The treatment of fibromyalgia will always have as objective principal: improve your quality of life.
As there is currently no cure for fibromyalgia, it is important that you learn to live with it in the least painful way possible.
In this search, many people spend their lives from doctor to doctor looking for the ” magic pill ” that improves them.
But, the truth is that it is within each one where true and lasting improvement lies .
This is why it is important that you take an active role in controlling your disease and its manifestations .
Keep a positive attitude
Many will say, “It ‘s easy for you to say, you don’t know what it’s like to live with fibromyalgia .”
The truth is that I do know, because I am also a fibromyalgia patient and that is why I am telling you.
The fibromyalgia is a chronic disease, so we life , so we must learn to “tame” .
I am convinced that we are the product of our thoughts , so I try to nurture them with positive phrases.
I, in that daily battle to tame her, start my day with this mantra:
“Be happy, not because everything is good;
but because you can see the good in everything. ”
Do exercise
The exercise as part of the treatment of fibromyalgia is certainly most effective measure .
If you have ever had a bad experience with exercise, it is normal that you are a little reluctant to this idea.
It is important that you start with low intensity exercise to avoid exacerbating symptoms.
As the days go by, you will see how your symptoms become more tolerable .
But keep in mind that if you exercise too much on good days, you can turn them into bad days.
Keep a symptom diary
Writing is a good way to make the unconscious conscious .
Record in your journal :
- Your activities for the day and their duration.
- The appearance of symptoms during or after performing them.
- Your state of mind.
In this way, you can objectify what hypothetically you think is happening to you. It will allow you to discover the links between daily events and your level of symptoms.
Over time, it will reveal what makes you worse and better, and this will allow you to adapt to new circumstances .
Improve your sleeping habits
Sleeping through the night and waking up more tired than when you went to bed, does that sound familiar?
There are 3 different sleep disorders associated with fibromyalgia:
- Difficulty falling asleep
- Difficulty staying asleep
- Wake up too early
The problem with sleep is that it creates a vicious cycle with fibromyalgia . That is, a non-restorative sleep will increase your symptoms and an exacerbation of the symptoms will cause you a non-restorative sleep .
Sleep can be altered by a number of external factors, which can be improved with what is called sleep hygiene.
You will find tips to improve your sleep here .
It is about adapting to a series of habits that allow you to achieve an adequate quality of sleep .
Manage stress
The stress is an adaptation that generates your body to ward off an imminent risk.
Substances that the body releases are saving in a dangerous situation, but harmful when they are produced permanently.
The problem begins when we “see” everything as risky and problematic.
This is how stress becomes a trigger or exacerbator of your symptoms. This is why it is important to find different ways to manage it.
In this section, I want to share another of my mantras with you.
“If the problem has a solution, why bother,
and if you don’t have it, why bother “
Watch your diet
There is a saying out there “we are what we eat “. And it is very true, our well-being and also many of our discomforts come from our diet.
For this reason, it is important to review our eating habits, in order to get the best out of them.
Join support groups
The best evidence of the usefulness of belonging to support groups is Alcoholics Anonymous.
It is about creating a community between people who share their “mutual experience, strength and hope to solve a common problem and help others to recover” (1).
Join to Living with fibromyalgia group
The idea is to improve our discomfort for 24 hours, tomorrow it will be resolved tomorrow.
Support groups remove the feeling of being alone against your pathology and open your vision by seeing the experiences of others.
There you can also find fibromyalgia treatment options that have worked for others.
Follow your doctor’s recommendations
It may sound very strange that being a doctor, you put your doctor last.
It is that the treatment of fibromyalgia , far from what many think (especially doctors), is more in the hands of the patient than of the doctors.
Your doctor will formulate the treatment that he considers most useful in your particular case, seeking to control your symptoms and improve your quality of life .
Alternative options
Today, there are many options when it comes to therapeutic management and fibromyalgia is no exception.
The important thing is always that any alternative management that you start, you do it in the hands of an expert and well-trained person.
Do not give up, please do not give in,
Although the cold burns,
Although fear bites,
Although the sun hides,
And the wind is silent ,
There is still fire in your soul
There is still life in your dreams.
Mario Benedetti
