I feel like I’ve been hit by a speeding Peterbilt truck hauling Christmas trees the weekend before Black Friday weekend.  If you’d like me to be more specific… starting on the floor….

• Feet and ankles.  I think they’re still attached.  Not sure… wait, yes, they’re attached. They’re swollen and when I move my toes and ankles, they crack.
• Shins.  If I point my toes, the muscles in my shins kink up and threaten to knot.
• Knees.  They feel swollen.  Sharp pains with movement.  Mild ache without movement.
• Hips and butt.  Sharp pains with and without movement.
• Shoulders.  Constant ache with or without moving, like I’ve been lifting weight.
• Arm muscles. Aching, both upper and lower arms.
• Elbows. Sharp pains when arms are straightened.
• Wrists.  Swollen and painful.
• Hands.  Swollen, each joint painful.  Palms of the hands ache.  The troublesome pinky flairing.  Feeling weak.
• Lower back ache with movement.
• Mid back ache with and without movement.
• Upper back between the shoulder blades.  Sore – goes through to my chest and down to my ribs.  Lungs feel like I’ve been exercising, tight breaths.  Constant ache.
• Neck. Sore and stiff.
• Head.  Light headache.  Eyes too sore to keep open.
• Skin hurts.
• “White noise pain” up and down, connected to skin aching, joint pain without movement.  Feels a bit like the flu with waves of pain sort of ebbing and flowing as I lie in bed.
• Muscles top to bottom are sore like I’ve been running.
• Flat-on-my-back fatigue.  Slept from 12:30 AM to about 7:30.  Then about 10:00-12:30.  Determined to stay awake now.

So that’s what overdoing it feels like.  Nothing really unusual after a day of driving and walking and touring.  Got up at about 6:00 AM, on the road by 7:00 AM, drove to Duluth, walked the downtown, toured Glensheen, walked a bit more, explored by car.  On the road before 8:00 PM, home a bit before midnight. Great day out.

Fibromyalgia requires choices.  I knew I would feel like this before I said, yeah let’s do it.  I can say yeah let’s do it or no I’m going to sit home and be safe.  As it is, I know I’ll have to take it easy today and get myself to work and back tomorrow.  Sleep as much as possible. Tuesday I’ll still not feel well, but I’ll be well enough to go to SWEAT on Tuesday night, and that exercise may help with the muscle pain by giving me a different type of exertion.  It won’t make things worse, but psychologically it will be difficult to walk in the door.  That’s the prediction.  And now I’ll rest and not think about it anymore.  Remember thinking about pain will make the pain worse.  Was it worth it?  Oh yeah.