Tag: chronic pain

Fibromyalgia Awareness Day

This year’s theme “Helping yourself…while helping others” reminds us that you feel better when you help others living with FMS.

May 12th each year has been designated as Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. This year’s theme “Helping yourself…while helping others” reminds us that you feel better when you help others living with FMS. Although I was diagnosed with it in 2000, I have just in the last few years started sharing my journey. I started my blog to share my strategies for life with fibromyalgia and to inspire others to seek healthy lifestyle changes and find joy in their lives, despite those challenges they might be facing. Continue reading “Fibromyalgia Awareness Day”

Burn out the Pain

Some days it may be hard to see past the pain, but being able to do just that may be instrumental in our happiness, success, and well-being. It’s not a matter of ignoring or hiding the pain, but more a place of looking past the darkness of the pain to find the light – something to look forward to, something positive, good, and joyful.

“Find a place inside where there’s joy and the joy will burn out the pain.” 

Findaplace

Here’s wishing you a joy-filled, pain-free weekend!

Cheers!Cynthia

The Challenge of Slowing Down

I have had difficulty accepting that I cannot do what I once could. I am not the same person I once was.

Life in general requires overcoming challenges and obstacles of many types. Life with fibromyalgia introduces its own share of challenges: lack of energy, lack of sleep, chronic pain being the most prevalent.  These things can change who you are and how you approach life. What once was a simple task, such as getting out of bed in the morning, can now be a daily struggle.

In the years since my diagnosis, my biggest challenge has been SLOWING DOWN. I have had difficulty accepting that I cannot do what I once could. I am not the same person I once was. Type A personalities like myself prefer to be in the game rather than sitting on the sidelines.

Adopting health strategies such as a clean diet, regular workouts, and supplements, has helped lessen the daily pain and limited my “flares” of my fibromyalgia. It has allowed me to maintain a moderately active lifestyle. And then I begin to think: Maybe I am OK. Maybe I am in some sort of remission. Maybe I can push myself just a little harder. And that thinking usually ends in a crash and burn, i.e. fibro flare and bed rest. Slowing down, resting allows the body to recover from the stresses put upon it. Without a recovery period, we can do our bodies more harm than good.

Continue reading “The Challenge of Slowing Down”

Is it Fibromyalgia or Something Else?

10 Strange Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Chronic, widespread pain. Fatigue. Insomnia. Depression. Headaches. These are the common symptoms most people associate with Fibromyalgia Syndrome or FMS. But this syndrome is complex, its symptoms mimic other conditions, and it’s not easily diagnosed. There are well over 60 different symptoms that have been associated with this condition, some of which are comorbid or overlapping conditions. Muscle, skin, joint, cognitive, sensory, neurological, sleep-related, and the list goes on. For people like me, it can be difficult at times to determine if it’s just one of the myriad of things associated with FMS or if it’s something new. Sometimes it’s a guessing game: Is it Fibromyalgia or something else?

Continue reading “Is it Fibromyalgia or Something Else?”