Ok my reader friends, I try to stay very positive in life and on the blog, but I am going to keep it real with you today since it is a Fibro Flare Day. Not every single day is sunshine and rainbows when you have Fibro, well for anyone but in this case, I’m referring to Fibro.
What a Fibro Flare Day is Like:
Wake up after a 7-hour 53-minute night full of sleep. Which was surprisingly good. Yes, I know exactly how long I slept because I need to track it. I have learned one of my triggers is the number of hours I sleep. 2 nights or more of 7 hours or less will mean bad days ahead.
Mentally feeling pretty good but hip joints are popping every step and lots of pain in my shoulders.
I am not hungry, so I don’t eat breakfast, but I do have 2 cups of Hot Tea.
Within an hour of sitting at my desk working my hips are in pain and aching.
After 2 hours of working, I feel like I am mentally swimming in a pool of mud. Trouble concentrating and staying focused.
On conference calls, I pace to try and focus and stay on subject.
It’s lunch time and I get in my truck and drive around for a change of scenery and hopefully to refocus my brain.
After eating a good lunch, I am on another call in the afternoon. I am mid-sentence…” Wait what was I talking about?” a few minutes later “Ummm, Ummm, I don’t remember what I was going to say.”
I am hurting, it is 3pm…can I make it the rest of the day? Should I go take a power nap?
Next call – “Why are we on this call? What was the purpose? I know I just read the email of why you wanted to talk, but I need you to remind me.”
The entire afternoon my head is in my hands, I am hurting, and don’t understand what is going on. I’ve been dizzy most of the day, feeling like I am about to pass out.
30 minutes before the end of my day and I call it quits. I can’t function anymore. I lay down on my couch and try to read a book. So tired. It is now 5:30pm, I can’t nap because it will prevent me from sleeping tonight.
Welcome to a Fibro Flare Day in Fibro World!
I am typically a multi-tasking queen. I am typically an over-achiever. But on days like this I can’t even figure out if I can type an email or be on the phone. It is very embarrassing at times. This is Fibro Fog at its best. I had no warnings that my day would be like this. As you saw above, I truly thought I woke up in good shape but with time everything can change very quickly.
Why Did This Happen?
Who the heck knows?!?! If I had this answer, I would be a millionaire and traveling the world full time. I have reviewed all my triggers that I know I currently have.
✅ Sleep log has averaged over 8-hours a night of sleep for the past week.
✅ Stress level hasn’t been high, just at its normal daily level.
✅ Working at home has resulted in zero fluorescent light exposure.
✅ There has been some exposure to toxic people but not bad, so I don’t think that is it.
✅ I haven’t had sugar and I have been drinking 66 ounces of water on average a day
⚠️ I worked a 12-hour day yesterday and that could be what triggered this. I have been really good at keeping a 7-8-hour daily schedule but some days you can’t do that, and yesterday was one of those. I will need to start keeping a log of my hours so I can determine if this is a trigger.
⚠️ I didn’t eat breakfast. Maybe that was the trigger? I don’t typically but maybe my body is telling me that I need to eat more. I will also have to start logging my food to track that.
⚠️ The water I am drinking is the flavored sparkling water from the local grocery store. Could it be the chemicals that create the favor in that water? For the rest of the week, I will drink plain flat water and see if that helps.
Take Your Medicine or Call the Doctor
Typical reaction from friends or family that know you have Fibromyalgia is to help solve the problem. While I appreciate that, there isn’t a solution! There is no magic pill to make this all go away. There is definitely medication that can help with some of the symptoms. However, that is a trial and error process. Most of the Fibromyalgia medications have lots of side effects associated with them. I have chosen to go the non-medication route and try to figure out how to manage this naturally. That is my decision at this time. I don’t know what I will decide in 6 months.
“Call the Doctor” or “Find a New Doctor” are two of the suggestions that make me cringe the worst. I know some Fibro patients have had amazing luck with their doctors and have a team that supports them and understands this condition. Kudos to you and truthfully, I am jealous! I have seen TONS of doctors and have had zero luck. The last one I saw said I should find a holistic doctor. The one before that said “…work on your diet and exercise, you seem like a determined person and you will figure this out.” Neither one of them scheduled a follow up visit. And both of these were specialists that came highly recommended. Those are just two examples of my encounters with the medical world and this condition.
What Do I Do Now that I am Having a Fibro Flare?
Well now that I am having a Fibro Flare I have to patient and give myself some grace. I can’t push myself nor get angry with myself. This is out of my control. Once I learned that, life has been better. I am very hard on myself and don’t forgive very easily. In the past, I would push and push and not allow anyone to see what was going on. That would make everything worse. Now I am an open book and I don’t hide my Fibro. I will lay on the couch, take an Epsom salt bath, diffuse Lavender, and give my body the time it needs. I am happy that I am not on a trip and hopefully this will be over before my next one
