Introduce yourself.

Hi Suzane and welcome to the chronic pain forum of Healing Well. I am so glad you posted.

I am Linda 57, married 40 years this July to wonderful man who is my life line too. He takes really good care of me as well. I have two grown chirlden both girls and two grandchildren that I take care of everyday while my daughter works. The kids are Anna, 4 months (almost 5 months) and Kelly will be five years old on April 19th. I love taking care of them although it poses a challenge on some days.

I have fibromyalgia that interrupts my life everyday. I would be in constant pain if I didn't take my percocet every four hours. They say narcotics don't help fibro. That's a bunch of hooey. But the meds get me through the day.

I had a laminectomy some thirty years ago so I have low back pain too at times and can't stand or walk too far.

Well I have to go the kids are here. Keep posting and thanks for joining us.

Lindaloo

Hey TMJ!

Thank you soooo much for starting this thread. What a great idea!

I'm a wife, mom, grandma to many besides my biological grandkids. I used to teach at a community college for many years but have had to give it up per doc orders. OK, no bad stuff. lol...

I'm 58 whoa, how did that happen?? Hubby and I have been married 15 years...took me 2 tries to find the best man on the planet. Can you believe I found and married a 43 year old bachelor? What a deal! We love camping/trailering, we both quilt (he's recently started and loves it), enjoy photography and Geocaching. For those who are interested here's some information... www.geocaching.com/ .

to ME...I too am currently applying for disability. Care to do it together? I sure could use ideas. What a nightmare answering those written questions in 500 characters!

Anyway, back to this me...lol I grew up and still live in Western Washington about an hour or so SW of Seattle. We live in a very rural area buried in the middle of 15 acres of forest land. I am not a city person, never was. We love our animals although we are down to 1 dog and 1 cat now which is OK. Hubby is an import from PA via AZ but is now acclimated to this climate. I raised 3 kids, partly with currently hubby's help...but only 2 are living now. This week is the remembrance of the passing of my oldest son when he was 23. He was such a delight and joy in my life.

But life goes on I do love this family I have met on Healing Well. Those who say that online friends are 'real' just don't get it...lol The folks here have literally saved my life and enhanced it beyond words.

OK, enough babbling. Gotta save room for others to share!
Chutzie

Hi TMJ and everyone:

It is amazing to me how much we all have in common and they say opposites attrack - or maybe it's more misery loves company (HaHa).

My name is Lorie, I am 40 years old (ouch, that stings), I, too have been married for 23 years to my first and only love (we started dating when I was 14 and he was 22 - my parents didn't know a thing until we'd been together for 2 years, but we dated for three years and both saved ourselves for our wedding night, OK, TMI). We have three boys, a 21 year old who just graduated from our local community college and it getting ready to go on to Cortland University in Upstate, NY about 3 hours from where we live. I have a 15 year old who is almost 6'6" and eats me out of house and home, and I have an 11 year old, but you'd never know he was 11 - everyone that has a conversation with him says they feel like they are talking to an adult, and not because he is a know-it-all, he is just wise beyond his years. Maybe because he has had to grow up too fast with a Mom who has "limitations" and who is in the hospital a lot.

I, too, love to do beading, I would love to see some of your work too TMJ & Uniquelyme. I have not done anything in a while, but I really want to get back into it. I have about 200 bracelets made which I was going to and put on EBAY or something and I've given at least that many away to family, friends, and anyone who liked what they saw.

I was a legal secretary, and then an adult education teacher at a Vo-tech school and in our local county jail for 12 1/2 years and was on my dinner break with another teacher when we got hit by a guy that ran a stop sign and he drove us right into on-coming traffic and I got hit in my door (I was the passenger) by a 2nd car doing 45 mph. I struggled to work another 4 years after the accident because I, too, loved my job more than I could put into words. I always told people that I could see myself doing that job for the next 30 years with no problem!

I am also a hockey fan, go NY Islanders!!! (we aren't doing to well either), we used to go to games a couple of times a month, but it's gotten way too expensive. I haven't kept up with them as much since we stopped going to see them in person, but my husband keeps me informed.

All 3 of my boys were big into playing baseball, I think my oldest might have had a career in it, but a girl stole his heart and she didn't support him in it, so he stopped playing and after dating her for 2 years, during her 1st week away at college, she dumped him (I never liked her anyway). It was so interesting to me because they were all good at the same game but in totally different areas - I LOVED watching them play!! My 15 year old got Mono and as a result, chronic fatigue that he is still battling, but he's trying to get back in to it, and my 11 year old lost interest for the time being, but I have hopes that he'll rediscover it some day.

It's nice to have gotten to know you all a little better and welcome TMJ, I hope I didn't ramble on too much.

Lorie

Oh it's so much fun reading about everyone and really getting to know you. We often get caught up in talking about our pain and forget about the great person that is underneath that pain. We may think that we are worthless and what can we do with all the pain that we carry. But when we start thinking about it and saying it we may realize that there is a great person under that pain who still has interests, hobbies and dreams!!

Hope to hear from more of you!!

Suzane

Hi Pamela

You forgot to tell us all about yourself.

Congrats on doing that article!!!! Good for you!!! We need to get our word out there!!! Chronic Pain is important and it can define us in our daily struggles.

I've written to Oprah to see if she can help.

Suzane

Hey everyone! This is a great post. I am usually in the lupus forum but I always come and read all your posts! It is great getting to know everyone better. I will probably start posting here too! ! My name is Amy and I am 21 and live right outside of Charlotte NC. I am not married and have a german shepard! Right now I work full time at AAA Carolinas as an accountant and in the process of looking into becoming a R.N! I would like to be able to start this fall if my health allows me to. An interesting fact about me is over Christmas break when I was in 2nd grade I was adopted and changed my name. I used to be Chelsea Elise and now I am Amy Elise. How many people do you know that can say they named themselves? When health allows, I love to play basketball. I played middle and high school and had hopes of playing in college but my body had different plans for me.

I will say, I also am around in the wee hours of the morning and it is great reading some of yalls posts. Some of them can be so funny! Thanks for the laughs

Hi my name is Renee I have Depression, hypothyroidism, Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue look forward to reading and posting ,any tips or new findings are always good to hear .

Hello all! My name is Sarah and I live in Oregon. I have been married for almost 4 years. We have one beautiful 2 year old daughter named Harlee. We lost our first baby to miscarriage in 2005. The due date for that baby was Jan 9, 2006 and I had my daughter January 9, 2007. Isn’t that crazy?! I have a puggle pup named Molli, she is a very hyper crazy dog. I also have a horse. I love animals. I am a full time student right now going to school for Psychology at the moment. I am thinking about becoming a Speech Pathologist. I love kids and I would like to have two more. I wish I wasn’t in so much pain so I could enjoy life more and do more with my daughter.

I am 24 years old and I have had pain for years. The pain has now gotten worse. It comes and goes but I am in pain most of the time. Right now I am in so much pain it brings tears to my eyes. Most of my pain is in my shoulders, neck and through out my back. Sometimes I also have pain in knees, wrists, hands, hips, legs and ankles. I get tingling sensations in my arms and hands, which drives me nuts. I had some blood tests done for different things (Lupus and thyroid) and everything they tested for came back normal. I think I may have fibromyalgia. I do not sleep great and I NEVER have energy. I cannot afford to go to the doctor right now so I just have to put up with the pain. My dad has fibro and he was just diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. I must get my problems from him. Poor guy, the other day he was so bad he could barely even walk.