My life with CFS/ME and Fibromyalgia: Moving day was the most stressful day of my life.

I'm am writing this from our lovely new flat! I am so happy here already and it's only been a day. I had another good, yet stressful week and was feeling generally okay until Friday. When I say okay, I just want to iterate that this does mean I feel well. I just feel slightly better than normal. As much as I'd like them to, my symptoms haven't miraculously disappeared. I had lots to do and stayed late at work most days just to try and get on top of things. I knew I was going to miss out on a weekend of planning etc due to the move so I was stressing slightly about this. I couldn't wait though and all week I was counting down the days til we would be in the flat. Friday I woke up feeling like absolute death, I was in a lot of pain and just wanted to curl up in a ball with painkillers, a hot water bottle and lots more sleep but I knew I had to go in. Once I'm dosed up and on the go, I tend to feel more human and the busy job gives me a reason to keep going - this is one of the reasons I love teaching. I feel it actually helps with my health as there are so many more important things to think about throughout the day. I powered through and as soon as I stepped through the door on Friday evening after work, it was non-stop. We moved all the things that were already packed, went to Argos and bought some furniture and headed to the flat to start building things. We finally got into bed at about midnight, had a little lie in and started again Saturday morning.

During the night I kept waking up. I wasn't surprised as I often have nights where I can't sleep - this unfortunately is one of the symptoms of ME - especially if I have things on my mind. It seemed like every time I woke up I felt more and more ill. When I finally woke up about half 8 and decided I would get up, I realised I had the start of a cold. This obviously hits me harder than most people and I honestly felt like I couldn't move. The pain over my entire body was unreal, I didn't think I was going to be able to get out of bed, let alone move house. But I had no choice. I dragged myself up, managed to shower and wash my hair - with lots of rests - and finally started packing things up. Adam knew how ill I felt and kept making sure I wasn't doing too much. He gave me easy things to carry like pillows and blankets. We didn't have a van or anything so it was a case of constantly packing up the cars, unloading them and starting all over again. We barely have any furniture so most things do not have a home yet. As bad timing goes, I had a hair appointment booked, seeing as we were meant to be moved in the weekend before which I didn't really want to cancel so I went along to this at 4. Luckily this was when Adam had arranged to pick up the sofa we are borrowing from his mum until ours arrived. I was clearly not going to be any help lifting a sofa so he didn't mind me popping off for an hour for my hair appointment. We then headed back to Argos to get curtains etc and finally headed back. The last few runs were the most painful, we had both had enough and were losing the will to live. The last thing to come with us was the bed and putting that together and putting the new bedding on was such a lovely feeling. We ordered a curry at about 10pm and cracked open the champagne. We were both absolutely exhausted and couldn't wait to go to sleep! I slept awful again, which was no surprise, having a bad health day and sleeping in a new environment was never going to be a good nights sleep! I woke up still feeling awful but a slight improvement from yesterday. The pain is still pretty bad but no where near as horrible as yesterday but the cold is making me feel lousy. The IBS has flared up again today so that's not been ideal. I'm almost out of codeine so I'm trying not to take them too much until I can get some more on Wednesday. Luckily my NHS card will have arrived by then so I don't have to pay for my prescriptions! I've paid £10 this month and it will cover all my medication so is going to save me loads.

I spent today sorting out the bedroom, which is almost done apart from one bag. The lounge is a mess still because we need more furniture and most of the stuff is Adam's so he can sort that out :) I've had a relaxing evening sorting out my classes books, watching films, knitting and cuddling up with cups of tea and my hot water bottle. Adam has been at work all day and I can't wait for him to see the improvement to the flat in one day.

I'm already so happy living here and I know we are going to be so happy. I feel so relaxed and at home here and I look forward to many happy months with my favourite person!
Here's to hoping for a lower pain today tomorrow and a good night's sleep! xxx