FINDING HAPPINESS

Today, I Googled 'finding happiness while in chronic pain.' I can't believe I actually got the following blog by Sue Falkner-Wood. I would like to know more about how she manages to stay positive.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/life-with-chronic-pain/dilapidated-me-and-learning-to-rejoice/

She even wrote up an amusing account about whining, which helped me put some things into perspective and gave me a little smile.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/life-with-chronic-pain/sues-official-rules-for-whining/

Maybe I can learn to stop whining. What shall my new vocabulary be? In her blog, someone posted a reference to another blog on Fibromyalgia:

http://portraitsfibro.blogspot.com/

I know I said I would stop reading about the afflictions, but for the last few days, the muscle cramps all over my body have been really intense, and I wanted a dose of encouragement. I also gave up my resolve not to use any medication and started taking the muscle relaxer, Flexeril, again. The SSRI's made me really sick... so far with the Flexeril (along with the TENS), I've gotten a bit of relief. I got to sleep through the night for the 1st time since ??? Since Flexeril supposedly has a similar effect as a tricyclic antidepressant, my mood feels more tolerable to me. The downside is that I do feel a few unpleasant side effects and would prefer not to depend on meds.