Under the Weather

When you have fibromyalgia, the phrase "under the weather" takes on a whole new meaning. Wet weather can make us feel bad, hot weather can make us feel bad, cold weather can make us feel bad and weather changes wreak havoc on our bodies.

I've been feeling "under the weather" for a few weeks now. First, we had record breaking heat. We had temperatures reach over a 100 degrees, which is practically unheard of here in western Washington. I had a headache all that week which I attributed to the air quality. But, my body felt fine. I had no aches or pains that week and I was grateful for that.

Then, we got some cloudy weather and it dropped into the 70's. My lymph glands, trigger points and tender points did not like this, even though I did. I started feeling achy, and kind of yucky, like I was coming down with something. My headache intensified. My lymph glands kept feeling weird, like the ones in your neck feel when you bite into a lemon. Every night, I was sure I would wake up with a cold the next morning but I never did.

This week, it turned rainy and temperatures dropped even more. That's when my trigger points and headache reached crisis level. The headache turned into a debilitating migraine that lasted several days. My trigger points got tighter and tighter, despite taking more muscle relaxers. My tender points got more and more tender, to the point where it hurt for anyone to touch me. And my lymph glands felt...sicker, I guess is how I would describe it.

And now? I'm in a really bad flare, complete with fibrofog, stiff, achy joints, tight knots in my muscles and random aching in various places. My throat is mildly sore and I feel like I'm going to get a cold.

Today is Friday and our high temp. was around 60 degrees. It's supposed to be 90 by Tuesday. Will I feel better? Or, will the changing temperature again make me feel even worse? Who knows!