How do you cope with fibromyalgia? There's more than one issue in that question.
First, if you have fibromyalgia, you are ill. The hardest times for me are when I refuse to be ill. I fight against being sick and I force myself to get up and I try to live a normal life. For me a normal life is working full-time, keeping up with my kids and their lives, being actively involved in church, and keeping up the house, laundry, etc...basically, it's that supermom definition - there's nothing I can't do. When I try to do it all, I end up in bed, miserable, and unable to do anything at all.
The second issue to coping with fibromyalgia comes in the form of another question. How do you cope with things you can't change?
I have always been of the mindset that there are very few things I can't change. It is in my nature to effect change - I believe I can be better, I believe everything around me can be better. I'm on the extreme side of tenacious and I will exert myself to make change when it needs to be made until it is made (if that makes sense).
No wonder I'm sick! I've run myself into the ground! I see a pattern in people with fibro/cfs - we are either type A personalities (go-go-go) or we are worry-warts (stress-stress-stress). Either way, we spend our lives on what we think is a never-ending supply of adrenaline. But adrenaline eventually runs out and we end up feeling like we've been run over by a Mack truck.
I have hope that I will fully recover some day. But for today, tomorrow, and probably many more years, I will have a condition that doesn't allow me to live the way I want to live. That's not something I can change and that's not something that's easy for someone like me to face up to.
So living with it, living with this thing that I can't change, means that I have to come to terms with it. That means that I have to be the one to change. Oi. That sucks.
It starts with knowing that I do have control over some things. The supplements help - I'm not 100% but they do help. I know that if I over-do I will pay for it by not being able to function for a while. I know that my body gives me little signals that warn me when I am doing too much...for instance, today, I was packing boxes and got a little light-headed, started to feel a little yucky (you know what I mean, it's not something you can describe to someone who doesn't have it, you just feel yucky)...I wasn't really bad yet, but I know that if I feel like that, I need to stop what I'm doing and rest. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes it's longer. But I need to rest. And eat. And take some-Tyrosine & Emergen-C, a little salt and a lot of water.
See that I can control. I can choose to stop packing and take care of myself so that I will feel better later today or tomorrow. I know that if I push myself, if I keep going, just to get it done, I will be in bed for days - or longer.
I also know that sleep is critical. For me, since I don't get into 3/4 stages of N-Rem, I know that I need to take my Trazodone. I can skip a day and be "ok". More than that and I will be on a downward slide. I can control my sleep patterns. I can make sure I'm in bed before 9. I can take my meds.
If you have fibro/cfs, you are sick. You have to admit it before you can begin to manage it. I think about the people at AA who stand up and say, "My name is xxxxx, and I am an alcoholoic." They have to admit it before they can get help. Talking with my family and friends is important. They need to know I need help and I need to be willing to ask for it when I do. They're willing, but if I don't tell them, they may not realize that I'm crashing. Asking for help - wll, it helps.
My name is Shawn, and I have fibromyalgia.
First, if you have fibromyalgia, you are ill. The hardest times for me are when I refuse to be ill. I fight against being sick and I force myself to get up and I try to live a normal life. For me a normal life is working full-time, keeping up with my kids and their lives, being actively involved in church, and keeping up the house, laundry, etc...basically, it's that supermom definition - there's nothing I can't do. When I try to do it all, I end up in bed, miserable, and unable to do anything at all.
The second issue to coping with fibromyalgia comes in the form of another question. How do you cope with things you can't change?
I have always been of the mindset that there are very few things I can't change. It is in my nature to effect change - I believe I can be better, I believe everything around me can be better. I'm on the extreme side of tenacious and I will exert myself to make change when it needs to be made until it is made (if that makes sense).
No wonder I'm sick! I've run myself into the ground! I see a pattern in people with fibro/cfs - we are either type A personalities (go-go-go) or we are worry-warts (stress-stress-stress). Either way, we spend our lives on what we think is a never-ending supply of adrenaline. But adrenaline eventually runs out and we end up feeling like we've been run over by a Mack truck.
I have hope that I will fully recover some day. But for today, tomorrow, and probably many more years, I will have a condition that doesn't allow me to live the way I want to live. That's not something I can change and that's not something that's easy for someone like me to face up to.
So living with it, living with this thing that I can't change, means that I have to come to terms with it. That means that I have to be the one to change. Oi. That sucks.
It starts with knowing that I do have control over some things. The supplements help - I'm not 100% but they do help. I know that if I over-do I will pay for it by not being able to function for a while. I know that my body gives me little signals that warn me when I am doing too much...for instance, today, I was packing boxes and got a little light-headed, started to feel a little yucky (you know what I mean, it's not something you can describe to someone who doesn't have it, you just feel yucky)...I wasn't really bad yet, but I know that if I feel like that, I need to stop what I'm doing and rest. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes it's longer. But I need to rest. And eat. And take some-Tyrosine & Emergen-C, a little salt and a lot of water.
See that I can control. I can choose to stop packing and take care of myself so that I will feel better later today or tomorrow. I know that if I push myself, if I keep going, just to get it done, I will be in bed for days - or longer.
I also know that sleep is critical. For me, since I don't get into 3/4 stages of N-Rem, I know that I need to take my Trazodone. I can skip a day and be "ok". More than that and I will be on a downward slide. I can control my sleep patterns. I can make sure I'm in bed before 9. I can take my meds.
If you have fibro/cfs, you are sick. You have to admit it before you can begin to manage it. I think about the people at AA who stand up and say, "My name is xxxxx, and I am an alcoholoic." They have to admit it before they can get help. Talking with my family and friends is important. They need to know I need help and I need to be willing to ask for it when I do. They're willing, but if I don't tell them, they may not realize that I'm crashing. Asking for help - wll, it helps.
My name is Shawn, and I have fibromyalgia.
