders and neck screams in pain.

Once the flare ends, I'll be stuck picking up the slack that I can't control during this flare.  So I'm sure, I'll be right back in another flare within a day or two of this one ending.  I know every single one of you with fibro can relate.  I'm venting for all of us with this post!  I'm hoping to come up with some tips and ideas to make our lives easier and hopefully break this catch-22 cycle we're all stuck in!

The Joy Of Cooking

Before fibromyalgia and all of my spinal and arthritis conditions, I loved to cook!  I never loved the clean-up afterwards, but cooking brought me such joy.  So much joy, that I even used to own a little "eatery".  I call it an "eatery" because it was inside of a mall, not a real restaurant.

As all of my conditions have worsened over the years, it's become so hard for me to really cook.  The pain is excruciating.  Some days, it brings me to tears to stand long enough to even fry an egg.  Therefore, I don't do a lot of real cooking anymore.  This truly makes me sad.  As I'm sure most of you know, fibro steals so much of our happiness.  Even the small things that people take for granted, such as cooking, are taken away.

I am SO proud, because I cooked a meal tonight.  A good meal.  I zested lemons, and chopped potatoes, and prepared 2 whole chickens.  I made lemon-pepper chicken, chunked potatoes, baby carrots, and fresh grean beans.  I had real, alive, eating, breathing people over for supper!  My daughter and her boyfriend, my son and his fiance, and a 12 year old boy who's parents are good friends of the family was hanging out with me today.  

In the middle of making this delicious meal, I was in so much pain I was fighting back tears.  Part way through the preperations I wildly wonderded what in the heck I'd been thinking, to undertake this task!  When the timer went off, I had to have my son take it out of the oven, and there's no way I could've ever carried the platter to the table so my daughter graciously did that task for me.

I hate to say it, but I was in so much pain that I wasn't even hungry.  Still, I forced myself to eat a little and indulge in the victory over fibro tonight.  I may still be sitting here hurting so badly that a handful of vicodin sounds like an amazing dessert  ....but I did it!  I beat fibro today!  I did something that I used to love to do, and I enjoyed it with my family!

**Disclaimer -the "vicodin" reference was thrown in to try to be funny, as I don't take any narcotics for my fibro at all.  I've refused them since diagnosis because I know that fibro is something I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life and I don't want to become addicted to narcs.  I also realize that once I take one kind for so long, they'll stop working and there's only so many drugs out there.  I don't want to be in my 60's or 70's and in double the pain I'm in now, with nothing left to take because my body has built up a tolerance to all of the pain killers out there.  Some days (like tonight for instance haha) I wonder if the time has come to start taking something for pain, but alas I just pop a diclofenac 2x a day, grin, and bear it.  :)

Team #SaveAmysHouse

I'm honored to have been nominated again this year, for Healthline's Best Health Blog of 2015 contest.  Not only would winning show people that chronic pain/fatigue illnesses such as Fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, Lupus, RA, etc are NOT invisible, winning would also help me save my house.  Being single and sick, money is always extremely tight.  I had gotten behind on my property taxes and now I'm on a set payment schedule to catch them up and keep them current.  If I miss a payment, my house goes into foreclosure.  I have to pay around $1750 in February.  I receive $470/month from SSI.  You can see the dilemma here.  If I could win first place, that would give me a big fighting chance to save my home.




To vote for me, just click the above photo.  Then, scroll down until you see The Fibro Frog and click the vote button.  It will come up with the options for you to vote using facebook or twitter.  You click one of those.  Then, do it again clicking whichever one you didn't vote with the first time.  It allows you to vote using BOTH social media sites once every 24 hours during the contest period.  I also ask that you share this post on all of your social media sites!  Join Team #SaveAmysHouse and vote every day!!

Thank you so much, friends.  I always tell all of you to never give up HOPE, and I'm not going to either!  If all of of spoonies band together, we can do this!!  

On A Budget This Holiday Season? Win A Giftcard

If you're like me, you're on a pretty tight budget that the holidays play havoc with.  Now through November 25, 2015 Giant Eagle is giving you a way to triple dip the savings!

This is a sponsored post by Tatu Digital Media, but all of the thoughts expressed are purely mine.

 I would suggest purchasing Giant Eagle gift cards now, and using them in place of cash while doing your holiday shopping this year.  Here's 3 ways that you can triple dip the savings doing this:

1.  Special Offer:  You will get a $10 coupon good on your next order, for every $100 you spend on select gift cards at Giant Eagle.

2.  Earn fuelperks! on everyday gift card purchases to save you money at the pump.  $ .10 fuelperks! are earned for every $50 you spend on gift cards.

3.  If you use your favorite rewards credit cards when you buy gift cards, you'll be earning points, miles, or cash back!

The participating gift card partners for this offer include:
Visa Gift
Sears
Best Buy
Google
Fandango
JC Penney

*Your $10 coupon will print at the register when you check out.  Also, some credit cards may have reward limits on their use at a grocery store.  You can see store for more details of this promotion.

If you'd do the math for this promotion, for every $100 you spend on the participating gift cards you could earn a $10 coupon + you could earn $6 back if you earn 6% back on credit card grocery store purchases + if you get 15 gallons of gas and use the $ .20 off fuelperks! you'd earn, that would save you $3.  That's a total of $19 in savings on a $100 gift card purchase!  So if you have a Giant Eagle near you, I'd definitely recommend that you take advantage of this opportunity between now and November 25, 2015!

Now, here's a chance for one of my readers to win a $50 giveaway!  Who could use this, at this time of the year?  I know I sure could! Good luck to all of my Fibro Froggies.  I truly hope one of you win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Save Money With Giant Eagle Gift Cards

With the holiday season quickly approaching, who isn't looking to save money?  Giant Eagle offers gift cards for over 150 major retailers.  They have a reward program for buying gift cards, in the form of fuelperks.  For every $50 you spend in gift cards, you receive fuel perks.  Now through November 18, 2015 you earn $ .20 fuel perks for every $50 you spend on six select retailer gift cards!  You can check them out HERE.  

This is a sponsored post by Tatu Digital Media, but all of the thoughts contained are strictly my own.  I wouldn't recommend something to my froggies if I didn't think it was a good idea.  

If you're like me, you like to have actual presents to wrap and put under the tree.  That isn't a problem either using gift cards from Giant Eagle.  Just purchase your gift cards, then use them to order your presents online.  With all of my illnesses, I love online shopping.  I can sit here and shop in my pj's.  I don't have to go out in the weather, and even if it's a high pain and fatigue day, I can still get my shopping done!  I don't have to spend gas to go to the store, fight the crowds, or spend time standing in long lines which causes me extreme pain and zaps every bit of my energy.

 You can even double dip your savings by using your favorite rewards credit card to purchase, you can earn points, miles or a percentage back on your purchase. Some credit cards even offer increased rewards for purchases made at grocery. For example, the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express offers 3% cash back on groceries, and the Blue Cash Preferred® Card offers a whopping 6% cash back! Capital One QuicksilverOne®, AMEX EveryDay® and Citi® Hilton HHonors credit cards also offer increased rewards for grocery purchases. 

Now, here’s the math:

$3 in fuel rewards on a 15 gallon tank ($.20 x 15) +$6 back if you earn 6% cash back on credit card grocery purchases =$9 in savings on a $50 gift card, or 18%!!!!

Let's face it, we all feel the price of gas.  We have to drive no matter what.  If we can get our shopping done and save money while doing it, why not?  You can quickly accumulate fuelperks and cash back to keep more money in your pocket by just shopping Giant Eagle gift cards.  A quick, easy savings account so to speak!   Make sure you check out all of the gift cards that Giant Eagle has to offer!   Living on a fixed income, I'm all about saving money any way that I can!

Jewelry In Candles Giveaway

Welcome to the Jewelry In Candles Giveaway, sponsored by Melissa, The Future Mrs. Vines from Keeping Up With The Vines. Candles make great gifts, especially 100% soy candles with cotton wicks. Soy candles are environmentally friendly and you can reuse the glass jars with lids for arts and crafts, food storage, personal hygiene storage, home decor, seasonal decor and more. A few years ago I was a JIC rep, and even though I'm not with the company anymore, I still can't tell you how much I love, love, love these candles and melts! When you support Jewelry In Candles, you're supporting USA jobs. All JIC candles are hand-poured in Louisville, Kentucky. Our candles, tarts and new body butters allow you to choose your choice of jewelry and size. Men's jewelry is available in certain scents.

Check out 54+ Easy Reasons To Give Candles As Gifts.

To show you how awesome Jewelry in Candles is, we're giving away 2 (regular-priced) 21 oz. candles to two winners. (One candle per winner). This giveaway is open to U.S. residents, ages 18+. It begins on 11/2/2015 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on 11/17/2015.

The winners will get to choose their scent and jewelry size (where applicable) and type from regular-priced $24.95 candles. Good luck! I hope one of The Fibro Frog's followers is the winner!

Enter The Giveaway

Jewelry In Candles Candle Giveaway