Working with fibromyalgia can be quite difficult.  Statistics suggest that 30% of sufferers are forced to cut their working hours or take on a less demanding job.  Of course, this depends on the level of the individuals disability.  But, do note that employment not only improves your financial well being, but can also boost your physical and emotional well-being as well.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) states that employers must not discriminate against a disabled person in the workplace, and covers a range of issues including recruitment and the provision of appropriate facilities to enable you to do your job.  Not everyone with fibromyalgia is covered by the DDA.  According to the Act, 'a disabled person is someone with a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.'

You would be covered if you have significant mobility problems, loss of function in one or both hands, chronic substantial pain, or difficulty lifting heavy objects, because of the fibromyalgia.  If the Act applies to you , you have the right to 'reasonable adjustments' to help you carry out the normal duties of your job.  Even if you are not disabled, it is still good practice for your employer to adapt to your needs.  

These needs include:

Flexible working - this means being able to start and finish work later if your symptoms are usually worse in the morning.  You may be able to work from home, and also have time off for medical treatments and physiotherapy.

Changes to your work environment - this could include improving accessibility to your work area, providing special equipment, or making adaptations to tools, adjusting work furniture, or modifying your job role.  

This is one book I usually would not consider reading, but the remote visualization of what a parent goes through when all is lost is memorizing.

Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham

A terminally ill Secret Service agent is coaxed out of retirement for one last job in exchange for an experimental drug that could save his life, and give him more time with his estranged family. For decades Ethan Runner (Kevin Costner) has kept his dangerous career a carefully guarded secret -- not even his wife and daughter know what he really does for a living. Shortly after receiving a grim medical diagnosis, Ethan decides to give up his dangerous career for one last shot at being a decent husband and father. Meanwhile, Ethan has been tasked with watching his daughter while his wife goes out of town for a few days. But when the agency offers Ethan a life-saving cure in exchange for capturing a notorious terrorist, he reluctantly accepts. Now, with his daughter's safety in his hands for the first time in a decade and the powerful drug's debilitating side effects taking hold, the hunt begins. Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, and Connie Nielsen co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Clear your schedule for this one.  You'll be dashing home each evening to pick up where you left off wondering what will happen to Mieri.  

Roxane Gay is a powerful new literary voice whose short stories and essays have already earned her an enthusiastic audience. In An Untamed State, she delivers an assured debut about a woman kidnapped for ransom, her captivity as her father refuses to pay and her husband fights for her release over thirteen days, and her struggle to come to terms with the ordeal in its aftermath.

Mireille Duval Jameson is living a fairy tale. The strong-willed youngest daughter of one of Haiti’s richest sons, she has an adoring husband, a precocious infant son, by all appearances a perfect life. The fairy tale ends one day when Mireille is kidnapped in broad daylight by a gang of heavily armed men, in front of her father’s Port au Prince estate. Held captive by a man who calls himself The Commander, Mireille waits for her father to pay her ransom. As it becomes clear her father intends to resist the kidnappers, Mireille must endure the torments of a man who resents everything she represents.

An Untamed State is a novel of privilege in the face of crushing poverty, and of the lawless anger that corrupt governments produce. It is the story of a willful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places. An Untamed State establishes Roxane Gay as a writer of prodigious, arresting talent. - amazon.com

Tooth sensitivity is tooth discomfort in one or more teeth that’s triggered by hot, cold, sweet, or sour foods and drinks, or even by breathing cold air. The pain can be sharp and sudden and can shoot deep into the nerve endings of your teeth.

Gums play a major role, too, not only in your dental health, but in your overall well-being. In many instances, swollen and bleeding gums are a sign of gum disease.  But for many fibromyalgia sufferers, medical conclusions are yet to be had for teeth and gum issues.  

There are times when remote pain can be felt generating from a series of teeth on the left side of the mouth. Days later it can be felt in the right area.  On any given morning gums can greet you with a new unique sensitivity not felt days before.  Often at first sign, many sufferers scoot to their local dental practitioner only to hear there seems to be nothing visual on the xrays that would explain such discomfort.  

Recently, during a routine dental examination I was told I was in the beginning stages of gingivitis.  That morning I awoke with a new tenderness on my lower right jaw that was extending around the gum line of several teeth.  I know from experience this can come and go like the lost migrating pain I experience throughout my body each day.  Nonetheless, I agreed to have the deep cleaning done to prohibit any future infection that may affect my other teeth.  

On the day of my cleaning I woke up pain free.  The hygienist even noticed that my gums seemed healthy, but continued with the cleaning anyway, injecting localized pain anesthetic into the surrounding tissues.  Due to hypersensitivity, I had reactions to the anesthetic and spent days recuperating from the stress of the procedure itself. There has to be a better way I thought.    

I began a proactive procedure that has worked like a charm.  No more do I experience signs of sensitivity in either teeth or gums.  Do this morning and night and feel the joy of renewed, healthy gums.

Preventative Dental Care

Upon waking, brush teeth thoroughly.
Rinse with mouthwash and DO NOT eat or drink ANYTHING for thirty minutes.

Immediately prior to bed, brush teeth thoroughly.
Rinse with mouthwash and DO NOT eat or drink ANYTHING prior to sleep.

Deep into a solo voyage in the Indian Ocean, an unnamed man (Redford) wakes to find his 39-foot yacht taking on water after a collision with a shipping container left floating on the high seas. With his navigation equipment and radio disabled, the man sails unknowingly into the path of a violent storm. Despite his success in patching the breached hull, his mariner's intuition and a strength that belies his age, the man barely survives the tempest. Using only a sextant and nautical maps to chart his progress, he is forced to rely on ocean currents to carry him into a shipping lane in hopes of hailing a passing vessel. But with the sun unrelenting, sharks circling and his meager supplies dwindling, the ever-resourceful sailor soon finds himself staring his mortality in the face. Written by Roadside Attractions

Completing tasks easier is the name of the game when your aching from pain.  Less stress on common household duties means less flare-ups for those who suffer from fibromyalgia.  There are so many little things you can do to make your day go a bit easier. Check out some of these tips below.

1. When cooking vegetables in a pot, place them in a metal colander.  This way, when they are cooked, you can just lift out the colander saving you energy from lifting that heavy pan to the strainer.
2. Try filling your kettle with a lightweight plastic jug with just enough water for your needs.
3. Sit on a kitchen stool when preparing meals.
4. Long handled sponges help washing dishes and mugs.
5. Kitchen gadgets such as a rubber cap gripper, kitchen knives and vegetable peelers with padded handles, electric tin can opener, and food processor makes kitchen duties easier.
6. Lightweight mugs, pans, kettles, and crockery should be on your scope when purchasing new kitchen items.
7. Long-handled tools with gripping mechanism, known as "reachers" help retrieve out-of-the-way items with ease.  Also, a long handled stick with a rubber end is great for pushing buttons on an out of reach microwave.
8. A feather duster for hard-to-reach cleaning spaces.
9. A lightweight, hand-held vaccum cleaner to clean your rugs.
10. Fitted sheets that don't need to be tucked in.
11. A trolley to move from room to room with supplies.
12. Place shampoo and conditioner in empty soap dispensers for easy retrieval.
    

Every little bit of energy saved, means more useful energy later.  Be on the  look out to make your day easier.

Sue Miller's explicit account, While I was Gone, is a deep reminder of what can happen to our ordinary lives when we go astray.  What we take for granted today, can be easily shaken tomorrow. 

Jo Becker has every reason to be content. She has three dynamic daughters, a loving marriage, and a rewarding career. But she feels a sense of unease. Then an old housemate reappears, sending Jo back to a distant past when she lived in a communal house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Drawn deeper into her memories of that fateful summer in 1968, Jo begins to obsess about the person she once was. As she is pulled farther from her present life, her husband, and her world, Jo struggles against becoming enveloped by her past and its dark secret.


“[While I Was Gone] swoops gracefully between the past and the present, between a woman’s complex feelings about her husband and her equally complex fantasies–and fears–about another man. . . . [Miller writes] well about the trials of faith.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“Quietly gripping . . . Jo shines steadily as the flawed and thoroughly modern heroine. As in her 1986 novel, The Good Mother, Miller shows how impulses can fracture the family.”
–USA Today

“Marvelous . . . poignant . . . powerful.”
–Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer

Fibromyalgia can affect every aspect of your life - including driving. Many fibromyalgia sufferers report having problems when they drive for any length of time because it aggravates pain.  Below are some pointers that may help you drive more easily and comfortably.  

Protect your posture
Posture is just as important when you are driving as well as any other time.  Adjust your seat so that you are close to the steering wheel.  This makes you less likely to slouch or strain to reach the pedals.  Angle the seat at 100-110 degrees to encourage you to sit correctly.  

Hold the steering wheel at "quarter to three' position to help prevent  shoulder, and back pain.

Pace yourself
Pacing yourself is important when driving so make sure you take regular breaks.  Whenever you take a break, get out of the car and go for a short walk, or do a few stretches.  If you are driving a long distance, consider getting a hotel room and breaking it into two days.  To ensure you don't overdo things, share the driving with a partner or friend.

Hot seat
If your car has heated seats, turn on the heat to help soothe aches and pains.  If you don't have heated seats you can buy car seat covers that heat up.

Ease the strain
If your hands are painful, use a wide car-key holder to make it easier to turn on the ignition. Wear driving gloves to make it easier to grip the wheel.   Consider purchasing a steering wheel cover that is soft and pliable.

Cover the seat with a silk scarf to make it easier for you to twist around when you get in and out.

Many doctors believe that being plagued with fibromyalgia can lower the immune system response.  When this happens, opportunistic viruses, bacteria, and various pathogens seem to hitch hike and loiter in the most uncomfortable places.  Gums will feel sore and need extra care, sore throats will erupt, an all over achy feeling will ensue, or a simple ear ache will manifest.  Often if treated with care, these symptoms will soon dissipate and usually do not require an antibiotic regime.  

Ear aches can be a common occurrence for many suffers.  Often the pain is a low grade ache which manifests itself as an inner ear infection.  Yet, for those patients who see their primary care physician, probing usually comes up negative.  Often, a round of alternate care is suggested to keep the ear comfortable.  One such care is the addition of coconut oil.  

One of the main reasons why many people prefer to use coconut oil as opposed to other treatments is safety. Using coconut oil in the ear has relatively few side-effects or risks, whereas other approaches, such as medications, involve numerous side-effects. In addition, many are concerned about the overuse of antibiotics. "Coconut oil kills a long list of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and protozoa," according to Coconut Oil Central, because it contains high levels of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs).


Using coconut oil for an ear infection is relatively easy. If possible, it is best that someone other than the person with the ear infection administer the coconut oil drops, because it can be difficult to place the drops correctly into one's own ears. Coconut oil is solid, so melt it slightly until it becomes liquid. Place the oil into an eye dropper. Have the person with the infected ear lie down, and carefully place several drops of the liquid oil into the affected ear. The person with the infected ear should continue reclining for several minutes to allow the oil to absorb into the ear. To prevent the oil from coming out of the ear, place a small piece of a cotton ball into the outer part of the ear.

There are various brands of coconut oil for sale, and these are available in health food stores, other grocery stores and from online retailers, such as those that sell nutritional supplements. It is important to use a quality oil for use in the ear and preferably an organic one that is as pure as possible.