As the Fibro-World Turns

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and IBS in July 2010 (about 30% of Fibro-folks have ibs too). I haven't written about it yet because I've been trying to figure out whether or not I accept the diagnoses. 

It's November 4th now, and I do. 

The National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA) defines it as such: Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic widespread pain, multiple tender points, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbances, fatigue and often psychological distress. For those with severe symptoms, fibromyalgia can be extremely debilitating and interfere with basic daily activities. Here's a full list of symptoms: http://www.fmaware.org/site/PageServer?pagename=fibromyalgia_symptoms. I have most of these on a daily basis. 

At first I wasn't telling anyone about this because fibromyalgia is one of those things I've always put on par with the hysteria diagnoses Freud liked to give us women. I didn't really believe in it, but now that I have to spend the first two hours of my day hurting and dry heaving, and the rest of my day fatigued and aching like I have swine flu, I'm beginning to place some validity in my diagnosis. 

The treatment boils down to something like "don't do things that stress you out, and do things that enhance relaxation." Hmmm. Sounds easy enough right? Next week I start acupuncture treatment, I started getting weekly massages about 3 weeks ago, I try to walk most days of the week (about an hour most sessions), I meditate daily. I do take ibuprofen when the aches get to be too much, but generally I don't like to take meds. The other drugs I've been prescribed--flexeril, Tramadol, even codeine, but they just knock me out. I do take a low dose of zoloft to help my mood about all this. Ginger tabs, teas and broths do help my tummy. 

I'll be trying to add in yoga and tai chi in the coming weeks - stay tuned. In the end though - it seems that these symptoms will stay with me - so the treatment is really just treating the symptoms, as far as I can tell, not solving them. 

The NFA says that the hardest part of having fibromyalgia is adjusting to the fact that you can't do as much as you used to--they're right. I battle this one all the time. When you are feeling better, it's easy to think that you've been making this all up, but as soon as you try to go back to your old ways--getting up at 4am to do your writing, handling homework chores with the teens, cooking and cleaning the house, etc.--and Whammo! you are back in bed.