Coping With Fibromyalgia
While I do not have fibromyalgia, I have heard countless stories on the toll it takes from the people I have worked with throughout the years. With this illness, it means waking up each day not entirely sure what your body will allow, and that unpredictability can wear on your spirit as much as the pain wears on your muscles. Many know of the illness through the widespread tender points throughout the body, but it is also a condition that can bring considerable fatigue and brain fog as well. Coping with this unpredictability begins with learning to listen closely to yourself, noticing when you need rest, when you need movement, and when you simply need reassurance that you are not weak for feeling this way. Rhythms and routines can be beneficial, like steady sleep routines, slow stretching, brief walks, and moments of mindfulness where you observe sensations without immediately bracing against them. But make no mistake, this is not a recipe for a cure, but simple suggestions to balance a life and to find a place of acceptance within the chronic illness storm. It also helps to speak honestly with the people in your life about what your days are really like, so you are not carrying the experience alone. But I can also appreciate how loved ones, despite their best intension, can tune out the ill individual in the family over the passage of time. I have experienced many times over people apologizing to me for “burdening me” or “complaining,” as they have likely been conditioned over time that they are being “too much” for some people, but I have to remind them I’m in the same box with chronic illness and there is no burdening or complaining during our sessions, only sharing the experiences of an imperfect life, which is always perfectly fine by me. Over time, many people find that coping is less about fighting the pain and more about building a life stilling possessing meaning and connection, and even moments of satisfaction inside a body that asks for patience. This is always easier to type than live, but if you are interested in attempting to find balance in an imperfect medical situation, reach out and contact me.
Dr. Jeffrey Bone