Delayed Reaction

Just a quick apology for falling down on the job lately. I've been getting a bunch of letters, my editing is taking up a lot of time, two projects are in completion, and my daughter has chicken pox! Gahhh.

At first we thought it was an allergic reaction to meds she was taking for a sinus infection. But when it worsened within six hours, we took her back to the doctor to have him basically say "oops, it is chicken pox". This is great considering we had taken her bowling and out to eat to get her mind off of the itchy allergic reaction she was having to her antibiotics!

Now that I know she has chicken pox, and will be closely watched day and night by me, (No sleep for me!) I'm thinking back to that little bowling trip and wondering...when will THAT pain kick in?

With Fibro, we deal with a lot of different types of pain, and one of the first indications for me that I had Fibromyalgia was the delayed reaction pain.

I was at an airport and I was lugging my heavy bags around on my shoulder for a good hour and a half. Two days later...I thought my arm was going to fall off!

I get a few letters that ask about delayed pain. The following was a letter I received last week.

Dear Gin,

I was wondering if you knew why I get severe pain that feels like I lift something when I don't. Any ideas why that happens?

Lucille

(How do I know this is a letter about delayed pain? Her P.S.)

PS: Did you ever get those tomatoes in? On Friday me and the kids made a garden.


To Lucille, and a few others who have asked this question in the past, No, I didn't get the tomatoes in.

Just kidding.

Why we experience delayed pain is often a subject of debate. There are many answers that I have read in research that ride the spectrum between blood flow slowing the response time to your brain (that's the non-medical jargon definition, lol) and something a little more complex that has to do with the state of your muscles. Chiropractors and general practitioners who know Fibro, often suggest conditioning your muscles.

After all, think about the type of people Fibromyalgia often effects. People who have had/or do have a debilitating illness, have been in a car accident, have had a baby, or have been in an extended state of depression throughout their life.

The one common denominator for all of the above Fibro Sufferers is the state of their muscles. No exercise or very little. Deteriorating muscle status. Fatigue and lack of energy that keeps the sufferer from exercising. When we can exercise...it hurts. Usually bad. And it sets us on a pattern of chaos.

For instance. I exercised daily for five minutes a day for a month. I lost weight, my fibro was nearly non-existent. And then I tried to up my workout. My neck and back killed me for a week and my flow was lost. Then I did that silly experiment to see just how effective vitamins were for me, and the month of March was hell!

I still suffer from Migraines due to my period now, but hopefully my vitamins will get me back on track again.

My point is, that one little muck up can throw a monkey wrench into our recovery/treatment. I should have pushed through the pain. Gone to a 2 minute work out or some such instead of baby myself and curl up in a pain ball.

But it is really...really...really hard to make yourself feel more pain with the vague promise of feeling better in the long run!

So for those of you who write me to tell me you do everything you can but can't exercise without pain, I do feel for you! Trust me. It is not an easy thing and if I have made it to sound as though it is, that is just my enthusiasm. I know it can feel good! But it has to feel bad first.

Okay, so back to the delayed reaction and why we get it, a friend of mine sent me a link to drcalrobbins.com. I'm looking forward to trying Chiropractic care again (this time with a better understanding of my own condition so I can look out for quacks) and found this little bit of information to be interesting.

I quote: "underuse of your muscles leads to a negative, detraining effect, which results in unfit muscles. Detrained, or unfit, muscles are more likely to become injured or damaged from exercise. This sort of muscle damage is commonly called microtrauma. All of us have probably experienced the effects of muscle microtrauma after exercising too vigorously. When microtrauma occurs, you experience delayed muscle pain that may not appear until 48 hours after exercising and may last 7 days. In addition to the pain, increased fatigue occurs, resulting in a lack of desire to participate in further physical activity until energy has been restored. It is common for anyone to experience the effects of microtrauma after too vigorous physical activity. Yet for people who have unfit muscles, these problems may develop after only slight exertion, such as routine day-to-day activities. Microtrauma may also result from overuse, or abuse, of certain muscles such as poor posture or damage caused by a blow or fall."

If you're anything like me, you'll wonder if Microtrauma is something this guy just made up. When I get curious, I Wikipedia! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microtrauma

Ever since that shampoo company with the "Pro V" came out pretending they had invented something rare and fantastic for hair that gives it an edge...I've been skeptical about termanology.

What is to stop anyone from saying "I invented Pro FC, the secret ingredient in my Fibro Sufferer Supplement, which gives my product the edge you need to treat your Fibro successfully." Pro FC just just "Pro Fibro Cure" but if I market it in such a way to make it sound like an ingredient...I've just made a bucket of money on my BS.

Okay...I am really digressing here. LOL. I get so mad about scams and advertising!

Delayed pain is normal for Fibro. We experience it either because of blood flow to the brain or lazy limbs, or something in between who knows. All that matters is that we all know feeling pain a few days after a strenuous activity is not abnormal.

All my best and hopes for 98% days,
Gin