Well, I must have been a Fibro Fog because I forgot about the Fibromyalgia/Chronic Pain Sleevers Forum. I've been posting on my blog. Now that the blogs are down, I realize I should have been posting here also. Anyway, I've been busy catching up on Fibro and I recently attended the Fibromyalgia Health and Healing retreat hosted by the Fibromyalgia Coalition International in Excelsior Springs, MO. This was a three day event. Day One of the Fibromyalgia Health and Healing Retreat was interesting. There were motivational speakers who talked about their personal journey to health. There was a music therapist who conducted an active presentation and demonstrated how we can use music as a form of biofeedback. Day Two of the Retreat was just as informative and fun as day one. There was a nutrition workshop that reopened my eyes about the fact that we are truly what we eat. It made me realize that I have been having rebounding affects brought on by my diet. You see, I'm one of those people who will follow a healing diet, eliminate those things that I have sensitivities or allergies to, get to feeling better and then go back to eating what was making me sick and wonder why I'm having flares. This was an ah-ah moment for me. As a Fibromyalgia/Chronic Pain Sleever, I've finally moved into the soft food phase and I've been eating a lot of mashed potatoes. Potatoes belong to a group of food called nightshades. Speakers at the retreat pointed out that nightshades induce pain in people with Fibromyalgia and various forms of arthritis. My group then went off for relaxing massages and dips in the hot tub and dry sauna. Day two ended with a gala dinner and a bidding war over a hot/cold therapy basket during the auction between my sister and me. We got all the way up to $95 dollars and someone else placed the winning bid at $105. It was fun and now I'm just going to have to make myself [and my sister] baskets for Christmas. Day Three of the Retreat was a gourment cooking demonstration. Dr. Gloria Gilbere [Dr. G.] made a nightshade free Gnocchi. This Gnocchi was made of squash and cornmeal. It tasted like a tamale and was a little heavy for me but my sister and and friend Rosemary liked it.

I am new to the group and see there isn't much activity here. I am in hopes that it will pick up in popularity. It seems there are tons of people who have fibromyalgia, so why aren't they part of this group??!! I am about to be sleeved on Jan 20, 2014, and am getting really nervous. I know that surgery is traumatic to your body, and that can cause flare ups. Just wondering if it affected anyone that way. I guess the pain meds will counter it, but just wondered if there were any symptoms that showed up. I would love to hear your thoughts on this!!