Pushing Myself

Sometimes I push myself.  I suppose everyone with Fibromyalgia does at times.  I push and I hurt.  I push to get things done.  I also push because I feel like I am getting weaker. My muscles are getting weaker.  It would seem that using my body more would make me stronger.  Like exercising a muscle.

It does not seem to work that way though.  I push and I am down for sometimes days.  Sleep is my main relief.  But if I have to stay in bed because of pushing myself, did I really accomplish anything?  I am conflicted about this.  If I used my body and felt better like I did as a young woman the choices would be much clearer.

I had already decided to speak to the doctor about Physical Therapy to try to keep my strength.  It will have to be after the wheel chair things are finished.  I hate this weak feeling.  I hate Fibromyalgia.

Dealing With Pain From Day to Day

Sometimes with my fibromyalgia I have pain in various parts of my body. Although I do believe in taking medication I like to try as many other remedies as possible. Generally I try these techniques or others before I get to the point I try medication. .

One of the places I can experience pain is in my legs. This isn’t necessarily pain from the trigger points. I have learned to look at several things, that sometimes. I just forget about when I feel that pain.

The first thing I look at is what position I am sleeping in. This is probably the easiest solution. If I am not in the correct position I may not hurt the next day. If I continue to sleep in the wrong position I will start to hurt though.

My best position is on my side with a pillow between my knees. The pillow allows my hips to be distributed evenly and I sleep much better. I have friends with fibromyalgia who sleep with a body pillow as it allows their hips and shoulders to be even.

The second thing I do is try to pay more attention to what I am eating. I do love sweets. A little on and occasional basis is ok but sweets every day make me hurt. When I realize I am doing this I stop, I also become diligent about adding a little protein to my diet. Every three hours I have something, a boiled egg or cheese stick if nothing else.

The other thing I have successfully tried is a over the counter insert in my shoes. I have had particular success with the gel inserts. They help me correct small problems with my posture that have caused me pain.

Finally I reflect on when I am feeling pain. For instance sometimes I feel pain after I engage in some low impact exercise. If this is true then I need to and do spend some more time warming up those muscles. Again very gently warming them up with something like a slow walk.

Of course medication is always something I can turn to when my fibromyalgia pain is too overwhelming but these are several of the techniques that I might try first. It sometimes takes me a couple of tries to figure out what will work. Other times I feel no shame in going directly to medication.

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.

Fibromyalgia and Foot Pain

One of those little complications to having Fibromyalgia that myself and friends talk about is foot pain. Our discussion centers around how difficult it is to even walk with the pain in my feet and how much it tingles. It is so difficult that some of us use wheelchairs for mobility.

Surprisingly this foot pain or neuropathy most of us do not even have diabetes. Friends with diabetes know exactly what I am talking about. The first thing they ask is if I have diabetes. The verdict has always been no, even after having various tests at various times.

Neuropathy with Fibromyalgia and not having diabetes is surprisingly common among the women I know. Myself and others has gotten some relief with a variety of remedies. Arch supports in my shoes were very helpful when the pain was at its worse.

I also used warm foot baths before bedtime too. The relief I felt when I finally started asking other women if they had this type of pain was also extremely helpful. Most of them were just gritting their teeth and doing what they could.

The pain is many times present first thing in the morning. It even is at the point that I do not sleep with covers or socks on my feet at night. It feels like I have been on my feet for a 12 hour shift. In reality I just got out of bed.

Sometimes I use the electric cars at stores such as Walmart. Part of the reason is the pain in my feet. It was difficult to learn to use the cart at first. I was so grateful to be able to get groceries and shop with my children.

People do tend to judge you if you use the carts though, particularly if you do not look very old. Having children has been a challenge. I have difficulty doing the things I want and need to do with them. It takes a lot of planning and thought about how to do things now.

Another way I and some women with Fibromyalgia deal with the pain is medication. You just get so tired of medicine. Luckily the same medication, Neurontin that works for people with neuropathy from diabetes seems to work for me and some of my friends.

The flip side to that is that like many medications not all people can take Neurontin. The Neurontin worked best for me when I took it every day. It seemed to build up a cumulative effect over the days.

Myself and friends who have Fibromyalgia have this type of pain in other places than our feet. The pain can be in my arms, hands, fingers, and even face. Unfortunately when there is this type of pain in your feet the more you move around the more it hurts. When you do not move around much you do not get the gentle exercise that helps the Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia and Exercise

One of the hardest things for me to do is fibromyalgia exercises of any kind. I can come up with every excuse under the sun not to exercise. I want to explore as many reasons to exercise as possible.

When I hurt is probably the worst time for me to be able to exercise. Everything just hurts so badly. I have to remind myself that any exercise during this time is better than none. I also remind myself that exercise will give me a little boost of energy for my day.

One the other hand when I am not in pain the problem is entirely different. When I don’t hurt, I am anxious to get to work and try to catch up. If not that then I want to do things around the house that I have been putting off. I don’t want to stop and take the time to exercise.

Exercise when I feel good helps keep me flexible. It also helps build endurance as I can exercise for longer when I am not in pain. Loss of flexibility and endurance is a problem the longer I go on with fibromyalgia. I move around less and less. I have to use the chance on the days I can.

As with anything else you should start exercising with the advice and permission of your doctor. Fibromyalgia exercises which are good for flexibility and endurance are stretching, walking, yoga, water aerobics, and some strength training. There is even some evidence that exercise especially helps those people who have fibromyalgia and stiffness or restless leg syndrome.