Imagine Chronic Migraines and Fibromyalgia in the 1950s

This morning on the Today Show I saw this story about an 8th grader, Maya Van Wagenen, who spent a year following a 1950's guide called Betty Cornell's Teen-Age Popularity Guide. She wore the clothes (including a girdle) and followed all the advice about proper grooming and behavior as an experiment and then wrote her own book about it called Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek.

The concept is incredibly interesting, so much so that I actually want to read both books and consume every little detail. This time in history has always fascinated me - that early sound of rock n roll, the dresses, the hats, the hair, the interiors, the architecture, the projection of that ideal "modern" family. I am speaking only of the images and not of the reality, of course.

When I think about the expectations put on women of that time I can't help but wonder how I would have managed if I was living back then. Living in a time when nobody had ever even heard of fibromyalgia and migraines were considered nothing more than something that happened to women who couldn't manage their stress or who were overreacting. I can't even imagine what people would have thought about a woman suffering from chronic migraines.

Women were expected to be fully pulled together at all times, hair done, make-up perfect, dressed up and wearing nice shoes (aka uncomfortable shoes). They were expected to keep a perfect house, do all the cooking and manage the children, while maintaining that perfect attire.

The Donna Reed Show - DVDTalk.com

As a kid watching the Donna Reed Show it all looked very idyllic but as an adult suffering from chronic pain I can't help but feel overwhelmed at the very notion of trying to manage my illnesses back then. Sure, there are some aspects of the time that would have worked in my favor. For example, women were expected to get married and stay at home taking care of everything - so I would never have to explain why I don't work outside of the home to anyone.

But, mostly I just see additional challenges. I can't imagine being in slacks or a dress all day every day. I wouldn't be able to go to the grocery store in sweats. I wouldn't be able to be the perfect hostess and throw a fancy dinner party. I wouldn't be able to keep a perfect house. Our house most likely wouldn't have air conditioning. I wouldn't have any rescue meds or my muscle relaxers, which help me to function at the low level I do now. I doubt I would have found a husband who was so understanding of my limitations and willing to put up with me being a very imperfect housewife. There was no internet back then, no online support systems or information exchanges. I wouldn't even know that there are others out there like me. Basically my quality of life would be terrible.

As much as it sucks to live with chronic migraines and fibromyalgia, it would have been so much worse back in the day. I sure hope future generations will think the same thing about our this time now as that would mean we have found better ways to treat and prevent the worst of these illnesses.

April Migraine Blog Carnival Now Available

The April edition of the Headache Disorder and Migraine Blog carnival is now available. This month there wasn't a specific theme but rather participants submitted their favorite migraine related blog posts since the last carnival. Check out all the great posts and get information on how you can participate in next month's carnival.

My First Wall Collage

One thing I was certain of even before we moved into our new house - I knew I wanted the walls of our living space to be exclusively adorned with VanGogh prints. Not only is he a fellow migraineur  but I could spend hours on end looking at his paintings, in fact I have. I never tire of their presence.

I put these two on the wall shortly after moving in, simply to have something up on that wall. Nothing worse than white walls with nothing hanging.

I'm talking about the two images on the far wall - they clearly don't belong on this wall and don't belong next to each other. With some time I also came to realize that they actually don't even belong in this room. This is when I decided that I wanted to do a collection of images on this wall. Years ago I had picked up a book of frameable VanGogh prints in anticipation of the day I would want to hang them. That day has come.

Being a complete newbie to wall collages I was feeling pretty intimidated at first. What does a type A personality do in such situations? The answer is simple - lots of careful thought and planning. Here are the steps I took: 

1st - I picked out the images I wanted to use.

2nd - I bought one frame and one mat and framed one of the images to make sure I liked it.

3rd - I used this frame to create 6 paper templates of the exact right size.

4th - I then taped the paper templates to the wall and moved them around until I felt like I had found the perfect layout. 

5th - Now certain about the whole idea I bought the rest of the frames and mats. 

6th - While placing the images behind the mats I discovered that a couple of my images were too small to fit into the mat opening so I had to switch them out for other images. Thankfully I love all of the VanGogh prints so it was no big deal to switch them out. However, I was pretty surprised that since all the images were in the same book that they were not more uniform. 

7th - I then spent hours measuring, marking, checking and double checking to make sure everything was level as I hung them. You see each frame required two nails and the little tabs that they hung from were not all in the same place so it hanging them took A LOT of time.

Well worth it. I love how it draws your eye upward and helps to showcase the vaulted ceiling. One of the images needs to be moved about 1/4" to the right but I haven't yet decided if it bothers me enough to try and fix it. My husband says that he doesn't notice it and doubts others will. I guess I'll find out next weekend when we have some family over.

Now I don't feel like it is quite complete. A big part of me thinks adding one more horizontal image as an offshoot to the right of the collage would make the whole thing feel a little more complete. That space above the TV needs the attention, don't you think? For now this will have to do. I need some time to recover from yesterday's lengthy hanging session. Plus, other projects need my attention as I prepare for visitors. 

Whimsy Wednesday

I'm a big Big Bang Theory fan. As much as I liked the show from the start, the addition of Amy has really taken it to a  whole new level. Have a great day!

Accessorizing For My Chronic Pain

Design is important. Okay, so it's not as important as food, shelter and safety but it certainly plays a big role in how we feel and the way we react to objects and our environment. As my thoughts have turned to decorating the interior of our new house I've run into a bit of a dilemma. You see, I subscribe to the notion that a well accessorized room can really make a big difference. It adds visual interest and is the finishing touch that makes a nice room look amazing.

Source: InteriorDesignPro.org

No doubt the books, vases, plants, pillows and other collected items add a great deal of interest in this picture. I love it. I really do. But as I think about what sort of accessorizing I want to do in the various rooms around my house I'm really torn between my love of accessorizing and my desire to live more simply so that I can better manage maintaining our home as a person living with chronic pain.

For example. Our master bathroom is likely to be the first room I tackle. Right now it is very basic. There is a vanity, mirror, one towel rack, tub and toilet. I would like to add another towel rack and some shelves. I would like to accessorize the shelves with pretty soaps, bath salts, body sponges and other pretty bath like items. I would also like to place a vase with some eucalyptus on the vanity - I love eucalyptus.

I get this pretty picture in my head of how I want it to look and almost as quickly as the image appears I start thinking about what a pain in the butt it will be to try to keep all this crap dusted and clean. After all I barely have the energy, even on the best of days, to do the basic cleaning stuff. Part of me fears that I won't be able to keep it all looking nice.

Further complicating my thoughts on the matter is my desire to really simplify. As much as I believe beauty for the sake of beauty is worth while, I feel this inner desire to just keep things simple. I want to accessorize with items that have utility and find a way to beautify the everyday items around the house and coordinate them with the larger space. No sooner do I feel this desire and suddenly I remember how comforting and pleasant it is to be around items that are just beautiful.

Some Final Thoughts
Design magazines, books and shows tend to accessorize using generic things like empty boxes, vases, books with fancy covers that nobody is going to read, statues and trays with a random collection of stuff on them. While this can make for beautiful pictures I don't know that it takes into account the living that happens in a home. It makes no sense to me to place a tray of random stuff on a bench or at the foot of my bed just because it looks nice there. IF you have a bench at the foot of your bed or in your entryway then keep it clear so that it can be used as a bench. Otherwise, why bother with the bench at all?

Whatever the accessories end up being, I want my home to be personal and specific to us. That means taking into account our taste, our lifestyle and even my chronic migraines and fibromyalgia. It's official, there is not a single part of my life that isn't effected by living with chronic pain.

What I Didn't Know About Being Online

Source: Chappatte, International Herald Tribune

I want to get a rain barrel or two to collect rain water from the downspouts around the house. I love the idea of conserving water for later use on the lawn and in our future garden. Being curious about how it works and what it might cost I went online and searched several sights. Later that day I logged onto facebook and to my surprise my newsfeed contained an ad for rain barrels. What the what?!?! How did facebook know that I was just searching for rain barrels?

Creepy.

I know that companies are doing everything they can these days to target their advertisements to the right people. Sounds reasonable to me and maybe even mutually beneficial. In that spirit I understand why I get ads for master's degree social work programs on facebook, because I told facebook about my bachelor degree in social work. What really surprised me was that, while signed out of facebook, my Google search was somehow tracked or recorded and accessed by facebook. How did they do it?

I'm not exactly doing nefarious things online and don't really have anything to hide. It's not terrible to see ads for items or services you might want to buy. BUT I don't know how I feel about all of this level of shared information. If facebook can access it, who else can? I may not mind companies using this to personalize the ads I see but what other info is being collected, by who and for what purpose? It seems like it could be a slippery slope.

Clearly I don't even know who all has access to what I'm doing online. As someone who spends a great deal of time online, this bothers me. I tend to be very careful about my online behavior. I don't click on random links or shop online or store personal data. I use anti-virus and spyware protections. I always keep my computer's camera covered when I'm not using it. I never e-file my taxes. Frankly, the precautions I take might sound a bit extreme to the general population but I just want to limit my exposure to violations. That being said, it's pretty darn hard to protect yourself against violations that you can't even imagine.

Whimsy Wednesday

Here are some cat clips to make you smile and maybe even laugh a little on this Wednesday. Have a great day!