Sometimes a Chick with FM just has to get thrifty!

Feeling bad lately because I'm running up the electric bill. I was so happy that summer was over, because I feel really rotten in the mornings if I wake up and it's too hot. It's like I'm swollen or something, groggy, uncomfortable, and in slow-motion, takes a long time to wake up. So the brief Fall weather was perfect, I started practically hopping out of bed! It felt so good!

(I recently read an article about MS and heat intolerance that describes a lot of what I've been experiencing. Finding an interesting number of similarities between FM/CFS, & MS, except the life threatening part.)

Unfortunately, Fall was much too brief, and now with the fast approach of winter, even here in California, I'm finding that mornings are getting rough again. I feel myself get all stiff and achey just about as soon as I leave my bedroom, and am finding it a lot harder to get going. Turning the heat on helps tremendously...but I'm not the one paying for it.

So anyhow, I already knew about the Universal Lifeline Service for phone service. I pay about $7 a month (albeit w/o long distance).

I decided to look up something to help with Electricity, and found two programs:

This one is called CARE and is an income based discount, which I should be able to get:

http://www.sce.com/residential/income-qualified/CAREFERA/

This one helps people w/special conditions, mainly who need special life support devices or have specific medical conditions or are immunocompromised. I think I might be able to manage that last one. Worth a try. Also worth noting, since many w/FM have Sleep Apnea, that would qualify you too.

http://www.sce.com/residential/rates/medical-baseline-allocation.htm

Eligibility:

1. Regular use in the customer's home of one or more medical life-support devices essential to maintain the life of a full-time resident of the household; and/or
2.

A full-time resident of the household is: a paraplegic, hemiplegic, quadriplegic, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma patient, being treated for life-threatening illness, and/or has a compromised immune system.

These are in California, but I'm sure they have them in many other states as well.