BACK TO BLOGGING

Hi all! It has been a couple months since my last post. I guess I got caught up with life and blogging fell low on the priority list. Even so, I have wanted to come back to it for a little while now because a lot is going on that I want to share. Here is what you missed . . .

My lovely fiance Sami and I are moving forward with wedding plans and we will be going wedding dress shopping in a couple of weeks!

photo from http://lawmagazine.richmond.edu/

Also, I recently finished up my first semester back at law school after taking a leave of absence. I’m really proud of myself for making it through. I was able to prove to myself that I can get through law school with fibromyalgia and not be in pain all the time. 

photo from www.purebarre.com

I'm also excited to share that I have started a new fitness routine! About eight weeks ago I went with a friend to a pure barre class and was instantly hooked! It is basically a mix of ballet bar technique, yoga, and pilates. Honestly, I was initially intimidated by all of the tiny fit people but I got over it. The first class was difficult but it got easier. Now I am going 3-4 times a week! It is a bit pricey but worth the investment.

photo from www.weightwatchers.com

In addition to a commitment to fitness I have also been focused on my commitment to weight loss. I am still going to Weight Watchers and am chipping away at the scale. Now I am at 182.6 after losing 1.8 pounds this week. I recently signed up for a new weight watchers program that matches you up with a personal coach. I just had my first phone appointment with my coach and am really excited about how this added support with help with my overall weight loss journey.

While I have been a fare weather blogger lately I hope to keep you all updated on my progress and you can also check my weight loss stats on the right hand side of the blog.

If you have any questions or comments please leave them below! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and thanks for reading!

BACK TO SCHOOL

It's not even the 4th of July and I'm already focusing on the upcoming school year. After two years away from school, I'm diving back in! I started law school in the fall of 2011, right out of college. Full of hopes and dreams, I entered my second year...right before my fibromyalgia diagnosis. 

After sinking a full year into law school, which is no easy feat, I had to take time off to cope with my condition. It took me a full two years to find a treatment plan that works for me. As I mentioned in my Fibromyalgia 411 post, I've had some extensive treatment including two rounds of physical therapy. Every fibro person reacts differently to different treatments, so everyone's treatment plan and time frame are unique. 

Now that I've found a healthy plan for myself, I'm ready to get back into law school. It'll be tough roads ahead, especially considering the legal market nowadays. But, I'm getting back in the saddle to pursue what I'm passionate about. Any other lawyers out there with any advice for a returning law student? Or any fibro people who had to leave school? Share your thoughts or advice in the comments below!

-Saralyn 

FRIED PICKLES, AN INTRO PART II

Welcome to FRIED PICKLES! A personal blog following my journey through life, weight loss, and fibromyalgia. I thought that for my second introductory post I would delve a little bit into my personal life and give you some more background info on me!

First, I am really excited to introduce you to my wonderful wife-to-be Sami! She is absolutely the love of my life. We met at Baylor University as freshmen students seven years ago. Since that time we fell in love, got engaged, and are getting married on 05/16/2015. Sami is a recent law grad and is currently undergoing the gruesome task of studying for the bar exam. I will definitely share some of our wedding plans in the future and keep you all updated as things unfold in our lives.

Next, I plan to use FRIED PICKLES as a platform to share my weight loss journey. As I have mentioned, I am a current Weight Watchers member. I have lost 12.6 pounds in the past eight weeks and plan to keep it up until I reach my goal weight of 140. I weigh in every Saturday morning and plan to write a post each week on my weigh in results. You can follow my progress each week and see my stats under my weight tracker on the right hand side of the blog. 

Finally, I hope FRIED PICKLES will spread awareness about fibromyalgia. In my last post I talked about how I cope with my fibromyalgia. Though I have long-term coping strategies that help me, sometimes the day-to-day of living with fibromyalgia is a major struggle. I am returning to law school this fall after 2 years off to deal with my diagnosis. I'll be sharing my law school adventures as I continue to deal with and learn more about my condition.

Hope this post gives you all more insight into my life and my newly minted blog. Share your thoughts in the comments below!

-Saralyn

FIBROMYALGIA 411

After wondering why this blog is entitled FRIED PICKLES I'm sure your second question is, "What the heck is fibromyalgia?" While my blog should in no way be your only source on the subject, I can give you a brief 411 and at least speak to my experience as someone living with fibromyalgia.

To briefly summarize, fibromyalgia is a syndrome that causes chronic wide spread pain throughout the body. Some experts believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes and perceives pain. In essence, what is only slightly uncomfortable to an average person can seem extremely painful to someone with fibromyalgia. 

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in August 2012. It was not an easy process to finally get my diagnosis and I visited many doctors before one would take me seriously. I started having symptoms my first year of law school leading up to my diagnosis. I began having radiating pain down my legs and arms. I began having tingling pain in my hands and feet. I started feeling tired and achey constantly, and couldn't concentrate on any task for more than a few minutes. One of my worst symptoms was brain fog. I couldn't focus, couldn't even speak articulately at times. I was hard to pay attention to anything, much less law school courses. It was as if one day I woke up totally disoriented and stayed that way for months. 

Taken separately, these symptoms could point to a variety of conditions from stress to carpal tunnel syndrome to overextended joint tendons. After getting several misdiagnoses, and being told by one doctor that I was "making the pain up," I finally visited a rheumatologist. After several more tests and an MRI, my rheumatologist told me that I have fibromyalgia. 

There is no cure for fibromyalgia. The medical community has been stumped by this condition for years, and doctors are just now figuring out what causes it. What medical professionals do know is that women are more frequently affected than men, and that symptoms can vary widely from patient to patient. This is why it's so difficult to get a fibromyalgia diagnosis; doctors have to eliminate basically everything else the pain could be before fibromyalgia is recognized. My difficulty in finding the accurate diagnosis left me feeling anxious, hopeless, and slightly crazy (until my rheumatologist told me I wasn't!). 

Like I said, there's no cure, but there are a lot of useful treatment options I've found. I completed several months of aquatic physical therapy, which was great since it's low-impact. Besides that, I've been doing weekly acupuncture for nearly a year. While these treatments were certainly not cheap, they've helped me a lot! It took me a while to find a good treatment method that worked for me. Every fibro person is different and responds uniquely to different treatments. Before I got diagnosed, my flare ups were so bad that I spent more time in bed than out living my life. Now, after nearly 2 years of trial and error, my flare ups are much more manageable. On the other hand, I know that every activity I do carries a risk of more pain. So, I'm learning to find a balance and sticking my treatment plan as long as it works. 

If you've had any successful treatment, or experienced any wacky (read: awful) experience during your diagnosis, please share in the comments! 

-Saralyn

WHY FRIED PICKLES?

Hello! I’m Saralyn and welcome to Fried Pickles! Fried Pickles is a personal blog that follows my ups and downs through life, weight loss, and living with fibromyalgia. One of the first questions you are probably asking is why FRIED PICKLES?

When thinking about my blog title I wanted to come up with something cute, clever, and memorable. I knew that I wanted to blog about weight loss and living with fibromyalgia but neither one of those topics necessarily made for good blog titles. 

So, why FRIED PICKLES? Maybe because I love them! Plus, even though I am actively trying to lose weight, I am able to have them occasionally. I guess I was inspired by a recent Weight Watchers meeting. I raised my hand and admitted to having a fried pickle situation and everyone laughed. Specifically, I ate some fried pickles when eating out with friends and I had no idea how to track them. Weight Watchers members track everything they eat based on a points system and all food is worth a certain amount of points. Not knowing how many points the pickles were worth I tracked them as 20 and moved on. 

This pickle situation and the re-telling of it at my Weight Watchers meeting got me thinking. If I can occasionally eat some fried pickles and still lose weight that is pretty awesome! Even after my pickley situation, I still lost weight. I had already been thinking up this blog and I knew that FRIED PICKLES would be a good fit. After all, they are delicious!

-Saralyn

FRIED PICKLES, an intro

Hello! I’m Saralyn and welcome to Fried Pickles! Fried Pickles is a personal blog that follows my ups and downs through life, weight loss, and living with fibromyalgia. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

First, a little bit about me . . . I’m a part-time law student who decided to return to school after spending two years dealing with a medical crisis. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, in the fall of 2012. I had just finished my first year of law school when my new diagnosis completely derailed my plans. Since that time, I have done a lot of self-discovery, reflection, and healing with the help of my lovely fiancé Sami. In addition to learning how to live with chronic pain, I have started a personal adventure towards health and weight loss. With the help of Weight Watchers and my supportive wife-to-be, I am on a positive path that I hope will resonate with you.

Next, a little bit about FRIED PICKLES . . . Fried Pickles is my outlet in the form of a blog. An avenue for me to share my story, excitement, and struggles as a twenty-something gal trying to make her way in the world. I hope that others living with fibromyalgia, on a weight loss journey, or simply trying to find their path will connect with my story and feel inspired to share theirs. Please read along as I tackle my health, chronic illness, and life’s other adventures. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!

-Saralyn