Tricks for Old Man Winter

General General TN & GPN (Old Site)
1

Old man winter has finally showed up around here in Oregon with the rain, cold, and wind. It’s making me crazy and horribly grouchy. The wind is like a huge hot branding iron on me cheek bone, and rain drops travel a million mile per hour as razor blades. To top of my face pain the cruddy fibromyalgia is making every joint and tissue molecule feel like its exploding. If had my choice I’d become a hermit, but life must go on and I have go outside of my house.

Enough with my whining. Since its that time of year what are some of your tricks about going outside and dealing with colder tempatures?
I’ve got a jacket with am extra huge hoodie to help with light breezes. The umbrella to help with the rain, or I did till this last Friday when the wind jus destroyed it. Also I always park my car in the garage now and don’t get out till the garage door is shut to avoid the weather. Im sure other must have better tips or ideas then me, so lets hear them! Pretty please and thank you:)

2

Thank God I live in Florida, but I despise AC blowing in my face, can't imagine cold winter weather and being able to tolerate it. Cover your neck and face, I do it just for the AC we need here. Funny idea, I used a pair of panties and pinned them so I could cover up my face but peek out with my eyes, it helped!! What I really need is one of those knitted head coverings for winter, I am from Iowa, so I know winter. You seem determined to not let this conquer you, I try the same, some whining is fine, you can whine all day to me if you need too. Granny

3

OMG Granny! I am laughing so hard thinking about you having panties on your face! Sorry, I know it's not really funny, but at the same time, it is. I have thought of using a ski mask, but at the same time, you can go around with one all the time...........someone would think you were up to no good! I will just pull my hood tight and see if that helps. If not, I MAY just try that panty thing. ;-)

Granny said:

Thank God I live in Florida, but I despise AC blowing in my face, can't imagine cold winter weather and being able to tolerate it. Cover your neck and face, I do it just for the AC we need here. Funny idea, I used a pair of panties and pinned them so I could cover up my face but peek out with my eyes, it helped!! What I really need is one of those knitted head coverings for winter, I am from Iowa, so I know winter. You seem determined to not let this conquer you, I try the same, some whining is fine, you can whine all day to me if you need too. Granny

4

I too am laughing at panty face ;-) just the laugh I needed. I always have a scarf with me, and I do just stay inside and become a hermit as much as I can. I hate thet the winter is here. I will be looking for new ideas on how to cope thanks for asking!!

5

This will be my first winter with TN and I am looking forward to hearing what tips and tricks others share. I walk to work and wear a scarf everytime I leave the house. Any other tips?

6

I have many scarves too!! I wear one to church because the AC is really cold. The last time I went I put on my head and I am a Baptist, so I may have looked Muslim but I don't care what anyone thinks. I already look so funny looking after losing 3 to 4 inches of my height from failed lumbar surgery. I have no lumbar spine, no waist, bent over a little and walk with a cane. Normal clothes do not fit me right, but I don't care what I look like anymore. When I was a young woman, I was very blonde, petite, athletic build and strikingly beautiful, ok , I am not being vane, I passed it on to my daughter. Men would not leave me alone, I was stalked, nearly raped 4 times and all my husband's best friends would not stop hitting on me. I remained faithful to my husband for over 30 years, he died in '07, we had separated because of my disability and I set him free to love another. It did not work out and he committed suicide on St. Patrick's Day after a drinking binge, anger and jealousy, plus an argument with the woman he was in love with asked for a break.

That's a lot of info, sorry, but back to head scarves, and face masks, you are right about being thought to be a suspicious person about to do a crime! We do need to laugh, sometimes it hurts to laugh, but laugh, we have to try and view our world and life "through the eyes of pain". Granny

7



shepherdgirl said:

I too am laughing at panty face ;-) just the laugh I needed. I always have a scarf with me, and I do just stay inside and become a hermit as much as I can. I hate thet the winter is here. I will be looking for new ideas on how to cope thanks for asking!!

8

I replied to Kari's page about the panties and whatever it takes to keep cold air from hitting your face. Laugh, laughter is good. I have been dealing with this facial pain for a long time, but I had a remission for almost 20 years, but when it first stated I always said to myself I have to figure out how to enjoy this world "through the eyes of pain". Granny

9

I have a full face mask that I wear to walk my dogs and I do find that it helps as breathing in cold air will trigger an attack. It looks pretty weird but it is cold where I live and at 5:00 a.m. no one is out! Other than that I try to avoid going out and since I am not a winter person anyways and I work from home it doesn't bother me that much. I don't think I am going to try the underwear on my head but I too enjoyed the laugh!

10

i love it granny, nice sense of humour. i have been asked if i was a muslim once and another time they asked if i had some work done. i just nodded. i tried to alter a welding hat but the wind came in the sides. my husband says i need an astronaut bubble hat with oxygen and a way to control the temperature in the bubble hat. perfect, now get me one. lol i have to cover from ac as well, any moving air really. keep up the humour, we need it. jacqueline

Granny said:

I have many scarves too!! I wear one to church because the AC is really cold. The last time I went I put on my head and I am a Baptist, so I may have looked Muslim but I don't care what anyone thinks. I already look so funny looking after losing 3 to 4 inches of my height from failed lumbar surgery. I have no lumbar spine, no waist, bent over a little and walk with a cane. Normal clothes do not fit me right, but I don't care what I look like anymore. When I was a young woman, I was very blonde, petite, athletic build and strikingly beautiful, ok , I am not being vane, I passed it on to my daughter. Men would not leave me alone, I was stalked, nearly raped 4 times and all my husband's best friends would not stop hitting on me. I remained faithful to my husband for over 30 years, he died in '07, we had separated because of my disability and I set him free to love another. It did not work out and he committed suicide on St. Patrick's Day after a drinking binge, anger and jealousy, plus an argument with the woman he was in love with asked for a break.

That's a lot of info, sorry, but back to head scarves, and face masks, you are right about being thought to be a suspicious person about to do a crime! We do need to laugh, sometimes it hurts to laugh, but laugh, we have to try and view our world and life "through the eyes of pain". Granny

11

I did make it to church this Sunday, my scarf too! I am getting some mixed results with the tegretol. Just started last Wednesday, a low dose and then I elevate slowly over the next month to 200 mg. a day, maybe 400. Anyway, I am having a few days of subdued pain, the mask of where it all hits still remains but interestingly this cold sensation has decreased some. One day my face was not so cold, but I was still having the right side spasms into my jaw. And bam, I got a full blown hit with a migraine that made me think my head was going to explode, I get the jabs and pokes of pain in intermittment waves. Sometimes it is difficult to chew and my ears feel plugged. There is still a feeling like I have been clubbed on the side of my head and face, right side only. So perhaps the tegretol is starting to quiet this monster, however I have to be watched carefully with blood work for kidney failure and I may get the swelling in the ankles and feet. I already have that from the spinal cord injury I have at T-11, called tethered-cord, not born with this, got this from a cyst that developed at the tip of a pain pump implanted in 95 and it had to go in 99, paralysis of my right foot started, the cyst was compressing my spinal cord.

I have tried it all for chronic pain, I dislike drugs but this is the first step in controlling this type of pain, I just hope I can tolerate the tegretol.

I left my service early after the minister did his sermon and went to the nursery to visit my grandchildren. My 2 year old grandson always greets me with a long welcome, "Grannnny!" I stayed with his group and found out the woman who has been taking care of this group needs the help. At first my grandson would not share me but then he did. The woman who takes care of the 2 year olds is challenged mentally and wow, she yells at these kids. One little boy would not sit for her but he did for me with a will you please and thank you nicely request and came back to sit for me numerous times. I have been asked to volunteer in that group and hope I can keep a commitment. I have worked with babies to 3 years of age so I know what to expect and how they behave. I got lots of hugs when I said good bye so I guess I will be back. It is so hard to want to do something, the gifting of my time with children, and have this thing keep me away. I know we all struggle with this, do we want to hide under a blanket and stay in bed or get out and have more quality in our lives.

With this thing, I sometimes find if I do go out and get away I do not perceive it as badly as it is. Maybe the happiness in challenging yourself with something you enjoy doing gets all those natural pain killers we have working too.

It is blustery in Florida, the wind is 20 to 30 mph. because of that storm, not to cold yet, but the cooler weather is coming, something we all look forward to after a long humid summer. We usually have a few days of the wind blowing and temps down but then it warms nicely to about 70, that is a typical winter day here. There are days of highs only reaching into the 50's but we have that wind, and it is a damp cold. Sooo, all of you who have the snow, sure Florida is great, no complaints here, but we do get some kind of winter, snow is rare.

I love this blog, sharing this with all who suffer and understand truly helps you not feel so alone, it is such a weird condition to describe to friends and family, they just don't get it and you get that feedback, "it's all in your head". It is all in your head, darnit, it is!! Granny

12

Granny you are hilarious XD

As for a scarf, i like scarves but when they slip down and the weather is snowing (yes its already begun here in norway, Nooooo) i like to wear a skii buff over my mouth, nose and neck in addition to a good ol scarf.

Dont know what a skii buff is? let me find you a picture..its like a headband for ppl who skii but doubles up as neck or face warmer : http://skitrax.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Buff-DSC_3489a1.jpg. You may think you have a knitted tube scarf that does the same but..i find that knitted things are like seives letting the cold breeze through so something thermal or with fleece inside is best.

:)

13

Yes it has to be soft, cuz anything else would feel like sandpaper to me. Great suggestion Mangamel!!! I use my soft blanket in the house. I'll see about this ski buff for outside... THANKS!! :D

14

I was visiting a farmers market earlier this year and a lady was selling yarn for knitting, etc. She had some baby alpaca wool that felt SO soft. I put it against my face and it felt wonderful!! I didn't buy it then (very expensive) but I think I am going to try to get some an crochet a large scarf for myself that is long and wide so I can wrap it around my face a lot.

15

Sounds like a good plan. My daughter knits and maybe I will ask for something like this for the winter down here. No complaints, our winters are mild, but when we do get a cold front it is usually with strong 20 to 30 mph. winds and it is a wet cold, if we get freezing overnight it can be the kind of wind you don't like in your face. I would like to get a ski hat that covers the whole face, like I used to wear to stay out and skate in the northern Iowa winters when I was a young teenager. Now that would work, but I like the quality of wool you are talking about, so maybe my daughter will knit me one. We don't look suspicious during the winter months, but if you are up to robbing a bank next summer with our hats on, just kidding...stay warm and I do hope that storm is far enough away from you. That is a hurricane that missed Florida and oh my crossing paths with a winter storm coming from Canada is really devastating, so far there have been 2 deaths. Now we have 2 million without electric and a winter storm on the backside coming in and all these families without heat.

I had an unresponsive day to the tegretol yesterday, hope today is better. I have to elevate my legs all afternoon to keep swelling down, I am on a diuretic for swelling but it can interact with this drug and cause kidney failure. I have had 2 serious hospitalizations for kidney failure, docs were prescribing too much diuretic and I was severely dehydrated, almost in a coma from one of them. Your kidneys if they fail can cause you to lose all of your cognitive functions. Very complicated thing to treat, too much water back into your system too quickly can cause your brain to swell, it took me weeks to come back.


We all really need to keep an eye on all the drug combinations these doctors prescribe to treat pain or other health issues you may have and at 56 I have a few things that are normal to come across at my age.

Good luck with your scarf, and I will take note of the baby alpaca wool for my daughter to knit for me. Granny

16

My daughter knits, so I will be asking for this for Christmas, hope she can find this wool. Great idea! Granny

17

Oh, Granny, that sounds scary!! I do hope you are doing better! Take care of yourself!!!

Blessings to you!!!!

Granny said:

Sounds like a good plan. My daughter knits and maybe I will ask for something like this for the winter down here. No complaints, our winters are mild, but when we do get a cold front it is usually with strong 20 to 30 mph. winds and it is a wet cold, if we get freezing overnight it can be the kind of wind you don't like in your face. I would like to get a ski hat that covers the whole face, like I used to wear to stay out and skate in the northern Iowa winters when I was a young teenager. Now that would work, but I like the quality of wool you are talking about, so maybe my daughter will knit me one. We don't look suspicious during the winter months, but if you are up to robbing a bank next summer with our hats on, just kidding...stay warm and I do hope that storm is far enough away from you. That is a hurricane that missed Florida and oh my crossing paths with a winter storm coming from Canada is really devastating, so far there have been 2 deaths. Now we have 2 million without electric and a winter storm on the backside coming in and all these families without heat.

I had an unresponsive day to the tegretol yesterday, hope today is better. I have to elevate my legs all afternoon to keep swelling down, I am on a diuretic for swelling but it can interact with this drug and cause kidney failure. I have had 2 serious hospitalizations for kidney failure, docs were prescribing too much diuretic and I was severely dehydrated, almost in a coma from one of them. Your kidneys if they fail can cause you to lose all of your cognitive functions. Very complicated thing to treat, too much water back into your system too quickly can cause your brain to swell, it took me weeks to come back.


We all really need to keep an eye on all the drug combinations these doctors prescribe to treat pain or other health issues you may have and at 56 I have a few things that are normal to come across at my age.

Good luck with your scarf, and I will take note of the baby alpaca wool for my daughter to knit for me. Granny

18

Thank you Karen, I am being watched carefully, I will be getting blood work done next week, this tegretol has a moderate risk of causing kidney failure with me and I need to be monitored. I won't let it happen, the first sign my kidneys are being affected is cognitive function deteriorates, I will become confused, some dementia, and I will start dropping things. I know what to look for with the symptoms of this type of failure.

Yesterday for a time in the afternoon I had a nice period of relief, not complete but enough to enjoy my lunch and chewing was not too difficult. It comes on strong and then quiets some, during those quiet times I try to paint and am now starting to wrap Christmas gifts for my grandchildren. Sometimes I get a sense that something is coming that will make me incapable of doing things, so now all the gifts have arrived before this face pain reared it's ugly face on me and now I am ready to wrap. Don't think I could have done all the shopping at this time, but the shopping is done and I love big Christmas's for my grandchildren. I have a new granddaughter, first granddaughter, her name is Annabelle, we are calling her Belle, yes the Princess has arrived!! I have a dress up closet for a princess from age 2 to age 8, over 20 gowns and all the shoes, tiaras, wands, sceptors, jewelry, gloves, everything...my daughter is going to kill me! But I sometimes get a sense and an urgency if I don't do this now I won't be able to when she is older, so it is done. They just added on to their home and I know which closet all of this will be stored in, they have the space. Plus I have a princess toy chest and a princess dress up unit, pink, with a mirror to hang all the gowns she will wear at the age she can wear them. This was so much fun! Little girls are so hard to not buy for. Of course I took care of both of my grandsons too. I may have gone to far, because I included first cousins too that they play with. I may paint today some, mornings are my do something time, afternoons are my down time.

My daughter is going to knit a head scarf for me, we are going to look at the wool Saturday, I do hope I am up to a visit. I love seeing my grandchildren.

Thank you support group, I read everything, and I love getting emails when someone responds to a post, we are all listening to each other, desperate feelings pass, moving on each day is a challenge for us all but move on we will. We can not allow this to conquer us and limit the quality of life we cherish in hours of the day. Blessings to all. Granny, my name is Sharon.

19

Sounds like you are having fun granny! Hopefully your grand daughter doesn't turn out to be a tom boy! lol

20

Oh, my goodness, Sharon, AKA Granny :) When you were describing the signs of kidney failure, something you said: that you started dropping things. After I was first diagnosed, 3 years ago, the first med I tried was tegretol. I wasn't on it long and I started to get tremors on my hand and then I started dropping things so the doc took me off of it. Was this the beginning of kidney problems or just a weird side effect? What do you think? I am not on it now so no worries but I am just curious. I started taking oxcarbezipine the last month and every time they up the dose, I get the tremors again although not as bad as it was with the tegretol. I haven't been dropping things, although a few times I felt like I might. But after being on the new dose the tremors go away. I upped the dose two days ago and the tremor is back.

Also, on a lighter note, I love what you are doing for your granddaughter! I have one girl (my oldest) and 3 boys. We were hoping to have more but because of my TN we have to stop trying because I can't live without these meds. Anyway, one thing that has helped me deal with not having anymore is looking forward to having grandbabies! I SO wanted to have another little girl. Hopefully, my children will one, or two, or three, or more! :)

I am impressed that you have your Christmas shopping done!! Every year I say I am going to get done early. I just cannot stand to go to the stores when they are so busy ( too loud, crowds stress me out: in return my face is worse) You have inspired me to go shopping this weekend!! :)

Granny said:

Thank you Karen, I am being watched carefully, I will be getting blood work done next week, this tegretol has a moderate risk of causing kidney failure with me and I need to be monitored. I won't let it happen, the first sign my kidneys are being affected is cognitive function deteriorates, I will become confused, some dementia, and I will start dropping things. I know what to look for with the symptoms of this type of failure.

Yesterday for a time in the afternoon I had a nice period of relief, not complete but enough to enjoy my lunch and chewing was not too difficult. It comes on strong and then quiets some, during those quiet times I try to paint and am now starting to wrap Christmas gifts for my grandchildren. Sometimes I get a sense that something is coming that will make me incapable of doing things, so now all the gifts have arrived before this face pain reared it's ugly face on me and now I am ready to wrap. Don't think I could have done all the shopping at this time, but the shopping is done and I love big Christmas's for my grandchildren. I have a new granddaughter, first granddaughter, her name is Annabelle, we are calling her Belle, yes the Princess has arrived!! I have a dress up closet for a princess from age 2 to age 8, over 20 gowns and all the shoes, tiaras, wands, sceptors, jewelry, gloves, everything...my daughter is going to kill me! But I sometimes get a sense and an urgency if I don't do this now I won't be able to when she is older, so it is done. They just added on to their home and I know which closet all of this will be stored in, they have the space. Plus I have a princess toy chest and a princess dress up unit, pink, with a mirror to hang all the gowns she will wear at the age she can wear them. This was so much fun! Little girls are so hard to not buy for. Of course I took care of both of my grandsons too. I may have gone to far, because I included first cousins too that they play with. I may paint today some, mornings are my do something time, afternoons are my down time.

My daughter is going to knit a head scarf for me, we are going to look at the wool Saturday, I do hope I am up to a visit. I love seeing my grandchildren.

Thank you support group, I read everything, and I love getting emails when someone responds to a post, we are all listening to each other, desperate feelings pass, moving on each day is a challenge for us all but move on we will. We can not allow this to conquer us and limit the quality of life we cherish in hours of the day. Blessings to all. Granny, my name is Sharon.