Swollen throat glands, chronic fatigue, sensitivity to light, sound, etc.

Swollen throat glands and severe sore throats, Fatigue (sometimes chronic), fever, muscle pain, aching joints, headaches, night sweats, stomach aches, sensitized skin, eyes sensitive to light, cold hands and feet.

While I cannot provide you with an answer as to what your next step should be, I can share my own experience and what works for me. Please remember everyone is different.

The doctor never found anything wrong with my throat but did feel my swollen glands. Tests have been taken, and nothing comes up. The fact is I have been to the doctor for all of these symptoms. He has tried various medications and treatments. I honestly do not know the answer. I do know how I have dealt with it and continue to work toward taking control of my daily challenges. The good news is, I feel much better.

I suffered from chills, fever, muscled pain, everything you listed. There are various things I do to help alleviate those challenges:

* I used to go through and still have some spirts of swollen throat glands and a severe sore throat. I lived on cough drops for a long time, it seems to alleviate the swelling and pain. It probably isn’t good to ingest as much as I have and do. So, please talk to your doctor about this.

* Deep heating of the muscles can be obtained by taking a hot bath or shower. The heat relaxes muscle spasms and makes you feel better for a few hours.

* There are a number of lumbar cushions, cervical pillows and certainly heating pads that will help alleviate the pain.

* Posture scans are important. I list some on my site.

* I continue to be sensitive to light and my hearing at times becomes magnified, so I turn lights very low, wear ear plugs to help with my sensitivity to sound.
* My skin requires loads of lotion, Shea butter helps my skin.

* The stomach aches have been alleviated by eating small portions of food. I have eliminated some dairy products. Start off by eliminating some food and re-introducing it. This will help you find out if she has food allergies.

* Massage her body gently to help with the joint pain. Movement is necessary, so slowly introduce stretching exercises and my prayer position stretch; I do this several times during the day. It helps, so please try it.

1. Start by holding your hands in a prayer position.

2. Raise your arms over your head keeping your hands together in a prayer position.

3. Turn your palms outward (the front of your hands are now placed together in this position).

4. Stretch your arms downward as you separate your hands bringing your elbows down and place your hands back into the prayer position.

5. Repeat (2 to 3) two to three times.

Note: Please make sure to perform this exercise within your pain-free range of motion.

Quiet time and nice soothing music helps me forget about the symptoms I experience. I hope and pray my own experience and prayers will be helpful to everyone.

God Bless,

Viv

How to make your own Heat/Cold Therapy Pads

Hello Everyone,

One of the things I learned during my Pain Management sessions was "How to make your own heat and cold therapy pads."

I know there are many of us that cannot work or have limited budgets, so here is this tip:

Ingredients:

* Thick material (this project calls for 18",but you can make the heating pad any size you want.

* Sewing machine or needle and thread

* Flax seed or wheat

* Essential oil (if you want to add it for aromatherapy), not required.

Directions:

Buy or use strong material like cotton, strong silk or cotton woven material, or canvas. Make sure the material has no give to it. You do not want it to stretch. Please remember it needs to be real thick so when the wheat is heated (and it gets pretty hot) that you don't burn yourself.

1). Cut a square about 18" each side and fold it in half so it's inside out. It will be oblong shape.

2). Stitch down one short side and the long side. A sewing machine works best as you need short stitches close together, so the wheat doesn't come out.

3). If you stitch by hand go over it again to make sure the stitches are tight.

4). Turn it the right way in so the seam is on the inside.

5). Use the Flax seed or Wheat, it needs to be the whole kernel.

6). You should fill the bag about 1/2 way, then stitch the one side that is left, sealing it tight.

7). If you decide to use essential oils, sprinkle on the material for aromatherapy.

8). You will need to microwave it about two minutes. I have had a couple of microwaves, and they seem to heat differently. So please test it out a few minutes at a time to see how much time you need it in your microwave. Just be very careful not to overheat.

It can also be placed in the refrigerator or freezer if the cold therapy is better for you. I personally prefer heat.

This step is not necessary, but you might want to try it:

Try to divide the bag into sections. Maybe in 4- put in 1/4 of your seeds then stitch the bag 1/4 of the way up, drop in another 1/4 of the seeds and stitch those in, repeating for the rest, so you will have 4 compartments full of seeds, instead of one big one. This is keep your seeds fairly distributed throughout your hand made heating pad.

You can try making these in different sizes and shapes. You might want to make a horseshoe shape for your neck, or a small pillow to hold while you sleep, big square for your back, etc. The key is to make sure you have enough seeds to fill 1/2 of the bag. It takes about 1lb for an 18 inch bag.

Why spend money buying these products, when you can make them yourself. They also make nice gifts. I hope you enjoy yours.

I hope and pray this information helps someone today! Have a pain and fatigue free day:)

Fibro Viv

How to give yourself a back massage

If you find that you need to massage your back and do not have anyone to help you, try the following:

You will need a pillowcase, a tennis ball or two.

1) Place tennis balls in the pillowcase,
2) Hold the end of the pillowcase over your shoulder and stand against a clear wall,
3) Move the pillowcase accordingly to be placed where your back aches,
4) Move yourself against the wall and you will feel the tennis balls working on your back.

Neat trick. It helps when there isn't anyone available to help you. I hope this helped you.

Fibro Viv