To balance out the seriousness of the previous post, I’d like to share with you two food-related excitments in my life recently.

It is often really difficult to prepare easy, quick, appetizing, and nutritious food when my energy level is exceptionally low or my pain level is high (or other myriad FM and dysautonomia symptoms are present). Perhaps I will write more about this in a future post. I often wish there was a cookbook written specifically for people with chronic illnesses. Maybe I’ll have to write one myself.

Rob and I often cook together, and having his help sometimes makes the difference between eating a good meal or not attempting it at all.

So, we’ve had a lovely golden spaghetti squash sitting on our counter for too long, and a few days ago I did a little online recipe research to figure out how to make the spaghetti squash appealing (I am a butternut squash person generally).

None of the recipes really spoke to my diet or energy level, however. I ended up piecing a few together, adding some of my own ideas, and somehow managed to create the Most Delicious spaghetti squash dish! It’s pretty simple, but I was still impressed.

One thing I did that made a huge difference was to repeatedly stab the enormous squash with a knife (and a fork, because it made an interesting pattern) instead of cutting it in half before baking it. This was fun, and eliminated the excrutiating task of wrestling the hard squash in half. After it was baked, cutting it in half was almost effortless. Also, I was able to rest while the squash was baking, before I made an enjoyable sauce. The sauce consisted of a large onion and garlic sauteed in a little olive oil, 4 tomatoes chopped up, vegetable broth, lots of herbs (basil, marjoram, oregano, chili powder) and pepper, a little salt, and of course nutritional yeast, which I always use lots of because it is good for you and I LOVE its taste. I scraped all the spaghetti squash into a large bakeable dish (spaghetti squash is so weird!!),

poured the sauce on top of it, grated some parmesan cheese on top, and baked it for about 15 minutes. It was So Delicious. I used pre-chopped garlic, because I reached my chopping limit (cue hand/arm pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, etc) after dicing the large onion and the tomatoes. While I prefer fresh garlic, this is the kind of adaptation that is necessary in order to get through daily life with a chronic illness. Doing less in this way allows me to do more.

Also, to depart momentarily from vegetables, I have recently discovered a heretofore hidden love of CUPCAKES.

Aahh! Why don’t I live in Chicago?! http://chicagocupcakes.com/

I tried to make some from The Joy of Cooking a little while ago, and somehow managed to create the antithesis of a cupcake, which was quite sad. I want to make a cupcake recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance,

which I love reading but wish there was an FM-friendly version of (sigh). Meanwhile, I’m going to use a mix (but! calm down, it is filled only with non-hydrogenated oils and no gross chemicals!).

For now, I’m dealing with my chocolate/sweets issue (detailed in the post Gluttony vs. Pain) by making sure that the majority of said sweets are as healthy as possible (made with whole grains, healthy fats, no high fructose corn syrup or preservatives, etc). However, my cravings for sweet chocolatey-ness when I feel like I’ve been repeatedly run-over are still not ideal. At least I am not craving Vicodin, right? This is what I tell myself.

Speaking of pain pills, I would like to share with you my experience with Ultram, or Tramadol, keeping in mind that people react to medications differently. Dr. Silverman first prescribed this for me almost 2 months ago.

It is the most widely-prescribed pain pill for FM patients, because it affects the opioid receptors in the brain (as opposed to reducing non-existent swelling, which is all that over the counter pain meds do for most FM sufferers). Also, it has a low risk of dependence, it’s not a narcotic, and it has the side-effect of increasing levels of seratonin, which are almost always low in people who have FM. At first I was quite skeptical of its eficacy, as I’ve never been given any medication that has affected my pain in any way. However! While Ultram does not eliminate my pain by any means, it does seem to file down the sharp edges of the pain, and has often allowed me to have active, enjoyable days with little focus on pain.

It has been quite exciting! I do notice that I take about half as much as the doctor prescribed, which is evidence of my lingering societally-influenced belief that medication is negative and a sign of weakness. I am fighting this belief, because I also know that the kind of pain I am chronically in can actually change the structure of my brain, causing damage to a variety of areas. (I try not to think about that too much however, as it is distressing).

Okay, I’m about to venture into my kitchen and attempt to construct something edible, simple, and healthy. Wish me luck!