For me, too much activity without being able to sit in my recliner. When I visit my daughter for a few days (she has no recliner), I'm in so much pain it's just crazy.

Oh, I sure wish I could figure this out! The only thing I've noticed for sure is being too busy. I'm not a sugar eater, and am pretty religious with trying to follow the paleo diet, but I still seem to have rough patches. My biggest struggle is when I have a good patch, I think, "Ah-ha! See! I never had fibro! I just needed to [insert latest self-cure attempt]" then when a bad patch hits again, I tend to feel defeated.

I will say, traveling seems to knock me on my behind and send my pain level through the roof for an extended period of time. I'm not sure why except maybe I get overtired and overly stiff.

Stress/Worry
Any change in weather, especially damp and/or cold
Overdoing it

And sometimes no trigger can be pinpointed.......

I know some of the obvious ones, but sometimes it seems to come out of nowhere. I've greatly reduced my sugar intake (but I must have it in my decaf tea!), and that has made a difference. Since Sunday I have been in a lot of pain, tightness, soreness, and exhaustion, but am putting it down to my sweet little cat's sudden death.

Drastic weather changes (and bar rhetoric pressure) seem to be some of mine. Over-exertion, or being on my feet too long.

Actually, sometimes I wonder what DOEN'T trigger flares.

That's "barometric". Auto correct is evil.

Barometric pressure is a definite trigger for me, a Psycologist proved that to me when I saw him twice a week for bio feed back and unknown to me the questions he used at the beginning about pain were compared to the barometric pressure. It was not if it was low or high but when it was changing.

Diet is a big one for me such as sugar, gluten, dairy, MSG and a few other small ones.

A few days without a recliner to rest in and I pay twice as long as I was gone. I need to really relax when I sit or not good.

laurab

What DOESN"T trigger fibromyalgia flares? lol. My answer is anything and everything can cause mine to flare up. I think fibro has a mind of it's own.

I am still trying to figure this out. I was just diagnosed 9 months ago, after having symptoms for several years off & on, and being sent to so many separate medical specialists who tried to treat they symptoms each separately. For example: Throbbing foot - sent to a Podiatrist, Throbbing knees - sent to an orthopedic doctor, Continual migraines - sent to a Neurologist, Increasing tremors - sent to a Neurologist, Throbbing hips - sent to an orthopedic specialist, Aching back - sent to a Chiropractor...etc. FINALLY, my new primary caregiver put them all together to say, "I know what you have! Fibromyalgia!", after I spent endless nights especially, crying in pain from head to toe! I am now keeping a daily journal, trying to figure out what makes them worse... Thank you for the sugar idea. I notice I've been craving more sugar than normal. I will try to cut it out all together to see if that could be a culprit. The best of luck to you photograp, and prayers for each and every one of us... -Sharon-

I am going to start the elimination diet tomorrow to see what exact foods are triggering it. I know that too much dairy, chocolate, coffee, brown sodas (which I have now given up for three weeks!)

I do think sugar intake is a BIG one and carbs. I am going to try gluten free and see if that helps at all. Its just hard though because I am already a vegetarian. I will try though and give you an update!

Other flare up triggers:

-barometer pressure FOR SURE!
-emotional stress and turmoil
-too much exercise (by that I mean doing too much yoga) what used to be a normal yoga practice has now turned in to 3 days of recovery.
-eating the foods above
-traveling (airplane, dragging your luggage makes me hurt afterwards)

How I have been coping:

-daily meditation (i cant tell you what a difference this makes, even if its only 15 minutes. It almost makes me feel like I have more energy because of the deep breathing!)
-stretches
-use of rubber ball on trigger points (lay down on the floor and put the ball under your back. Find any point that hurts bad and find the really bad point. When you find it keep the ball there and try to relax as much as possible. Do this until you feel a release of some sort.)
-epsom salt baths
-heating pads



I understand how hard it is to know your limitations (or should I say accept them) I still dont quite think I have.

When we have a freeze/thaw time of season change or when it is going to rain. Isabelle1954

Yes, Sugar is the worst.. I'm trying Gluten Free!