When my kids were small, we were “financially challenged”, the result of my lack of marketable skills and my complete belief in my role as home-maker/nurturer…and my very poor choice in male partners…three husbands by the age of 26. I fell hard and fast into love and lust (3 children by age 26), with difficult men. They included a nickle miner who loved beer more than me, a perpetual university student and a country music musician. Hmmm. It was an interesting few years.

Always an optimist and and impressed by social activism, I decided to be a “back to the earth” type rather than “poor”. I bought secondhand baby clothes and furniture, and made my own preserves, shampoo and bread.

And cookies, of course. Peanut butter, shortbread and chocolate chip , my favourite, which my kids often helped bake. Well, “helped” may not really be an accurate description of what went on in our kitchen, but it was fun, educational and cheap!

Now, 30 years later, cookies still bring back happy memories of quality time spent in a hot kitchen in the middle of a Saskatchewan summer, deftly maneouvering around three small children all squabbling over who got the spoon first, bringing trays of yummy freshly baked trays out of the blazing oven. I fed my children healthy cookies, saved money and was a good Mom, to boot! I felt happy.

Recently, I started baking cookies again after a long hiatus. Life got better financially, kids left home (coincidence?), I learned life as a single woman was just fine. I was also fighting off mid-life weight gain.

Then I found myself with time on my hands after a surgery that left me in chronic pain. At home on pain killers. I started to crave chocolate; lots and lots of chocolate. I found a dollar store that sold large bars for a dollar! I was eating so much chocolate, I feared diabetes and malnutrition were waiting ’round the bend.

I decided I needed actual nutrients, like those found in eggs, flour and butter. I needed “real” cookies with “healthy” dark chocolate . So, I dragged out my Betty Crocker cookbook, the apron my son made for me for Mother’s Day 1993 ( he met girls in Home Ec and is happily married now and a father), and I bought a brand-new state-of-the-art cookie sheet. I was ready for baking delicious cookies.

Months later, I am still amazed at how awful my cookies are. I have made a batch a week for 12 weeks, and each turns out a little odder than the one before…sometimes, there is improvement, sometimes a relapse. I have tried two different recipes, so Betty C. is not the problem. On occasion, I have caught an error (too much wine while baking and using whole wheat flour instead of white) Me, drinking the wine, that is…not wine IN cookies.

One kind soul, while tasting a new batch remarked how “interesting” it was that I could bake cookies without the chocolate chips actually melting… sometimes the sugar doesn’t melt, either and they crunch. Sometimes they are so greasy, they burn into flat brown disks on the pan…sometimes I have to dip them in a cup of hot tea to bite an edge off.

I still eat them all, of course, because I am thrifty forever. Poverty will do that to you. Plus, I can always find the chocolate chips in them and they always taste good. And, of course, I remember the really perfect ones the kids and I made together in that hot prairie kitchen everytime I lick the spoon. Then I feel happy.

How about you? Have you got a favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I can try?

Fibromyalgia is sometimes categorized as primary or secondary. In primary fibromyalgia, also known as idiopathic fibromyalgia, the causes are not known whereas in secondary fibromyalgia the causes can be identified. Primary fibromyalgia is the more common form.

Many experts believe that primary fibromyalgia is not a disease but rather a chronic pain condition brought on by a dysfunctional biologic response to stress. Individuals are thought to be more susceptible to stress because of traumatic personal histories, genetic factors, or both. Physical injuries, emotional trauma, or viral infections, such as Epstein-Barr, may act as triggers for the onset of the disorder.

In secondary fibromyalgia, a specific cause can be identified. Possible causes of secondary fibromyalgia include:

• Physical injury. As an example, secondary fibromyalgia developed in over 20 percent of patients who had neck injuries. The symptoms are identical to those of primary fibromyalgia but are more difficult to treat. Another study reported a high incidence of fibromyalgia in workers with repetitive stress injuries, although it is not clear which condition caused the other.
• Ankylosing spondylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of chronic inflammation of the spine and the sacroiliac joints located in the low back where the sacrum meets the iliac bones.
• Surgery. Trauma, particularly in the upper spinal region, may trigger the development of fibromyalgia.
• Lyme disease. According to one study, between 10- and 25-percent of patients with Lyme disease subsequently developed fibromyalgia, which did not respond to the standard Lyme treatment consisting of antibiotics.
• Hepatitis C. Hepatitis C may prove to be a trigger for some cases of fibromyalgia.
• Endometriosis. Approximately 30 percent of women with the painful condition known as endometriosis go on to develop fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, a related illness.

There are several fibromyalgia risk factors to be aware of, it is a good idea to review this list to see if any of the risk factors relate to you. Although the numbers vary depending on the source, statistics say that there are between 3 million and 10 million people in the United States that suffer from fibromyalgia.

There are four main fibromyalgia risk factors:

The first risk factor is your gender. Fibromyalgia symptoms are much more common in women than men. Between 80% and 90% of all fibromyalgia patients are women. Also, it seems more common for women to develop symptoms during menopause.

Age can also be a risk factor, a middle aged person (between the ages of 25 and 60) are more likely to develop fibromyalgia symptoms than an older or younger person.

Another fibromyalgia risk factor is difficulty sleeping. To be honest, doctors have not been able to pinpoint whether sleep problems are cause fibromyalgia or if it is the other way around (that fibromyalgia causes sleep problems), but it has been found that sleep problems can develop fibromyalgia.

Family history can be a risk factor, if you have a history of fibromyalgia within your family then you may be more susceptible to experiencing pain related to the condition. It is not clear whether genetics or psychological factors play a role in the heredity of this condition.

A person who has other chronic conditions (such as osteoarthritis and lupus) may be more likely to develop fibromyalgia symptoms. Also, it has been found that higher levels of stress may cause fibromyalgia to develop in a person.