How do you get through a day with Fibromyalgia?
Well, for starters, you have to realize that one day can take on a hundred different pain issues depending on the choices you make.
For example, I usually feel run over by some form of transportation before my feet hit the floor! (How’s that for a “good morning”!!!) Once my brain kicks in, depending on what I remember, my adrenaline might lift me out of bed and out the door quicker. However, most mornings for me are slow to rise, and even painful just to sit up. I paddle around my morning routine in a snail-like sort of way.
Once I get going, many times just knowing what things need to get done keeps me motivated (dishes, laundry, etc.). If I over-do or do things I shouldn’t (like clean a bathroom or sweep a porch) I will collapse into a chair and feel the pains just ooze out of me. But, if I push myself and stop when I should have stopped earlier, I will have more pain to deal with when I finally sit down and worse, for up to several days afterward.
How about the roller-coaster day when you feel like you can do something, so you do it, and immediately your body retaliates! Down you go, perhaps fighting back tears from the pain. After you rest, you are up again, feeling like you can do something (again), only to find yourself curled up in a ball of pain wishing you had stayed down.
Maybe your hazy head of the morning suddenly sweeps you off your feet into an “out-of-left-field” full-blown Fibro migraine! (Uh-oh…down for the count! You awaken with nary a memory of anything prior to it.)
You see, a person who suffers from Fibromyalgia NEVER knows what a day will bring. Just sitting at the table too long can wreak havoc and change the course of one’s day.
The Fibro person looks at all that needs to be done or what they want to do and has to make a choice. “If I do this, then I’ll have to rest. If I do that, than it’ll wipe me out for days.” But your mind says- it needs to be done! Your mind also reminds you of the pain that will follow. It’s a vicious cycle.
Today I cleaned my laundry room. I mean, deep cleaned it. I also taught a daughter how to scrub a shower stall. Later I awoke on the couch barley remembering I laid down there in the first place and then, could not get up until someone came looking for me. (at my house someone is always looking for me! I’m a mom!!)
Today was a roller-coaster day. Pain-rest-pain-rest…currently my hips are throbbing and just getting up to pee sounds like a major task.
Alas, my motto is “It is what it is” and every time I try to do something that caused me problems before just confirms that I truly suffer from this dread condition.
You know, on the “better” pain days we might think it was a misdiagnosis…until we go shopping, cook a meal or clean. Then we are reminded that Oh, yes indeedy we have Fibromyalgia!!
One day at a time. One hour at a time. One moment at a time. Each choice can affect your tomorrow or the next day.
Happy Mother’s Day weekend!!
Two of my blessings are being able to be a wife and a momma. I am thankful and loved.
I hope you are, too.
God Bless-
the Fibro-Momma-of-ten
Your blog has enlightened me to your world of Fibromyalgia.