i no when ive done more than one room of cleaning ive over done it and im going to pay for it later.It usually takes me all day to do one room with lots of breaks if i dont follow this i pay for it dearly for the next week.

I don't always know. I just do what is in front of me, and when i start having to push myself really hard, it is time to stop.

Yesterday it was raining, so I did very little and I ended up feeling worse than when I do what I said above, so staying active, at least to a point, is very important to me.

After sitting around most of the morning, by afternoon I didn't want to do anything at all so had some coffee to give me a kick start, now I only got about 4 hours sleep because of the caffeine.

Trying to maintain balance is so tricky sometimes, frustrates me.

First I would like to say hello and you have been missed, so great to see another one of the great white cats swing back into action on this board!

I feel your pain, I try to do a room a day or so, so I can get through the house my the end of each week. I realized between the holiday two weekends ago and my dear sister in town last week my house had taken a toll.

Monday I felt so good that by dinner time I was the proud owner of a clean house and felt good to have gotton the house back into shape...this morning is bad the baseball attack on total body awfull....

So Sandyclause, normaly I space my deep household chores out over a few days...I will never forget that rule again!

So back to clean a room and read a book this keeps my mind and house in order and the use of pain meds down

Hugs and once again gald to have you back in action meow!

Sue

May I ask what new products you started that has given you your energy back. I have energy when I take a pain pill, because I don't hurt as bad so I get alot done. But, if you have found something that isn't a pain pill for energy, I would sure like to try it. I am always trying new things for energy as well as pain, because my doctor is very strict on what he gives me for my pain. Which is only Tramadol.

Thank you everyone. It's so hard sometimes to remember to stop or slow down. I guess the trick is to actually bring it forward into your consciousness and plan to stop after a certain point.

Hurteveryday, I will send a message about the products.

I had someone explain our fatigue this way and it helped me to understand when I need to rest, because I am an over achiever.

A person that is not suffering from what we have has an endless drawer full of spoons to pull from but we who suffer from FM start out our day with 12 spoons.

When we get up that takes one spoon.
When we make our breakfast that is one spoon.
When we shower it is one spoon.
When we get dressed it is one spoon.
When we walk the dog, that is one spoon.

As you all can see we use up those 12 spoons very quickly. By mid morning they are usually all gone for the day. If we are in a flare, the spoons become depleted just in getting dressed and showering. Then the rest of the day, we are compounding the fatigue.

It helped me understand that I have to stop. It helped me to be able to say No. It helped me to know that I have to stop or it will keep compounding and I will pay for it.

Now I know that when you have small children, you have to keep going, but please ask for help so that you can rest a few minutes of each day and refresh your energy..

This morning I made breakfast for my Daughter, it is her birthday, then I made one for my son that got up later and my son in law. My grand daughter shared her Moms. By the end of this, I had to sit down. It took what energy I had gained from sleeping a few hours.
I have learned in this that the housework will wait but resting won't if I want to have any quality of life.

Big hugs to all that are battling each day.. Kimmee

After all these years I still don't know how to not overdo when I'm feeling good. I'm just thankful for good pain management so I can manage the pain when I've done too much.

I also can't always tell. I usually figure it out when I take my hourly break and realize I *need* it. (Every hour, no matter what else I am doing, I take five-ten minutes to just sit, rest, re-set.) Right now, I am underdoing big-time so I can bounce back from some nasty stuff, and my muscles hurt from my inactivity b/c I'm used to being fairly active, or at least up and down all day rather than just *down*.

Hope you find a solution for all that pain.
Hugs,
Leo

Not a friggin clue.

Just when I seem to figure it out I do too much and pay for it later. I just can't help myself.

I still don't know when to stop

OMG! Not 30 minutes after i posted I went and did too much. I went to run some errands. Went to Costco to refill my eyeglass cleaner bottles. Went to the dollar store to pick up 40 sets of dice (I'm a teacher), Home Depot for some flood lights for the kitchen, went to Trader Joe's for some chips (They are to die for organic tortilla chips.) Then picked up a prescription and some groceries from the grocery store. Then I came home to fall into a lump on the couch.

I knew as I wrote this after about the second errand I was thinking, "What was I thinking?" I should have gone home and called it a day. But NO, I had to overdo it AGAIN. Geez I'll never learn.

Right now I am at a point where it takes me a very long time just to do the dishes because my back and hip pain worsens while I am doing it. I could never do all the things you do gkneez. It depresses me. I go to pool therapy twice a week and those days thats about all I accomplish because of pain and body fatigue. 2 days a week I go to my sons double header baseball games and that is my focus for the day besides a shower etc. At the games I am constantly getting up and down out of my chair and walking around ,people that dont know me probably think I have ants in my pants. I dont usually stay the entire time. I space out appts, PT, baseball, errands by the days of the week-not more than one each day because I have to. Housework etc is by priority and little bits at a time-I try not to get hung up on it -I cant let it define me, if I do then I set myself up for failure. My husband and son have to help more now and they dont like it because I use to be responsible for everything plus I worked. Take breaks for sure. I think everyone has to approach this differently depending on your abilities and some days are worse then others. Definitely doing nothing with your body is not helpful. I finally got my doctor to treat my pain and that with the pool therapy has helped me get more active. Love the spoon story. Wishing the best for you sandyclause and sorry I rambled on I guess I needed to vent. Its a touchy subject with the people I live with.

It's so hard to know because some days I can do XY&Z and be OK the next day. Other times I do XY&Z and can't move the next day or two and suffer terribly.

I know they say listen to your body, but my body lies to me.

If I know I'm going to have to do something important during the next few days then I'll be really careful because when I pay for what I've done it's usually the second day that is the worst for me.

Oh, my goodness, gkneez! I have more energy now, but I still don't think I could do all that in one day. A week, maybe, without other appointments... I'm sure you'll learn. Eventually, lol.

Milily, I don't know about others, but I also have more trouble with dishes. I find it very difficult to just stand in one place. I also get up and pace in places where I should be just sitting.

Youdontlooksick, my body lies to me too. It's very frustrating. I still have those moments, too frequently, where all I can do is fall into bed for a while.

I find myself doing the same thing. It takes me forever to do one room and I only have a two bedroom apmt.. it should only take about 1 hour and it take me sometimes three days.