One of the most frustrating components to the illness is the condition of Fibro Fog.  Fibrofog is a term given to a variety of cognitive problems that many fibromyalgia sufferers face from time to time.  Fibrofog encompasses memory loss, difficulties using language, and difficulties with learning.  These symptoms tend to descend in a haze or "fog," around the sufferer.  Fibrofogs can occur at any time and can vary in intensity when they do occur.  Fibrofogs tend to be at their most severe during flare ups. Fibrofog affects about both women and men who have fibromyalgia pain, though it tends to hit women more often.  Women between the ages of 30 and 50 are most likely to be affected by fibrofog.  Episodes of fibrofog typically last only a few days, though sometimes severe fibrofog can last for weeks or even months.

Fibro Fog Symptoms Include:

* short term memory loss
* difficulty remembering where you put things
* difficulty remembering plans
* difficulty with language, including trouble holding conversations
* difficulty finding the "right" word to use in conversation
* trouble remembering simple numbers
* transposing letters and numbers
* trouble concentrating and focusing
* trouble retaining new information

Anyway you can ease up major brain functioning during this time can be an added blessing to ward off stress. Simple lists to attack daily needs can enable a sense of confidence when the day is through.  Do be aware of how much you can physically undertake.  Making lists that are multi-tasked and loaded with a major task load should be avoided or split over several days.

When fibro fog hits, be gentle on yourself.  Don't push these days; wait for the fog to pass.  You can always make up chores on good days when you are feeling better.  Pushing yourself only leads to compound anxiety that fuels flare-ups.

One major tool I've implemented is the use of pill boxes.  No more worries if I've remembered to take that pill or supplement.  And there is nothing more that heightens anxiety than wondering if you took an extra pill, or forgot to take one.  I have a large pill box for supplements. On Sunday evening I can easily set out my vitamin supplements for a week.  Since I can't take several doses at once, I can easily take them throughout the day until my section remains empty.  Taking several doses prompts slight flare ups which I've learned to avoid.  Any medications go into a smaller pill box.  This allows me to stretch doses so that my body is not overwhelmed.  I have medicine sensitivities so I have fewer pills and don't feel comfortable mixing them with other daily supplements.

​Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

​You know hygge when you feel it. It is when you are cuddled up on a sofa with a loved one, or sharing comfort food with your closest friends. It is those crisp blue mornings when the light through your window is just right.

Who better than Meik Wiking to be your guide to all things hygge? Meik is CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and has spent years studying the magic of Danish life. In this beautiful, inspiring book he will help you be more hygge: from picking the right lighting and planning a dinner party through to creating an emergency hygge kit and even how to dress.

During the year 1851 news reached California, that in the spring of that year a family by the name of Oatman, while endeavoring to reach California by the old Santa Fe route, had met with a most melancholy and terrible fate, about seventy miles from Fort Yuma. 

​A family vacation takes a terrifying turn when a couple discover their young daughter has vanished without a trace. Stopping at nothing to find her, their desperate search for the truth leads to a shocking revelation

​Samantha Bloom breaks her back in an accident and is paralysed from the chest down. A year later, her children bring home an injured magpie they have found. She cautiously approaches the magpie and begins to get acquainted with the new family member.

​In the late 1930s, wealthy landowner Edith Pretty hires amateur archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate the mounds on her property in England. He and his team discover a ship from the Dark Ages while digging up a burial ground.

​On a hiking trip to rekindle their marriage, a couple find themselves fleeing for their lives in the unforgiving wilderness from an unknown shooter.

​In a remote area of the Canary Islands, young surfer Alvaro Vizcaino accidentally falls from a cliff. Seriously injured, he must fight to survive.

​A summer in rural Oahu takes an exciting turn for two Brooklyn-raised siblings when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an epic adventure with new friends, and leads them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.

​A shady legal guardian lands in hot water when she tries to bilk a woman who has ties to a powerful gangster.

​A young newlywed arrives at her husband's imposing family estate on a windswept English coast and finds herself battling the shadow of his first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in the house long after her death.

​Retired auto worker and Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) fills emptiness in his life with beer and home repair, despising the many Asian, Latino and black families in his neighborhood. Walt becomes a reluctant hero when he stands up to the gangbangers who tried to force an Asian teen to steal Walt's treasured car. An unlikely friendship develops between Walt and the teen, as he learns he has more in common with his neighbors than he thought

​In 1966, single-mother Helen Reddy leaves her old life in Australia for New York and stardom, only to find that the industry doesn't take her seriously.

​Two nubile, stranded women (Ana de Armas, Lorenza Izzo) reveal a sinister agenda after they spend the night with a married architect (Keanu Reeves).

​Set during the Cold War era, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.

​Activists, scientists, farmers and politicians turn to regenerative agriculture to save the planet's topsoil.

​This documentary tells the story of modern America through the life of one man -- President Donald Trump. The four-episode series shows how he has embodied many of the movements that have shaped American society since the 1960s, including capitalism, political disenfranchisement, reality TV and social media. The show traces Trump's rise in the 1970s, when he built Trump Tower, through his expansion into casinos in the 1980s, financial problems in the early 1990s, and turning his attention to politics in the 2010s, including his decision to run for the White House.

​Sawyer is an ambitious, overachieving college student who has a seemingly bright future. While on her way to a job interview, a wrong turn leaves her stranded deep in the frozen forest. Suddenly, the young woman who has everything to live for finds herself facing her own mortality as she's punished by the elements and pursued by a band of ruthless outlaws. With nowhere left to run, she is forced into an uneasy alliance with an enigmatic loner who has shadowy intentions.

​Separated from her family, a girl finds herself in the care of a heartbroken woman who faces her own struggles.

It has been an excruciating busy month, but I haven't forgotten the health benefits of ancient foods.  This has been my quest since December, just before the new year started, when I noticed my gut becoming bloated on store probiotics.  It just didn't feel as it was working right.

You know I'm a firm believer in listening to your body's signals.  When something is gently nagging at  you, its time for a change.  I realized there are so many recipes on fermented foods out there that I needed to do some digging.

One adventure that popped up was years ago when I used to make my own sauerkraut.  I used large "sun tea jars" when they were in.  I scoured my garage and laundry room looking for these see through beauties from yesteryear.  But none was to be had!  So I let it go and began searching the internet where I found Mary's Nest.  Here she made sauerkraut in glass canning jars.  I began thinking, "I have several glass jars lying around always to store food in."  In fact, I have some lovely pasta sauce jars right on my counter cleaned.  One thing that resonated was when Mary said, "If you are using regular jars just remember to burb them." I can do this!

It took me 10 minutes with a food processor to make two jars of sauerkraut.  I've been hooked for months. It is important to eat this every day if you are going to give up your synthetic probiotics.   And guess what?  No more bloat.  I am including Mary's video below. 

Raw, fermented foods packed with health-promoting probiotics and have been staples of the human diet for centuries. Sauerkraut is the probiotic king. It is is the superior source of LIVE probiotics and enzymes, and due to its pre-digested state brought on by the fermentation process, these nutrients are highly bioavailable to the body.

Dr. Joseph Mercola sent a sample of his homemade sauerkraut off to a lab and reported the findings of probiotics saying, “We had it analyzed. We found in a 4-6 ounce serving of the fermented vegetables there were literally ten trillion bacteria.”

This incredible discovery means that just 2 ounces of homemade sauerkraut has more probiotics than a whole bottle of 100 count probiotic capsules. One 16 oz. jar of sauerkraut is equivalent to about 8 bottles probiotics!
​
The numerous benefits of fermented foods are undeniable. They’ve been a staple of the human diet for centuries. Many people know sauerkraut as a traditional topping for a hot dog. But it is so much more than that. Did you know that in the 18th century, sailors ate sauerkraut on long voyages to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency? Also, Chinese laborers building the Great Wall of China (more than 2000 years ago) ate shredded cabbage fermented in rice wine.

​Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) is a lovelorn TV producer who, despite a long and arduous search for the perfect mate, is hopelessly single. The battle of the sexes heats up when her employers team her up with Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler), an opinionated TV celebrity who plans to put Abby through the wringer to prove his own theories about what makes men and women tick.

​It's October 31st in Salem, Massachusetts, and a town's eccentric, devoted community volunteer and the good-natured object of his fellow citizen's derision and meanest pranks, finds himself in the midst of a real investigation, for a real murderer.

​Celebrity photographer Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) lives life in the fast lane, committed to bachelorhood and simultaneous relationships with multiple women. On the eve of his brother's wedding, Connor receives a visit from the spirits of his jilted lovers, who take him on an odyssey through his many failed relationships to try to find out what made him such a cad -- and if there is any hope of Connor finding true love.

​A diver swims with an octopus that lives in a kelp forest off the coast of South Africa.

​In his 93 years, Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of the planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. But during his lifetime, Attenborough has also seen first-hand the monumental scale of humanity's impact on nature

​Childhood friends Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) and Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney) had a deal to marry each other if they were still single by age 28. Now, four days before her 28th birthday, O'Neil announces that he's marrying a gorgeous 20-year-old named Kimberly (Cameron Diaz). Suddenly realizing that she's actually in love with him, Julianne vows to stop the wedding at all costs. However, when she is appointed maid of honor, things get even more complex.

​Dolly Parton: Here I Am is a 2019 British biographical documentary film, directed by Francis Whately. The film offers a look into the life and musical career of Dolly Parton, which is told through interviews with friends, companions, and the artist herself.

​Bianca's mother prohibits her from cycling after her father died in an accident. However, the young woman tries to participate in a competition without her mother knowing.