My thermostat's broken!

 

Once I passed menopause, I thought I would be free of hot flushes and sweaty nights, waking up in a bed of sweat and feeling nauseous.

However, fate was not kind to me and as soon as I finished the menopause, I became ill with fibromyalgia.

To be honest, I am never at a normal temperature. On blood thinners for heart stents and antiphospholipid syndrome (or sticky blood), I feel the cold keenly and on any given day while everyone in my home wants to turn the heating off or down, I am there pleading my case for more heat.

Ten minutes after the heat is put up for my benefit, I have to turn it off again. I feel sick- I am sweaty and unwell.

About an hour before I go to bed, I turn my electric blanket on as I feel the cold so much. I sink into the warmth as it soothes my fibro muscle and spinal pain. A couple of hours later, I wake, sweaty, nauseous and out of sorts.

I strip the minkie blankets off but I feel cold so I put some back. Five minutes later, I am hot again and I stick one leg out of the blankets and fall sleep again.

This cycle of hot/cold repeats through the night. I am turning like a rotisserie chicken! Thanks to fibro, my thermostat's broken.

One leg out, one in!

So today we signed a new lease for another year at our little country cottage. We love it here and if one has to be in lockdown like we are, there is no better place for it. 

Because we have cold winters here, we have bought an electric portable heater with realistic flames like the one we have in our living room.  So as we still have cold days in October, I am hoping the heater comes soon. The cold is the only down side of living in this little cottage. 

With my fibromyalgia, I feel the cold especially and some days I feel like I can't warm up. Sometimes I go to bed with my electric blanket just to warm up.

Anyone who suffers from fibromyalgia know that our thermostat is broken. We act like someone who has a fever: we are hot, then cold, then hot again. It's a conundrum as well as a nuisance. Like so many symptoms of fibromyalgia, there's no real explanation as to why.

I used to think it was because I am on blood-thinners for my antiphospholipid syndrome and stents. That was until I joined a really helpful online group for fibromyalgia sufferers called Fibro Blogger Directory. 

There the other members shared about this and many other fibromyalgia symptoms and I quickly learned that I was not the only one with a broken thermostat who slept with one leg out and one in the covers.

 

Painted in to a corner

So we visited our doctor last week and he asked us if we wanted the Covid 19 vaccine. With both of us with weak hearts, diabetic and obese, plus being older he told us we should consider it.

Well, we have considered it. With ordinary flu vaccines, both of us had a really bad reaction to it, and we both swore we wouldn't have another one. So we declined.

We pointed this out to him, plus the added problem with my blood being sticky and my propensity to make clots, it seems too risky. Even with Clopidogrel and aspirin blood thinners which I am on for life.

The doctor said if I wanted it that he would consult with my specialist who deals with my antiphospholipid syndrome. When I told him I didn't have one, he said that he would have to refer me to one and take it from there.

I asked if he was planning to have the vaccine and he said he and all in his clinic had already had it. I asked him which one. He replied AstraZeneca. 

Now AstraZeneca has been ceased in some European countries because it seems to be linked to many cases of blood clots.

As an older person, I would be given AstraZeneca here in Australia to leave the other vaccines for those under 50 who may be at greater risk of blood clots. 

With severe muscle pain already from fibromyalgia, I can do without feeling even worse. Especially for a disease that has a 98% survival rate if you are unlucky enough to catch it in the first place.

So we declined and the doctor was OK with that. For the moment. Because I can foresee in the near future that there will be more pressure on people to be vaccinated, especially as more vaccines become available.

I will never agree to being vaccinated and it's OK now, but with a muted message on Twitter from our Prime Minister that "certain things will have to be done to ensure all are vaccinated" and revealing that even Australian citizens may not be able to return to Australia if unvaccinated, the die is cast for some coersion in complying.

We will be standing our ground on this experimental vaccine, but we feel that it's only a matter of time before we are ordered to comply and are painted in to a corner.