Coping with Fibromyalgia Portland OR

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Unfortunately, fibromyalgia doesn’t end at 6 p.m. or whenever you arrive home from work, nor does it go away when you wake up in the morning, struggling to get ready for another day at work or at home. When you have FMS, it’s always there on the sidelines, waiting to jump on you yet again with its aggravating symptoms. You also need to keep in mind that other people you interact with on a daily basis (your partner, children, friends, co-workers, and other family members) are directly affected by your fibromyalgia, even if they don’t have FMS themselves.
Virtually anyone you interact with on a regular basis needs some understanding of what you need from them, whether you tell them that you have fibromyalgia or not. (Some people with fibromyalgia tell everyone that they have “arthritis” because they think that it sounds better.) Even as you become more aware of your symptoms and how best to resolve them, you still have to deal with the “non-fibro” world, comprised of your family members who don’t have fibromyalgia, your fellow workers, and many others you interact with. You need to develop workable strategies to cope with these varying situations and come up with a winning game plan for your life.

Making Lifestyle Changes

As you work to pull yourself farther back into the non-fibromyalgia world, you may sometimes feel like a person loaded down with 50 pounds of extra weight, trying to slog your way through the swamp. During your struggle you watch others on dry land with no heavy packs dart by you, maybe waving at you and telling you that they’ll see you later. If you want to improve your quality of life and be able to reduce your backpack of troublesome symptoms, consider the following basic ideas:

De-stress yourself. Stress is a normal part of life, but if you have fibromyalgia on top of the usual daily stresses, or maybe with some extra stress thrown in once in a while, you’re in a bad situation. Stress can greatly worsen the chronic pain, fatigue, and other symptoms of the person with fibromyalgia

Improve your sleep to decrease your pain. Don’t kid yourself. Five or even six hours
of sleep each night aren’t enough. So, if insufficient sleep is a problem for you, as it is for many people with fibromyalgia, face up to it. You may need medication (such as a sleep aid or an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medicine), an alternative remedy (such as valerian or melatonin), or another form of treatment to solve this no- or low-sleep problem that you’re going through.

Exercise. Unless you’re an exercise-aholic, you probably don’t much like the idea of exercising (most people don’t), and the mere thought of it may be nearly migraine inducing for some readers. But the fact is, aerobic exercise will usually help you to limber up and lose weight, making you more mobile and also helping you to feel better. So consider “getting physical.”
Exercise shouldn’t hurt a lot, nor should it be really unpleasant and something to dread. If you hate swimming or bicycling, don’t use those activities as your exercises. Maybe walking would suit you better, or maybe dancing or some other form of aerobic exercise with your partner or a friend. You can exercise in many different ways: Be creative and find the best ways for you.

Pay attention to your emotions. Stress isn’t the only problem that people with fibromyalgia often face. Depression and anxiety are also very common, and they may be problems that you face. These problems are treatable andI talk about how to know if you may have a problem, and how to identify a good therapist to help you, if you need one.

Working with fibromyalgia

Many people with fibromyalgia continue to work full-time or part-time, despite their pain and fatigue. They struggle with what to do when their symptoms make it hard to continue to work. Many people worry about whether they should tell others at work about their FMS, whom they should tell, what they should say, and so much more. I also include advice from an attorney expert in getting people with FMS approved for Social Security disability.

Handling fibromyalgia with family and friends

Even the most loving family members and friends usually don’t really understand fibromyalgia if they don’t have it themselves. And even if they do have FMS, too, their symptoms may be very different from what you experience, and the intensity of their symptoms may be better or worse than the way your symptoms grab hold of you. As nice as it would be if this were true, the reality is that fibromyalgia isn’t a quickie one-time explanation. For people to understand what your problem is, especially the people with whom you share your home and your life, helping them get a clue about what you’re going through and what you need takes a lot of work.
You have to be candid, and you also need to know how to respond to the dumb things that people often say to people who have fibromyalgia. Don’t miss the information that I provide on sex and fibromyalgia for readers who are sensing that their partners are maybe feeling a teensy bit deprived in this area of life. (Thinking about sex when you hurt is a hard thing to do, but it’s not hard for your non-FMS partner to think about it. Finding common ground is a good idea.)

Sorting it out when you don’t have fibromyalgia

Maybe you don’t have fibromyalgia, but you live with someone who does, and you really want to understand the problem and to help as much as possible. But where do you begin? This chapter describes techniques to assist you in helping your friend or loved one deal with FMS, and it also tells you some things you should not do or say because they drive most people with fibromyalgia wild.

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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.

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