Thursday, December 1, 2011

Four Effective Tools to Deal with Fibromyalgia

Many times I get a flare up of my Fibromyalgia if I am under stress. One of the things I have had to learn to do is develop and use tools to deal with the stress. This ability developed over time. It was not something that happened right away.

Talking out about the stress and emotions I felt helped. We all know that flare ups of Fibromyalgia do not necessarily wait until the second Tuesday for the support group. I had to find another way of being able to do it. Ideally a way I could talk to people in the middle of the night if I had to.

One of the tools I was able to use was list serves, chat rooms, and social media. It does not seem to matter what time of day or night there is someone there willing to talk. Of course I still had family and friends I could talk to but people online were more accessible at times.

Another type of tool I had to learn was to look at my own self-talk. People routinely get into the habit of thinking or talking to themselves negatively. We all use self-talk, we just need to learn to use it effectively. This takes some effort as it just seems to be easier to talk negatively.

A third tool that I used was meditation or prayer. Either one seems to work it just depends on your preference. Being able to give your pain, stress, and emotional to God or your higher power lets our minds rest and relax.

A fourth tool can be yoga or mild exercise. I definitely did not feel like exercising when my Fibromyalgia was in full swing. The surprising thing is that just a little exercise seemed to give me a little endomorphin rush. It made it a little easier to get through the day. As one friend told me, some days I just had to move what little bit of my body I could.

Many people with Fibromyalgia report that they know they are stressed or emotional but just say it is ok. Essentially they are denying themselves their need for help. That alone creates more stress. For myself it created more severe Fibromyalgia flare ups.
Now many times when I am in pain I realize I am stressed or emotional about something.

I have to make myself stop and deal with it in some manner. Fibromyalgia may be chronic and, at least at this point, incurable. We can learn to manage our lives and emotions to reduce the effects.