Suck it Fibro

For the last few months, I’ve had a lot of new things occurring or going to occur soon. Almost all of them are ultimately good but they are stressful. Stress leads to me not taking the best care of myself, usually through poor food choices. Poor food choices kicks my fibromyalgia into high gear. Once that starts, it’s a horrible downward spiral into major painville, population me. 🙁

Yesterday was a really bad day. I had trouble walking to/from classes and if I had  a choice I would have curled into a fetal position and eaten potato chips or mac and cheese in bed all day. I’m sure that would have helped … Not!

Instead, I decided to take control of my health again. Here’s my list of go to self care tips…

  • Rest and recharging myself in specific positions/places
    • I curl up in a fetal position on the couch.
      • The bed doesn’t work for me like the couch does. It took me awhile to figure out why but I finally did. Even as a child when I’m in pain, I want someone to push against me. I used to ask my mother to push against my back when she would say goodnight to me. I think it has to do with my nerve endings being “on fire” from the fibro. I need to calm them down. The same principles that apply to my dog, Maisie, when she wears her thunder shirt.  I need to lie against the back of the couch and get the pressure. Lying in bed doesn’t cut it.
  • Quiet & dim lighting
    • I have difficulty going to malls, concerts, or anywhere I feel sensory overload. Fireworks freak me out.
  • Deep breathing
    • Thank goodness I know about deep breathing. Belly breathing calms your system. Something as simple as a few deep breaths can have incredible results.
  • Relaxing the jaw & the tongue thing
    • This is weird but folks with fibro tend to have swollen tongues and we clamp down on them often – not as in biting your tongue. Our jaws clench and the sides of our tongues get caught in our teeth. I often wake in the middle of the night because of the pain. I have to make an incredible concerted effort to relax my jaw and put my tongue in a different position. (I told you it was weird!)
  • Eating right & and not eating wrong
    • I can’t go too extreme quickly but I start adding in anti-inflammatory foods and get rid of the processed foods. I learned what foods I was allergic to and eliminated them too. It’s hard to stay away from beef, chicken, corn, soy, wheat, dairy, corn, cane sugar and chocolate but that’s what I have to do to be pain free.
  • Magnesium oil
    • Most of us are magnesium deficient due to today’s soils. Spray yourself and leave it on for at least 20 minutes. (You can leave it on for longer but it feels like salt water) It does tingle so don’t spray it anywhere sensitive. It relaxes me like nothing else. Some people spray their feet, put socks on and go to bed.
  • Epsom salt bath
    • I love baths in general. Water feels so good against my skin. I honestly don’t know if it’s just the bath or the epsom salt bath but it certainly doesn’t hurt so I do it.
  • Drink lots of water
    • I never drank “juice drinks” (I do make my own juices but when I’m not feeling well, I don’t have the energy). I no longer drink soda. I drink tea often but try to keep it decaf.  Drinking lots of water helps with cleaning out the bad stuff.
  • Ingesting Magnesium – Natural Calm
    • Pooping is really important and this helps!
  • Small glass of red wine
    • It may not work for everyone, but this relaxed me just enough.
  • No negative nellies
    • I’m too sensitive. My body tenses when I’m around people complaining. I cut them out when I’m having a flare up. (I probably should limit my time with them in general but …)
  • Gentle movement
    • When I can, however I can.
  • Forgiving myself when I don’t do EVERYTHING I think I *should*. (Grr, that word!)

So, this is my go to list. Did I miss anyone of your favorites?

 

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