Time for a Makeover--Free!

Dear FMS Friends of the Upstate,          

Mel & Lon on a joy ride

We are planning a car pool trip to the Gaffney Outlet Mall shop for Bare Escentuals for a free makeover. If you are interested in a new look for your make-up and need a little perk for the summer, please join us at 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM on Saturday, June 11. Since we will be on the road, please have lunch before you come.  Car pool will leave from my home address since I have plenty of room for parking in my drive.

Our tea party was great fun and I am attaching some of the pictures that were taken. We will do this again next year in April for sure! We had yummy snacks, herbal teas, and wore our finest old-fashioned wide-brimmed hats!

Anyone for Tea?

In the news, it looks like there aren't any new drugs coming out specifically for FMS or CFS, but there is some interesting basic research being done on the cognitive deficits (fibro fog) we have. I can attest to that since last week I locked myself out of my house to go get in my car, not once, but twice in the same day! It's exasperating, isn't it?

There is also some evidence that increased Vitamin D can help relieve some of our pain symptoms. If you are already taking Calcium with D, you may want to add additional D vitamins to your regimen of pills or spend about 15 minutes each day in the sun (if you can stand the heat). The D vitamins are easily available at Costco, Sam's, and pharmacy chains and aren't very expensive.

For those in Spartanburg, there is a very inexpensive Low Impact Aerobics class being offered this summer at St. Mark's Methodist Church (near Woodland Heights 

Mary G. at the Tea

Elementary School). It is on Tuesday and Thursday each week from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Beatrice (Bee) is the instructor and does a great job. You should bring a bottle of cold water, your own hand weights, and $1 each time to offset Bee's gasoline to and from the class. We either work from folding chairs or stand (no floor work).

Hope to see you for our June Makeover Party. RSVP to me by email at drgreer@charter.net .

Me at the Tea

New Organization for FM and CF and FM Awareness Day

Dear Friends,

It's great to see new 501c3 organizations pop up on behalf of FM and CFS. This year a new one was launched out of Utah. the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA), a nonprofit 501c3 whose mission is to build a united patient and medical community that will execute awareness and advocacy programs regarding access to care, scientific research, diagnosis and treatment for people suffering with fibromyalgia and chronic pain. 

NFMCPA will also help the  FM community by focusing on increasing new scientific findings and research about fibromyalgia and its relationship to overlapping chronic pain conditions, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), migraine headache, rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, Interstitial Cystitis, Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS), chronic pelvic pain, TMJ and other life altering pain illnesses. 

“I am very honored to lead the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association, which will continue to build upon the philosophies established by the NFA and other organizations concerned with chronic pain by seeking contributions from thought leaders in this diverse field,” said Jan Favero Chambers, founder and president of the NFMCPA and a founding member of the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) Leaders Coalition, Executive Committee.

I am adding their web site to our list for this blog. Visit it and learn more about the NFMCPA.

Blessings this Easter to all of you!

Linda B. Greer

Tea Time, Ladies and Gents!

The April FMS meeting will be delayed to the 16th and at a later time: 2:30 PM. We will be having high tea with whatever sides for tea you bring. We'll get out the good china and do it up right for Easter and Springtime!

Be sure to wear a nice dress and comfortable shoes. Don't forget your wide-brimmed hat as well. Show off your recipe for dainty and tasty tea-time morsels and share your recipe if you like. If you bring a guest, you will earn a prize.

RSVP to Linda Greer very soon. 863-278-2018. Hope to see you then at my home for a "cuppa tea".

The Holidays are Upon Us--Be Proactive!

Try not to be like the Mad Hatter and wait until Christmas eve to do all your "last minute" items. Christmas will be a much more relaxed holiday if you pace yourself now and get a little bit done each day. I know we all tend to put off until tomorrow what we could do today, but we all pay the price eventually when things pile up "upon us".

One thing families can do is decide together which of many good things to attend or do for Christmas in advance. If each person gets to list several events, then if everyone gets at least one event off their individual list as part of the family events, it's a win-win situation.

For those with lots of adult children and grands, the best thing is to inform all concerned you are staying home for Christmas and will have open house hours 10 AM to 4 PM on a given day (or two days if needed). That way, each family may be able to drop in when his/her schedule permits and gifts can be exchanged.

For December, our support group will not be having a regular meeting, but instead a lunch date at Applebee's (Rt. 29 near Kohl's and Hobby Lobby) on Saturday, December 11 at 12:30 PM until 2:00 PM.  There will be no meeting in January since we will all be recovering from the happy u-stress of the holidays.

Pray for one another without ceasing so we can be one in His Love.

Linda Greer
Volunteer Support Group Leader

Interesting Statistics from a Large Scale Study on Symptom Priorities

REMEMBER: Next Saturday, Oct. 9, we meet at 12:30 PM at
my house for our Spartanburg monthly meeting! Bring a small
plate of healthy finger foods, folks. RSVP if you're coming.
drgreer@charter.net
________________________________________________________
FMS Symptom Treatment Priorities (in order of selection frequency)*

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pain (90%)
•Disturbed sleep
•Pain or discomfort
•Skin is sensitive to touch
•Difficulty walking
----------------------------------------------------------------
Fatigue (89%)
•Feeling tired
•Difficulty thinking
•Having to push yourself to do things
•Having a lack of energy
----------------------------------------------------------------
Domestic (42%)
•Difficulty being sexually intimate with your partner
•Inability to make plans, confident you'll follow-through
•Strain on your relationship with spouse
•Impact on your family
----------------------------------------------------------------
Impairment (29%)
•Driving limitations
•Interference with work or school
•Interference with daily tasks
----------------------------------------------------------------
Mood-related or "Affective" (21%)
•Feeling anxious
•Feeling isolated
•Feeling depressed
----------------------------------------------------------------
Social (9%)
•Impact on your social life
•Feeling like the pace of your life is slower than most other people

*From an FM e-News Alert, Karen Thoronson, 10/1/2010

Poetry for My FMS Friends

 

                                                      “A Prayer For Those Suffering”

May Thy grace be found sufficient

For the suff’ring of the hour;

May they know Thy strength in weakness

And the fullness of Thy pow’r.

May they know Thy lovingkindness

May they feel Thy tender touch,

      In the hours of their suff’ring

Be it little, be it much.

May they sense Thy Spirit’s closeness

In the days and nights of pain;

May they know, Lord, that You trust them

With the suff’rings You ordain.

               

               

May they rest upon this promise:

               “I will never thee forsake!”

              
               May they see throughout their suff’rings

               That You make not one mistake.

  

May they wait on Thee for answers

               Which will come in Heav’n above,

          All the while trusting daily

          In the comforts of Thy love.

© Written by WDB on Sept. 16, 2010

while praying for Barbara Ledbetter

 (going "home" soon) and family.

Share a Receipe: September 11, Saturday at 12:30 PM

That's right! It's just about a week away from our kick-off for the regular monthly meetings. Help us out and bring a recipe and sample for some healthy finger food. With the holidays coming we all need to keep the pounds off and eat well; so if you have a tasty and healthy snack you want to share, make some and bring a card with the recipe printed on it along with your name. I will scan them and send them to everyone on our email list.

The battle on finding a unique virus at the root of CFS is still ongoing, but my own opinion is that it may be a different virus or more than one virus causing problems within a specific population. For instance, there was a great outbreak of CFS in Britain last century. Perhaps if it was a viral problem, it may be specific to the common genetic code of the British and a different virus for a population of people, for example, in South Carolina. I wish there could be some consensus on this. My hope is that our researchers look for more than one single virus for all people groups.

I hope you are enjoying the benefits of lower temperatures and lower electric bills, too. Hope you are getting some exercise and will be at our upcoming meeting. Let me know by email (drgreer@charter.net)if you will be attending with your recipe in hand! (A low calorie fruit smoothie sounds good right now.)

Yours,
Linda B. Greer
NFA Volunteer Group Facilitator