Question of the Week: Do You Watch the Evening News?

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I know this might seem like a strange question.

Let me start by saying that my answer to this question is "No." and fibromyalgia is the reason.

Like many others, I experience cognitive symptoms related to fibromyalgia. One such symptom is finding myself getting overstimulated by the sights, sounds and events in my environment. Examples are:

• the stereo or TV being turned up too loud
• the plethora of merchandise on the grocery store shelves
• groups of people together in one place
• traffic on the streets during rush hour
• bright sunlight
• police and fire department sirens and lights
• loud, unexpected noises, like a car backfiring

When faced with these situations, it's like my brain gets overwhelmed by all the input and loses some of it's ability to filter things out, prioritize what is important, assess the danger level and an appropriate response and determine what needs to be the focus of my attention. Instead of ignoring some of the stimuli, my brain tries to focus on everything and becomes overloaded in the process.

Unfortunately, the evening news on the TV also falls into this category.

Now I'm not sure exact how many stories get covered in the average newscast, but it is definitely enough to get my brain overwhelmed and overloaded. Plus the emphasis on reporting so much bad news, much of it violent and disturbing in nature, has the effect of revving me up when I should be trying to relax and wind down from the day.

So a few years back, my hubby and I cut the news out of our TV watching.

Sadly, the tragic events in Arizona over the weekend reminded me once again why skipping the news is a good idea for me. Watching an early broadcast on Sunday evening, with so many reporters covering every tragic aspect of the story, reminded me how intense and brain saturating the news can be. The repetition of the story, over and over again, just made my brain go haywire.

My heart goes out to everyone involved. However, for my sake and health, I don't need to know every little detail and get caught up in the news media tornado generated in response to these kind of events. The bottom line: it is all just too much for my brain to handle.

Have you stopped watching the TV news too? I invite you to share your experiences with brain over-stimulation and sensory overload related to your chronic illness. Feel free to leave your comments here or over at the Oh My Aches and Pains Facebook page.

Stop Poking Me!

I have totally and completely underestimated the impact wearing an aircast would have on me.

For those of you who do not follow me on Twitter (@selenamki) or are not friends with me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/selenakinouye) you probably don't know that I twisted the ever-loving sh*%! out of my right ankle about a week and a half ago. I went to the foot and ankle doctor and he put me in a walking aircast, a.k.a. the boot. Nothing is broken (yeah!) but my ankle was so painful it needed to be immobilized for two weeks.

Now at first, I was happy that I got to be in an aircast and could be weight bearing because I totally suck at walking with crutches. In fact, when I have had to be non-weight bearing in the past, I've resorted to crawling to get up stairs or go to the bathroom. And nothing reduces me to tears faster than having to crawl...

(Would this be a good time to mention that my ankles are the most problematic part of my body from a bio-mechanical and orthopedic standpoint and that I have injured them both before?)

This time it seems that my body does not like having an aircast touching my right foot 24/7. All that extra sensory input is making my body unhappy. After the first 24 hours, a few of my toes on my right foot went numb from the pressure the boot was putting on them. Then those toes started to burn like they were on fire. Then my whole right foot started itching like crazy.

Not satisfied with driving just my right foot nuts, a few days later the aircast triggered a body-wide flare-up of my fibromyalgia. Overall my pain level increased. Symptoms of the flare-up include digestive upset, dizziness, more severe numbness and tingling in my hands and a lot more fatigue.

In the past few days, I've noticed that my brain has switched to grumpy, short-tempered and completed scattered.

Wearing an aircast has reduced me to feeling like I'm a little kid and someone is poking me. I say Stop poking me! and they keep poking me. The more they poke, the most upset I get, the more I say Quit it! The more I say Quit it!, the more they keep on poking me. It's a vicious cycle that just keeps escalating.

I wish I could do the neurological equivalent of hauling off and slapping my nervous system upside my head in an attempt to get it to stop overreacting even more than it usually does.

Now I am dreading what the doctor might say this coming Friday when I have a follow-up appointment. If he says I have to spend more time in this aircast, I just might get really pissy with him. I want this darn thing off my foot and I'm starting not to care if my ankle is better or not.

I'm going to need to take a chill pill if I have to keep wearing this aircast.