Discover effective exercises for Fibromyalgia that can help reduce pain, improve flexibility, and boost energy levels for better symptom management.
Part I: From Onset to Diagnosis For Fibromyalgia Awareness Month, I wanted to share my illness journey here on the blog. My story starts eight years ago. It wasn’t a climactic beginning. It was just achy low back pain that got worse the longer I sat writing my M.A. thesis. It seemed like a common enough problem to have, except for the fact that I was 23. The nurse told me to take ibuprofen 24/7 and…
When is the last time scheduled a rest day? I am not talking about spending the day in bed because your chronic illness flared and made leaving it impossible. What I am asking is, when did you last choose a day to relax, give your body a break, and allow yourself to chill out in front of the television for no reason other than you wanted to? I don’t need a rest day The problem…
“To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom”, Bertrand Russell I believe that those of us with central sensitization, that is, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, or to call it by another name -“post-traumatic stress disorder”, all suffer from chronic anxiety/ fear. These terms are, in my view, interchangeable. They can keep us imprisoned without recourse and in a state of hopelessness. In fact, the US Department of Health and Human Services has developed a new name…
” What I want for my fans and for the world, for anyone who feels pain, is to lean into that pain and embrace it as much as they can and begin the healing process”, Lady Gaga There has rarely been such public awareness of fibromyalgia as there is now that Lady Gaga has become public about her own suffering. While there are thousands of those of us who suffer from the debilitating pain and…
” The greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel”, Florence Nightingale A dreidel is a four-sided spinning top. I loved the above quote but knew not what that word meant. It makes so much sense to me now as the world is certainly spinning out of control and it is the hyper-sensitive, traumatized person who suffers the most, especially…
” These are exciting and challenging times for the manual therapy professions. I believe that the pain science world is handing extremely valuable information to clinicians. We now have a greater understanding of the behavior of pain states and we are becoming aware of the molecular targets of manual therapy”, David S. Butler Dear readers, I apologize for not writing a blog last month, but I have been sick with a cold that would not…
I am so excited to share this interview with you. I hope that it helps you as much as it helped me. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your therapy practice. I graduated from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 2009. I went on to graduate from the University of Michigan in 2013 with a Master of Social Work degree. I became a School Social Worker…
I’ve had FMS symptoms for almost 43 years. No one recovers from FMS. There is no cure. If someone tells you that they “used to have” FMS, they are mistaken. Their diagnosis was wrong. You learn to cope with FMS. You learn what your limits are and how to protect your energy. You may have many comorbid conditions such as clinical depression, chronic headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc. You learn…
How do I be confident using the cane in public when I look like an otherwise healthy, able-bodied person? I can’t give you a direct definite answer to your question. But I will share a couple of things with you. When my oldest daughter was 13 she had surgery for scoliosis. She walked back to the surgery suite turning back, smiling and waving. Totally secure in what she was doing. 13 1/2 hours later they…
This can be a difficult question to answer because fibromyalgia affects everyone in differing ways; however, there is one overarching thing that makes it worse, not moving. Although it can feel horrific to move at times, not being active will only make things worse. On really bad days all I can muster is walking my dog 10–20 minutes 3–4 times in the day. It’s not a lot but it helps. I’ll also do light stretching…