Laying a Fondation

Having grown up in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas in the summer isn't a foreign concept to me. In fact, with movies and books most often representing the concept of a "White Christmas", I have always wanted to experience the fantastical phenomenon. 

However, snow is cold. Very cold, I am led to believe. I have a vague inkling of the temperature, as when I was a teenager the weather conditions got really cold and really wet and we had sleet on the higher areas surrounding the town. 

Now, I imagine there is a difference between sleet and the white powdery snow that is portrayed in the movies, but, the concept of COLD, and WET still remains. 

Our town, and in fact our country is not generally equipped to handle plummeting temperature. There is no central heating, unless you are among the privileged few who have had the resources to install central heating and solar panels, so there is very little respite when the temperature plummets. As it is outdoors, so shall it be indoors, with the exception of the wind and rain, for the most part. 

With this in mind, I truly feel for those who are unable to find shelter from the elements on cold nights, and I am glad that we don't usually get snow in winter, because although there is something romantically appealing about snow angels and snow men, the reality of the cold is harsh and cruel to those caught in her grips.

With that in mind, although it often feels freezing here, I am glad that our winters, although painful for me and others like me, isn't as harsh as some. 

As I look forward to the endless summers, even knowing that we will be facing some cold patches, it all seems so much more manageable, somehow, seeing an end in sight, or at least the hope of an end to this endless pain, shines a light on even the worse of days. 

One of the things I am most looking forward to about our adventure, is being somewhere warm on my birthday. Each year my birthday seems to fall on one of the coldest, and windiest days of the year in August. Winter should be wrapping up by then, I think, but it always seems to have a final say right around that time. 

But in the meanwhile, I shall begin to lay the foundation for this little medical experiment:

I will begin to keep a record of the temperature and humidity, and track how each scenario affects me, but first, in order for it to make sense to anyone, I will outline what it is that I will be monitoring within myself and how that relates to Fibromyalgia. 

According to Painscale.com Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome that involves widespread muscle pain (myalgias) and joint pain (arthralgias). While there are no blood or imaging tests to diagnose fibromyalgia, it can be diagnosed by a clinician with guidelines outlined by the American College of Rheumatology. These guidelines include two main scoring measures to diagnose fibromyalgia: the Widespread Pain Index (WPI) and the Symptom Severity (SS) scale.

Now, the Widespread Pain Index covers the whole body. It measures the presence of pain in 19 areas of the body and each affected area receives a point. So the index works on a 0-19 scale. 

• Right and left jaw
• Right and left shoulder girdle
• Right and left upper arm
• Right and left lower arm
• Right and left hip/buttock
• Right and left upper leg
• Right and left lower leg
• Upper and lower back
• Neck
• Chest
• Abdomen

The Symptom Severity Scale measure how bad the pain is in each of these areas, Quantifies the severity of the fatigue, Tiredness upon waking, cognitive impairment, and gives a point to each of the following; depression, lower abdominal pain and headaches. This is measured over the course of the preceding week. 

• 0 – No problem
• 1 – A slight or mild problem (generally mild or intermittent)
• 2 – A moderate or considerable problem (often present and/or at a moderate level)
• 3 – A severe, continuous, life-disturbing problem

My record will begin on Friday 21 July 2023. Tune in next week to see how week one of recording this has gone. 

I will be giving a general overview of each week here on the blog, and an in depth look at the temperatures, and day to day WPI and SS scale measurements will be available on Patreon for a deeper look.

(Please note I have recorded this for diagnostic purposes before, but after a while of living through it, keeping track of everything with no hope of any end in sight seemed pointless and was very negatively impacting my mental health, this time, I know there is hope for improvement, and so I am eager to provide a record of what works for anyone else that it may help.)