Mere,

I DO hear your feeling that you will 'check out'. I have said that a million times in the last 10 years....but...I am still here! I guess that merits a hooray!

The huge KEY to living with this condition is an acceptance that I indeed MAY check out, and not much I can do about it! I would so love to be 'normal' for one day. (On the other hand, if that happened, I would bemoan not being normal for yet another day.)

Yes, it is depressing...but it is what we have been dealt. At times I want to bop some healthy person on the head, just for being healthy!

Yeah, me too... I am still here. After the flare passes, I feel like such a hypochondriac. Also, to top things off, I look perfectly healthy. And I mean healthy. For most of my life, I was athletic, very thin and youngish looking. Now I have that belly bloat, have aged more than my share and am about 30 pounds overweight.

You are right, we just have to learn to accept it. Though, I still feel bitter about it...and feel jealous of those who are fit, healthy, have a job, and never have to feel bad every day. I wonder how most would feel if they felt like they were going to 'check-out' now and again?

Just smack me now...

mere

You can borrow my foam bat.....as for some healthy person to bop...you have to find your own!

I wouldn't smack youuuuuuuuuuu!

Hey, I never knew a bizzare disease like this one existed! I never heard any one talk of symptoms like these. Then add insult to injury....looking good when you are this freaking sick!

I have just resigned myself to living like Alice in Wonderland. My new normal....just don't rock my boat...they sky is falling.....the snow is burning....hot is cold and cold is hot, and what isn't moving every which way is not!

I don't have a cat, if I did, I am sure it would disappear except for her smile....

You would think that we were living in the "drop-in, drop-out" era of the freaking 1960's... except this isn't any fun, or free... More like, welcome to the bad trip...

By the way, I will be paying particular attention to my three "girls". They do have the Cheshire grin from time to time, or is that just what i see?

Mere

I think maybe it's that smiley thing they do when they smell something weird. Looks kind of like a Cheshire grin...

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...26tbs%3Disch:1

Yes, it is called, the flemen... Cats have some olfactory sense that is activated on the roof of their mouths. Mostly to detect other cats' scents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Z6Nz8FuPc

http://www.bestfriendspetcare.com/Pet_FAQs/catscent.cfm

That is your trivia moment for the day, gals! heheheheheheh

I notice that they never use this on OUR chairs...only spots where one of the other cats might sit. Tippy who has her spot next to my monitor all day long, will flemen the cushion, if Oreo has been there looking out the window at another time. I know it can't be Sheba because she cannot get up there.

I say this because a relative by marriage got 'something' And, thanks to all the info on this site and others? I related to the relatives that well? It mite be an immune thing? And here is the St Louis Univ Site? And this part seems to 'fit'? And it was Sarcoidosis! I do believe they have a better appreciation for my CIDP as well as my learning and memory skills [what's left of them?] as a result. I kept saying don't give up! They had a neuro who did not give up! Bless him? He's in Mich if anyone wants to know... I'm just glad she didn't give up! And better yet? GOT A DIAGNOSIS! That to me? IS THE GOLD!
Mere? The Twilight Zone music is appropriate but the Outer Limits truly is what we deal with when we deal with the medical profession!
Honestly tho? I don't know where neruos and other docs are coming from when they 'say: It mite go away.' Yeah, right, sure, OK, UH-Huh!
Tell me another joke, why not let us into the 'chronic world' gently? W/ resources and therapists who are trained in this, and not those who have no clue? It's kind of like learning how to type all over again!
Hugs to all and to YOUR STRENGTHS! If we were stupid, we'd be worse off? No? But we aren't and we aren't taking being 'down' gracefully!
Find me an ***[the animal], and I will kick his butt! Enough said! 's -j

Hey J - Do you want to join the Foo club too? You are absolutely right about not taking things 'gracefully'. We do know how that goes. This mess has been going on for far too long now. I am not asking for a cure (as that is too far fetched), just some relief. I am so tired of depending on doctors and the whole rigmarole...

You have a good attitude (as does Cyclelops and many others here). I hope it rubs off on me. And you both make me laugh... Much better than those lousy meds. Except for, maybe, Ambien. That puts me out and makes me oblivious to this mess.

Have you found a little fuzzy yet?

Mere