Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
So the past few weeks have been incredibly depressing and discouraging. Even with fibro, I'm a die-hard runner (I just have to be careful to stay consistent and make sure I rest) and I had signed up for a half marathon in May, which I was starting to get super excited about. A couple weeks ago I was running, and I started getting pain in my hip which got progressively worse. I stopped and went to the doctor who told me to take anti-inflammatories and avoid running for a week, so I did that and a week later the pain came back even worse when I tried to run (even though I took it easy). They took x rays and said I might have a stress fracture but they wanted an MRI to confirm-the MRI was Saturday and was consistent with a stress fracture. Now they want a bone scan and a consult with an orthopedist. For the past 2 weeks I haven't been allowed to do ANY exercise (even gentle activities like yoga), and exercise has been my only way of keeping my anxiety under control. Now I'm having breakdowns, panic attacks, my fibro pain is worse than when I was running and I'm freaking out about everything I eat. My boyfriend is being fairly supportive but after so much going wrong in the past year and a half he's getting sick of it. On top of this I've lost the one thing that I was feeling good about and working towards. I have no idea how to cope with the onslaught of pain, anxiety and stress; I won't be able to exercise for at least another 4-6 weeks. The only healthy stress relief I've ever done that felt effective involved exercise (the things I did before that include binge eating, drinking and cutting). Sorry for the long rant...I just needed to get that out.
I hope you can heal and still manage to run in the future.
I really hope you give your body that time to heal and then you can resume running or walking/jogging to keep yourself motivated and feel good about yourself again. Remember everybody has to give their bodies extra time to heal sometimes and unfortunately it is your time. It will be over and you can get through it. Focus on eating healthy and maybe talk to a doctor about the anxiety if eating healthy is not enough right now.
I pray you get the strength and peace of mind you need right now to tackle this obstacle.
And yet - part of the Wisdom we can gain from chronic illness is that our identity is about who we ARE and not about what we DO.
As someone who has constructively used physical exertion as a way to combat inner demons, this change of direction comes really hard.
But - we can re-frame the Fight. Instead of logging hours at the gym or on the track, we can re-train our muscles and fascia with restorative or yin yoga.
And - venting is also good....
For many of us, this is the LAST place we expected to be - after all, we did everything "right," didn't we?
Oh boy, oh boy, how I empathize!!!