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.
Through a bit of trial and error, I am finding some things that I HAVE to do daily...kinda like insulin for a diabetic....if I don't, I flare...without fail. Here are mine (so far):
1. Avoid processed sugar...at ALL cost. Even a tiny bit sets off symptoms.
2. Sleep at least 7 hours...any less, I immediately feel the symptoms.
3. Take my D-ribose and other supplements. Skip a day, and I'll know it.
Just curious if you all have found similar things that you MUST do/avoid?
HUGS to all from down south :)
1. Avoid processed sugar...at ALL cost. Even a tiny bit sets off symptoms.
2. Sleep at least 7 hours...any less, I immediately feel the symptoms.
3. Take my D-ribose and other supplements. Skip a day, and I'll know it.
Just curious if you all have found similar things that you MUST do/avoid?
HUGS to all from down south :)
Red meats irritate my IBS and I also have to have my daily yogurt to stay um..regular.
I have to move...my body wants more sleep, but I wake up in such pain, it's best to just get up and move.
I have to have at least 6 hours sleep or else I flare.
I also have to go through my stretches. (neck, back, and small weights)
and I must go for a walk. I have to spend at least one hour a day walking or I just seize up.
I, too, have to avoid sugar - but I'm not so good with that. (i try to stick to honey and brown sugars)
I read once that fibromyalgics are like cement trucks. We have to keep moving or else our muscles solidify. This seems true to me! That's the biggest thing for me, to keep moving.
It's looking like the caffeine will be a no-no for me as well...ah well, thank goodness for decaf coffee! :)
I have to take my cymbalta and my vitamin B12....hydrocodone if I'm going out (rare)....and usually a nap.
I just dug out the book where I read the cement truck bit...I hope it's ok to give a little quote here, I'll reference the source...
'...fibromyalgia causes your muscles to act like concrete. They require more movement than those of a regular body, and without that movement they will set and get hard and painful.' *
* Bigelow, Stacie L., M.A., 'Fibromyalgia; Simple Relief through Movement', published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p. 7, (2000).
The ISBN is 0-471-34802-3
It's funny how some things really hit home sometimes, for me the cement truck analogy has always remained in my head.
It's not a matter of 'I should exercise' like it is for most people but a matter of 'I must exercise'...and of course i don't mean a full blown gym workout with weights and what not...I mean movement, walking, what I can manage slowly, soft stretches.
this book really helped me. It's quite small but gives some exercises and guidelines to get moving gently. And the most important bit is that it stresses that we should not do traditional exercise programmes, or else we will flare. (and I think that's where many of us go wrong, we do too much when we try to exercise and it backfires!) the book really stresses the need for us to take things slowly and individually. Plus it talks about knowing the difference between pain that means we should rest and pain that means we need to move.
Actually, I'm glad this came up, flipping through it now I can see I've gotten a bit lax with some of it...so thanks for the original post!
Come to think of it, I have been off coffee for over 6 months, and that has helped me feel better overall. But not sure about how it affects fibro, i read once that caffeine could actually help fm...who knows? there's so much conflicting information and we're all different. We have to just keep trying.
Best wishes,
Susan
I cannot nap or else I wont get to sleep when it is beddy bye time...
I have noticed that movement is a critical component to keeping my pain at bay, however lately it seems as if I am too weak to do so, which is kinda scary to me.
Keeping positive is a must do for me every day. It is so easy for me to slip into a depressed state these days so I have to force myself to stay positive.....
Hugs
MT
-I have to sleep at least 6 hours a night
-I have to walk every morning or I am the cement truck that Susan mentioned.
-I have to come here and talk to all of you, or my mind is cement.