Living with an Invisible Illness

Hi everyone, after my last post I received very mixed reactions and comments.  Some people thought I was being quite over the top and dramatic saying how hard I was finding having a new puppy (who is currently driving me mad and still wearing me out, bless her little fluffy paws)!

I feel a new puppy for anyone can be super tiring as a few people have told me, but for someone with my type of health condition it can be a even harder.  So for those who don't know, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a bit more about my heath conditions and the type of symptoms I have to deal with on a daily basis.  To start off with I have several conditions; Fibromyalgia, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and chronic IBS, these all come with their own symptoms but as they often go hand-in-hand with each other, the symptoms get very intermingled.

Have you ever run a marathon and the next day feel like you've been hit by a truck, or had the worst flu ever?  That's how bad I feel 90% of the time, that level of feeling like I have no energy left, feeling weak, achy and in pain.

Doing even the most simple mundane tasks like vacuuming, washing up, having a shower or changing the bedding, tasks that most people barely think about, exhaust me to the point where sometimes I almost pass out.  And as for going out, even just for a few hours makes me so tired and worn out I have to sleep and try to recuperated for at least the following couple of days.

Here's a brief list of symptoms that I live with all day, every day -
Tiredness
Achy and very painful joints, muscles and limbs
Headaches
Bones dislocating easily
Stiffness
Muscle spasms
Brain fog
Depression
Random weird feelings anywhere on my body that can feel like hot patches, itchy for no reason, pain like I've just bashed myself, bruised feeling or extremely sore patches that feel like cuts and grazes.
Just bending down gives me stomach pains and makes me dizzy.
As well as all that, I have very over sensitive skin, I can even feel a hair on me and clothes labels feel like razor blades, and if I get knocked or poked, it pains and bruises as much as if I had been hit.

That's just stage one, then when I've been doing tasks, add in to that list even more exhaustion, less energy, feeling extremely dizzy and sick, sometimes palpitations too, that's stage two.  And if I try to push on through it and carry on with daily tasks or extra jobs that I need to do, I go on to stage three where all my symptoms get worse and I end up feeling so exhausted and ill, I can barely move.

Finally, the more I do, the worse I get and if I over-do things too much too often, and/or I get too over stress, I get flare ups.  These are like being in stage two/three constantly for up to a week.  Trying to 'live life' and function feeling this  bad, is incredibly hard I can tell you, but life doesn't stop, the tasks still need to be done, and of course our puppy still has needs too.  Which as you may understand a little more now, is why I was finding it so hard.  In fact I was finding it so hard and getting so stressed with the whole situation (i.e feeling ill and still needing to manage), that I even had a break out of bad eczema which I haven't suffered with for about 9 years!  After eliminating different foods and other possible causes, my doctor told me was all due to the stress, I didn't even know stress could cause eczema but apparently yes it can!

So there you go, just a brief insight into what I deal with each day and how I feel.  It's not easy, it's not fun but sadly I'm used to it so I make the best of it and push through because that's just what you have to do.  Just maybe next time you throw the duster around or take out the trash, spare a thought for those of us with an 'Invisible illnesses' that can't do all these simple things quite so easily!

If you would like to know more details about how I came to have these health issues, when I was diagnosed etc, you can click here to see my post all about it, or click on the 'health' tab at the top of the page.

Going back to basics in my next post, with a little life update and some favourites.  So until next time, Stay Happy ♥

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99 Questions About Me Tag

Hi everyone, I thought I'd do something a little fun this week, I hope you like it. . .

1. What's your middle name?  Jane

2. What is your biggest fear?  Moths!! 

3. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?  Llangollen in North Wales, it's beautiful

4. What would you change about yourself if you could?  My bad health and my anxiety issues

5. What really makes you angry?  People being cruel to animals

6. What motivates you to work hard?  Not wanting to fail and waste my life

7. What is your favourite thing about your career?  I get to work from home, at any time of day or night, with my own home comforts and I love being able to be creative and be able to have the resources and ability to work in so many different creative areas, whether it's papercrafts, jewellery making or digital designs

8. Would you ever get a tattoo?  Yes, there's actually a few I really want now

9. What are your favourite books to read?  Fantasy and romance

10. What was the last movie you went to see and what did you think?  The last movie I saw was Triple 9 back in February I think, I only wanted to see it because my fav actor was in it but sadly his character got killed off half an hour in and I didn't really like the rest of the film :-/

11. What makes you laugh the most?  Funny collab videos on youtube, my friends and my Poodles

12. What did you want to be when you were small?  A ballet dancer, an opera singer and when I was a bit older, a lawyer! Weird

13. What is your favourite game or sport to watch and play?  Show jumping

14. Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car?  I'm really into motorbikes so definitely a bike, but I love horse riding too

15. What would you sing at Karaoke night?  Evanescence Bring Me To Life, it's my go to song!

16. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?  Very unhealthy but Hawaiian pizza, I luuurve it :-D 

17. Have you ever had a nickname/s?  Yes, I used to get called 'Summers' (because I was Buffy obsessed at college and at school I used to wear Doc Martin's & since DM is my initials, I used to get called 'Boot'!

18. In the evening, would you rather play a game, visit a relative, watch a movie, or read?  A night in with a good movie definitely

19. Would you rather win the lottery or work at the perfect job?  I think I'd have to say win the lottery because then you would have more of a choice and wouldn't have to worry about earning enough money, you could just work on what you wanted to, if that makes sense.

20. Who would you want to be stranded with on a deserted island?  Norman Reedus ;-D

 Sorry I couldn't pick just one! ;-)

21. If money was no object, what would you do all day?  Probably what I do now, crafting and blogging

22. If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?  I think the 70s were really cool, I love the clothes and the music but the 90s were pretty great too, so I'd love to go back to then

23. How would your friends describe you?  As a worrier probably lol

24. How many pillows do you sleep with?  4, I have a double bed, if I had just 2 my head would roll off either side in the night lol :-)

25. What is your favourite type of makeup to buy? I love buying lip glosses but I'm really into saving up for good brushes and eyeshadow palettes at the moment too

26. Aside from necessities, what one thing could you not go a day without?  My phone, I terrible I'm like a teenager, I'm permanently attached to it and I'm always looking stuff up on it :-)

27. Two pet peeves?  Selfish people and unnecessary bad language

28. How many pairs of shoes do you own?  Too many lol I think I have about 25 (not including slippers) :-)

29. If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?  The ability to heal

30. What are your hobbies?  Blogging (obvs), lots of different types of crafting, singing and baking

31. What's your favorite zoo animal?  They're all beautiful

32. If you could go back in time to change one thing, what would it be?  Honestly I think I would go back and deal with my anxiety, depression and lack of confidence about coping with certain situations when I first started having problems with it many years ago, because I feel like I wouldn't be as bad now and because it's gone on so long, it's now a lot harder to sort out.

33. If you could share a meal with any 4 individuals, living or dead, who would they be?  Michelle Branch, Mike Shinoda (from Linkin Park), Norman Reedus (of course) and my little granddad (he past away 12 years ago)

34. What form of public transportation do you prefer (air, boat, train, bus, car, etc.)?  Taxi's or trains, I love going on trains

35. Would you rather trade intelligence for looks or looks for intelligence?  Ideally I'd like a bit of both, but if I had to pick one, I'd pick intelligence

36. How often do you buy clothes?  Lately, every couple of weeks, there's so many sales on right now!!

37. Have you ever had a secret admirer?  No, not that I know of

38. What's your favorite holiday?  Halloween most definitely!!

39. What was the last thing you watched on TV?  I'm currently working my way through all the seasons of The Walking Dead (again) :-D  The last episode I watched was from Season 2

40. Where slippers?  Oh my gosh yes, I love slippers I love buying new slippers and I have SO many!!

41. What's your favourite type of foreign food?  Chinese

42. Are you a clean or messy person? A bit of both but I'm mostly quite tidy and organized, I like everything in it's place!

43. What was the last book you read?  I'm currently still reading The Host

44. What kitchen appliance do you use every day? The kettle, I love me PG tips :-)

45. Do you love or hate rollercoasters?  It's been a very long time since I've been on one, but I generally love them more than hate them, I like the adrenaline rush!

46. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?  "Caution: easily annoyed" lol

47. What's your favourite movie?  Seriously how can I pick just one!! Although I guess it would probably have to be Twilight

48. How old were you when you learned Santa wasn't real?  About 3, there is a story there, which I think I told you about in one of my last Christmas posts, did you see it?

49. What's the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of love?  I once listened to 'our song' every day for 2 months while we were apart, so silly and no we're not even together now! lol

50. Do you collect anything?  No not really, I obsess over many things but I don't actually collect any physical items, well does Walking Dead memorabilia count because I think that's becoming a thing with me lately!

51. What's the most unusual thing you've ever eaten?  Haggis!

52. What was your favourite subject in school?  History of fashion (at college), art an English

53. Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion?  The Goth look or maybe the 80's punk-rock vibe, that'd be cool!

54. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?  A bit of both I think, depending on the situation, my mood and who I'm with!

55. Have you ever had a surprise party (that was an actual surprise)?  Sadly no :-(

56. Are you related or distantly related to anyone famous?  My 10 times great grandfather, was Sir Christopher Wren (famous architect from the 16oo's, google him)

57. If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce?  I would ban all animal testing completely

58. Who was your favourite teacher in school and why?  I had several but I think my most favourite was Mrs. Uzachookoo (I've probably spelt that wrong!)  She was never very nice to everyone else, but she was always really lovely and kind to me :-)

59. What song would you say best sums you up?  Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne

60. If you had to describe yourself as an animal, which one would it be?  Probably a sloth lol, I love to cuddle, I look weird when I smile and I sleep way too much!

61. If you could join any past or current music group which would you want to join?  Evanescence :-)

62. How many languages do you speak?  Just English, but I know a few words of Spanish and Taiwanese!

63. Who was your first crush?  It was a guy at school who was in the year above me, I fancied him rotten and in the two years I was at that school, I only ever spoke to him once.  What a twit lol

64. What is one thing you will never do again?  Mix my drinks!

65. Who knows you the best?  Probably my 3 best friends 

66. Is your glass half full or half empty?  I try to be a 'glass half full' type of person

67. Were you ever a girl scout?  I was a brownie when I was little and then a girl guide for a year or so when I was older.

68. Favourite kind of sandwich?  I love chicken with mayo and lettuce and I also love beetroot and tomato (thanks to my granddad) :-)

69. Are you lazy?  In short, yes!  I procrastinate way too much, I try not to but there's always distractions and I have a very short attention span! :-/

70. what's your favourite breakfast?  I love marmite on toast with sliced banana.  Years ago I used to have it every single day when I was going to college

71. What is your Chinese astrological sign?  It's a horse :-)   

72. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes definitely, if you have a look at this post from last Halloween, I talk about many of the paranormal experiences I've had!

73. Do you take any vitamins daily?  Yep, vitamin D and if I'm honest, I often forget to take it!

74. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?  I think it was last Christmas, I always write to a few of my long distance friends

75. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?  If I'm staying at home, about half an hour, but if I'm going out usually about an hour

76. What do you wear to bed?  I always used to wear pajamas but then I started always getting over-heated in the night and used to just wear the T'shirt half, I've also been wearing nightshirts lately too

77. What was your first concert?  Ahh this is quite embarrassing now but I used to love Take That and I went to see them in Manchester many years ago, I think it was the first gig they had performed just after Robbie Williams left the band.  I thankfully got some musical taste after that and started going to Linking Park gigs :-)

78. Did you ever take dance lessons?  Yes when I was a young child I used to do ballet and tap classes, which I loved and years later I used to go to singing classes as well, they were the best

79. Can you swim well?  No not great, I never really learnt until my teens and even though I absolutely love being in the water and messing around, I'm not a very good swimmer.  Let's put it this way, if I was ever thrown overboard, I would probably drown!

80. Have you ever cried because you were happy?  Yes I think so, the last time was a few weeks ago after got some good news from the vet about one of our little poodles, she's been really unwell and didn't think she would be around for much longer but thankfully now things are looking better :-)

It's a job to get a good picture of Katie, because she's constantly on the go and never keeps still, I wish I had half the energy she has!

81. Would you ever have plastic surgery?  If I could afford it yes, I'm a lot happier and more confident with my body than I used to be and I've learnt to accept it for how it is, but a little boob job would certainly help, being a 'small' girl is not all it's cracked up to be!

82. Can you knit or crochet?  I used to be able to knit really well but I haven't done it for a really long time.  A friend of mine tried to teach me to crochet a couple of years ago, but wow it's hard and I just could not get the hang of it

83. What's your favourite colour?  I love lilac/purple (if you couldn't tell already!!)

84. Do you sleep with the closet doors open or closed?  Closed definitely!

85. Are you a list maker?  Oh gosh yes, all the time!!

86. What is your song of the week?  I've been listening to lots of oldies lately which has been really enjoyable, but I also heard I Know What You Did Last Summer by Shawn Mendes the other day and now it's stuck in my head on constant repeat, I do like it but it's starting to get annoying now!

87. What is your least favourite movie?  I've seen so many bad ones it's crazy, mostly horrors.  The worst one that I saw last was probably 'It Follows', it was supposed to be really scary but me and my bff were just in stitches laughing because it was so bad!

88. What movie/s could you watch over and over again and still love?  Twilight, Transformers, Boondock Saints, Dirty Dancing, The Labyrinth . . . SO many more!!!  Have a look at my Favourite Movies post, if you want to know all the ones I love best :-)

89. Last person you snogged?  My ex boyfriend before we broke up last year

90. What have you dressed up as for Halloween?  I've been an good angel, a witch (several times), a cat, a fallen angel and a devil.  But there's still loads I would love to do, I'm already planning this years costume, I love to pre-plan my costumes, I take these things seriously you know lol

91. Can you change the oil in a car?  Nope, I don't even drive

92. Are you afraid of heights?  A little

93. Do you get claustrophobic?  Not too bad, unless I'm stuck indoors for too long then I feel trapped and just need to get out

94. Do you sing in the shower?  Of course, I sing anywhere and everywhere!

95. favourite type of fruit pie?  Blackberry and apple crumble, hmmmm!! :-)

96. Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury's?  I like most of them but tend to shop mainly in Asda and Tesco.  Also love the clothes in both too!

97. Do you want to get married? Maybe

98. Favourite emoji?  Either the heart eyes (I use it a lot) or the unicorn :-)

99. Do you miss anyone right now?  Yes my little granddad, always

I hope you liked this post, if you can think of any other questions you would like to ask me, just pop them in the comments and if you fancy answering this lot, please feel free to comment with your answers or do your own blog post and send me a link when it's done :-)

Until Next Time Stay Happy ♥

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Living With IBS

Hi everyone, today I thought I'd talk about something a little different, this might not be of interest to some of you, but don't worry I'll be back with a regular beauty/lifestyle post again next week.
10 – 20% of people in the UK suffer with IBS, which is quite alarming!  But I won't bore you with loads of statistics or in depth 'TMI' details (that's what Google's for) and everyone's symptoms are different.  This is just my experience with this condition, how it affects me and how I've been dealing with it so far!  So if you'd like to find out more, please read on. . .

About a year ago I was officially diagnosed with having IBS (irritable Bowel Syndrome).  I'd been having problems with my stomach for a long time already and everything I ate made me feel sick, my dietician was (and still is) at a loss and nothing I tried seemed to help.  I'd go through bouts of being not too bad for a day or two (if I was lucky), then a week of having a huge flare-up and feeling like crap!  Waking up in the night with chronic stomach pain, constantly being in discomfort and half the time pointlessly spending time 'in the bathroom' and getting nowhere!  Every day is a constant struggle and a worry, I never know if what I decide to try and have for lunch etc is going to make me feel ill or not!  I've had to wave goodbye to many of the foods I used to enjoy and know that I may have to say goodbye to even more.  Worst of all, I've had to get used to constantly feeling sick, bloated, uncomfortable and 75% of the time, have terrible stomach pains too.  All this as well as having to deal with my usual Fibro condition and trying to live some kind of a life!! :-/

My doctor put me on a course of (a certain) tablet for a month to see if that would settle my troubles, but it only made them worse!  I knew I couldn't go on like this, I know stress has a big effect on my health but I had to find out if there was something else going on as well that was causing the problems to start with.

I've always had a very on/off relationship with cows milk since I was a baby and for many years (mostly throughout school), I was off of it completely.  But after that, I was back on it with no problems for years, until recently!  I had wondered for a while if that was being a problem again, so about 8 weeks ago I stopped having the cows milk and I've been having goats milk instead.  So far it does seemed to have helped, somewhat!  I tried cows milk again for a day after the first week and wow that was a mistake, so I think it's safe to say that was definitely causing a problem.  Although sadly not the only problem. . .

I've also been trying a glutton-free diet for the past 6 weeks to, it's been tricky (and expensive) trying to find alternative foods, but after a couple of weeks I seemed to find a good selection of products and have been having a fairly good diet.  I was actually quite happily surprised at how many nice things are available, the Tesco Free-From chocolate chip muffins are to die for!  But so far leaving off wheat and glutton doesn't seem to have made any difference and apart from feeling quite so sick all the time, I've had just as much trouble as always.

The past week (from when I'm typing this in mid June) has honestly been the worst, I've been practically in tears with the discomfort; it hurts to sit still, move around, stand up and no matter what painkillers I take, nothings helping.  I think the worst thing about it all, is the unpredictability, never knowing how I'm going to feel from one hour to the next let-alone each day.  It's a worry planning anything because I don't know how I'm going to feel or how much pain I'm going to be in and knowing painkillers don't help ease the pain really doesn't give much comfort!

I'm currently seeing a specialist at the hospital who's sending me for various tests, I'm getting more and more used to getting poked and prodded and having my blood drained on a regular basis!  But one test that I had done a couple of months ago has thrown up some possible issues and may end up being an answer to my ever-worsening ibs problems.  I have another scan this weekend and then another in a few weeks time, but even though I may not get to hear the results for a while, I will keep you updated.

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If you have any questions about my health issues or if you are suffering with ibs too and you would like to know more and think I can help or just want someone to commiserate with, please feel free to comment below or you can private message me on twitter or google+ or email at crystalsparklydreams@hotmail.co.uk.  I know this type of post is not everyone's cup of tea, but even if it just helps one person feel that they're not suffering alone, it was worth doing! :-)Until Next Time Stay Happy ♥

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