Fibromyalgia & Heat

Heat index has been over 100 the past couple of days, with temps in the mid to upper 90's.

Chicago's high yesterday was 101.

This is quite abnormal for Chicago. We've had several really hot days in a row, so it's just been oppressive and overbearing.

Wow, my body sooooo cannot handle this! It's frustrating, discouraging, and maddening. I could hardly move or function at all yesterday. It was supposed to be a work from home day. I had several projects that really needed my full focus and attention, plus I was trying to avoid another nasty hot day out and about.

It ended up being a sick day because I could barely get out of bed or off the couch. The pain levels were beyond intolerable, and my dizziness/weakness was through the roof. Walking just a few feet around the house was almost more than I could bear without feeling like I might black out or fall over. It was a really rough, really long day full of agony and extreme pain.

Lots of tears were shed, cries out for mercy, and aching for better things. Normal things.

I'm so grateful that Jesus hears us and loves us through our sorrow. That he wipes away those tears and feels our pain because he loves us so.

Thankfully this morning I woke up feeling a bit better, definitely not near my new normal, but still... better. You take what you can get with this illness! Strong storms overnight made sleep really difficult. I awoke in a fuzz this morning and needed a little extra time. I started working from home, and then waited for some more storms to roll through. Then the power was out at work {again} so I plugged away working from home, then went to lunch with a friend, checked in on the house of friends who are traveling, worked some more from home, and watched a chick flick. By the time I was leaving lunch with my friend, I was feeling back to my usual self. Today I'm just extremely thankful for today's temperatures! The heat in the morning was lessened by the storms and even though it got fairly hot again later, it's not quite as sweltering, and I'm inside! :)

Every person with Fibromyalgia handles things differently, so it's not like we can make a generalization that the heat is horrific for all of us. That's just not the way it works with Fibro. Some people do better with the sweltering heat, but the cold is really hard on them. Some people do better with the extreme cold rather than the sweltering heat. I find myself stuck in-between. I have a really, really hard time in the extreme temperature swings--the very hot and the very cold. I do tend to do worse in the extreme heat though. So of course, Spring & Fall are my favorite seasons.

I'm so thankful that I have my energy back, and that I feel a bit more like myself than I have all week. Phew!!

For a cool picture of the storms rolling into Chicago this morning, check this out.