Food, Family, and Fibromyalgia
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I am a young-ish woman with many blessings: married to the love of my life - Julian Gude, I have two smart and spirited little kids, a career that I am passionate about (most of the time), and I am a SEERYOUSLY GUDE cook. I try to approach life in a balanced and diplomatic way (I am a Libra afterall), but to anyone that I let get close enough, there is no doubt that I am prone to being an overly stressed and a general worry-wart - a good friend of mine calls me “unreasonably paranoid” - in the most loving way of course.
I think that I have had Fibromyalgia (FM) since I was a young girl. Often, I get terrible pains in my legs, I become overly sensitive to sound, light touch, and fluorescent lighting, and the last way I would ever describe myself is as a morning person, because I never feel truly rested. Admittedly, I am a baby about pain, but the pains in my legs were often so bad that as a girl that I would cry with heating pads wrapped around my legs. While I have done a great job of being completely high functioning by most people’s standards, this over-sensitivity and leg/back pain has been happening to me for about as long as I can remember. In the beginning we wrote it off as growing pains, and I was also a dancer - so having aches and pains from hours of ballet wasn’t exactly unexpected.
When I was about 11, maybe younger, I will have to ask my mom, she took me to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon who performed an exam that included him pushing on certain spots all over my body. I specifically remember him pushing along my lower back, neck, and inside my knees and pain SHOT through my body. His diagnosis - Fibromyalgia. I now know that those spots have the hyper-technical name, tender points. The doc wrote me a prescription for Naproxen Sodium (aka horse pill versions of Aleve) to help with the pain, and off I went.
Living with FM is hard on me and my family at times. I know that I am not the nicest person to be around when I am experiencing the intense frustration of being over-stimulated by normal everyday life expereinces (e.g., listening to music that happens to have a certain repetitive beat, the incessant barking of my jack russells, grocery shopping, or being around my kids when they are jawing non-stop and running around the house, it can be unbearable). The fluorescent lights of Wal-mart and someone chomping on food next to me are particularly powerful irritants.
I decided to write about dealing with FM for a couple of reasons. One, because I have never really talked about it and I want to share with anyone that might be having a similar experience (if you’ve got any helpful coping mechanisms or recipes that make it all better - send ‘em over), and two, because the increasing frequency of my irritability and over-sensitivity has become really apparent to me as I started doing my cooking shows with the kids. Don’t get me wrong, I adore sharing my love of cooking with my little chefs - but making videos of us cooking made it painfully obvious to me just how little patience I seem to have with them these days. Writing it down is helping me to admit that there is an actual syndrome that I am dealing with, and that fact allows me to be a little less hard on myself.
For as hard as it is for me, I am sure living with a mommy and wife that is often irritated and over-stimulated is not fun for my little family, and that breaks my heart. I am saying this to myself almost like a mantra as my son sits next to me and happily chomps on popcorn while tapping his toy ninja turtle on my lap desk. He has no idea that this is making mommy feel like I could jump out of my skin.
I have never seen another doctor to talk about FM and it is mainly something that I just deal with. I know from research that the cause is relatively unknown and some still even dispute its existence. My pain and irritation comes and goes. Some days are just better than others. I am interested in some of the newer medications that I keep hearing about on commercials - but concerned about having to live a medicated life.
I love this family and I hope that I am not too hard to deal with. But at least I’m cute, somewhat successful, and I make them some DAMN GOOD MEALS. Now that’s what I’m talking about 
WAY TO GO in terms of getting it out there, sharing, and working this through. For someone who has as much going on as you, it is amazing to me that you do it all while facing this kind of challenge. Stay strong, be good to yourself, and all we can do is keep learning and loving!
Shannon, you are truly an inspiration.
I’m never going to be allowed to forget “unreasonably paranoid” am I? Shannon, seriously, you are among the kindest people I have ever met. I’ve been with you (at least on the phone) in high-stress situations and you are always going out of your way - much further than I would go - to deal with each situation’s antagonists with caring and kindness. Perhaps you’re being “unreasonably paranoid” about how you treat people
That said, I know what it’s like to feel irritated/impatient when it comes to kid(s). Both through my own experience and watching him with my half brothers, I picked up that my father had very little patience as a parent and vowed not to be that way myself. Yet, there I am, at times, snapping, getting frustrated etc. Kate doesn’t think I’m mean or irritable most of the time but I know what it feels like to me - I know what I’ve done - and that’s what matters to me.
All I’m saying is I hear you. But know that your perception of yourself is not always going to be shared by others, in your case, that is a good thing
Don’t be so freakin’ hard on yourself.
Hey there…
Had no idea that you were coping with this. My Mom-In-Law also deals with these challenges every day. She was diagnosed much later in life…had no answers for over 60 years of her life…and it is very real.
Not sure that the meds you described are the best way to go. We went through major challenges when deciding to take Colin off all meds for his Asperger’s Syndrome. Not everyone agreed…but it was better for his health overall. But that was just us…you have to do what’s best for you.
Loved the post and love the blog…it’s great to see you share personal passion! Isn’t blogging AWESOME!
Shannon, thank you for sharing your story with us. Although I don’t have fibromyalgia, I have written informational articles about it. Also, I’ve dealt with severe sinus and minor joint pain all my life; even sinus tension can make me feel irritable.
For the sinuses I apply cool cloths and take extra strength Tylenol (the only over-the-counter med I can take since my recent bout with bleeding ulcers); for the joint pain I apply heating pains and use a natural cream called Joint Medic.
Jul 15th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
[…] Shannon wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI am a young-ish woman with many blessings: married to the love of my life - Julian Gude, I have two smart and spirited little kids, a career that I am passionate about (most of the time), and I am a SEERYOUSLY GUDE cook. I try to approach life in a balanced and diplomatic way (I am a Libra afterall), but to anyone that I let get close enough, there is no doubt that I am prone to being an overly stressed and a general worry-wart - a good friend of mine calls me “unreasonably paranoid” - in the most loving way of course. I think that I have had Fibromyalgia (FM) since I was a young girl. Often, I get terrible pains in my legs, I become overly sensitive to sound, light touch, and fluorescent lighting, and the last way I would ever describe myself is as a morning person, because I never feel truly […] […]