Finding Your Balance


That nasty word Fibromyalgia takes you into a new world doesn't it...one often times that's filled with fear and anxiety. Whether you have been there for years as you searched for a diagnosis and treatment or have just arrived as a newcomer whose symptoms appeared only recently, this word is probably one filled with anger, fear, frustration and pain. Am I right? If you are like many people who have been misdiagnosed and struggled through treatment after treatment that brought you no relief , I'll bet your a little more than angry. In today's technology we've come to believe that doctor's know so much that almost anything should be easily diagnosed and treated. (Remember Doctor's are human too they just have an education) There should be a pill for whatever ails you. For lack of a better term...a miracle cure. There is no miracle cure..only things that can help temporarily and all the shoulds in the world won't change the fact that medical researchers STILL have a long way to go. So what can you do? Withdraw into your secluded world of FM? It may be tempting and some have done that. You don't have a choice about having FM and it won't go away...you can only make a choice about how you are going to live with it now that it is a part of your life, and somehow deal with it day by day, second by second.

Living well with Fibromyalgia, means finding the right balance of sleep, exercise, nutrition, and psychological or spiritual well-being. This is as unique to each of us, as our needs. It is VERY important that you understand this and that you also work with your Health Care Provider and "Support System" who also understand this key component. They can help you to find your balance, but they CAN NOT do it for you.
That my friends is up to YOU!
Sleep is the most critical role in relief from pain and fatigue, and in emotional well-being. If you're not sleeping well, that is almost always the problem to work on first. Exercise and Nutritional focus will also help you in sleeping and therefore should be focused on together at the same time. Kind of like a circle...without each other it's just a line. Your mental state also has a profound effect on your Fibromyalgia. Your physical pain is real enough, but what goes on in your head can make it more or less bearable. If your angry, your body reacts with adrenaline, your heart races and you feel a surge of energy. When you have FM, you pay for this reaction later with either fatigue, pain or both in many instances. This is why it's so important to reduce and alleviate ALL stress (obviously this can't be done consistently, but how you deal with it can control how you feel) YOU are the expert on your own body. Nobody knows YOU like you do. But if you are like most people, you have lost the intimate relationship with your body and spirit that you had when you were a child.
If you had FM as a child, you learned long ago that you had to ignore pain and fatigue if you were going to accomplish anything. Even after you grew up without FM, you still had to learn to ignore your body when feeling ill. You learned to eat when it was time to eat, even if you weren't hungry. In this many examples, we were taught to ignore our bodies instead of LISTENING to them. I'm sure you can think of many examples in your own life when you've ignored listening to your body...and it came back to bit you in the bottom. Like pain in your lower back perhaps that ended up being full blown sciatica. Pain has an important message for us and we must listen. There also is another kind of listening...that is paying attention to the effects of EVERYTHING on your body. What you eat, what you breathe in, how you move, how you feel, what you say and hear , what you do and what is done to you. When listening to your body becomes a habit, you will instinctively know what is good and/or bad for you and like that circle that we talked about earlier...that circle with no end, will meet you and you too shall find your balance. So my challenge to you this year is to straighten that "kinked" bent circle and find that balance to which you feel empowered, joy and great well being.
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