FIBROMYALGIA WISDOM

Summary of what worked for me, as I recovered slowly, over four year’s time, from 1996 to 2000. I am still symptom free and wish others the same good health that I enjoy.

I now believe Fibromyalgia is not a disease but a condition of malnutrition, a result of stress, inability to absorb or retain nutrients, poor diet or shock to the system, or some combination of those elements.

I assume personal responsibility for every aspect of my health, including seeking and following professional medical advice, as needed. FMS is “Forgive My Sins” for being too busy to pay attention to my own body’s needs.

EXERCISE: Twenty minutes daily of stretching, to music (movements while standing, sitting, lying down, self-message). Daily 30 minutes or more of one of the following: exercycle, walking, or dancing free form to music. End with meditation or imaging, “seeing” around the inside of my body. I made my own tapes. Aerobic classes proved too strenuous. I began with 5 minute sessions, worked up. I tried Tai Chi, Yoga, Qi Dong, and ended up with a personal hodge podge to my favorite music. I get 15 minutes a day of daylight, into my eyes, even if it is overcast.

DIET: A gallon a day of purified or distilled water. Use it also for making tea or diluting juice. (Headaches are an indicator of dehydration.) Include a variety of foods I like, raw, or cooked yourself (no prepared, canned, fast foods, no caffeine). Eat a large salad daily. Use best grade olive oil (flax oil is even better) on bread, salads, etc. to help my body metabolize vitamins and minerals. Use spices for flavor and healthful benefits, esp. garlic and cumin. Use sea salt, which is potassium chloride, instead of sodium chloride (tastes the same). Sit at the table while I eat, and thank God for the incoming energy. (Diarrhea and muscle weaknesses indicate sensitivities.) Four piles on my plate: 4 oz protein, salad, vegetables, starch. (Sugar, wheat, and milk products are implicated in 90% of food sensitivities. Chemical substitutes will not benefit your body.) A naturopath helped me with restoring the health of my digestive tract.

ELIMINATE OR AVOID DRUG OR FOOD SENSITIVITIES: also eliminate any unnecessary chemicals from life, including hair spray, deoderant, most makeup, cremes, cleansers. Read the labels of everything before I buy/use it. Showering too often removes valuable skin oil I need to metabolize Vit. D. Have a professional evaluation as I may not even know what your sensitivities are. A naturopath can do a saliva or blood test to determine them. NAET is an allergy elimination treatment program that really benefited me.

REDUCE STRESS: I learned to only worry about what I am really able to do something about. Delegate and then don’t watch! Drive during off peak hours, take slower routes that are less stressful. Get out of commitments, knowing they could do it without me if I were dead. Take longer showers. Get a massage weekly if possible (have you ever noticed the lumps in your arms?) I like aromatherapy and reflexology (foot massage) hmmmmmm.

IMAGING: I listen to music, create a peaceful imaginary place, and “go there”. It’s grown quite detailed, and comes back whenever I hear that music. The Well Being Journal by Lucia Capacchione was very helpful, teaching me to draw my insides, helping me reflect, increasing my awareness of my bodily needs.

MENTAL WORK: I am the god of a small universe of billions of living things. I must be benevolent, taking in energy (food, sex, emotions, activities, exercise, prayer) and listening to the body talking back to ME. It doesn’t speak English. I must listen to its sign language and believe it. No one knows my universe except me. Face the emotional problems of my youth: If I remember them, they still effect me. Stay connected to relatives and friends, do some community service, and don’t whine. Do talk to people who can help me in specific ways.

PRAYER AND MEDITATION: There are lots of ways. I chose a time, a place, and a method, that appealed to me, a quiet corner in my bedroom in front of a window, with a cozy blanket. Minimum: I just sit quietly for 10 minutes. Breathe four breathes and listen to the world around me. Breathe four breathes and pay attention to my bodily feelings, but do nothing about it. A thousand monkeys will chatter in my head… music or a repetitive verse or prayer stops it. If I lie down for this, I may fall asleep, and that’s OK. The Best Guide to Meditation is an overview. I keep a Spirit Journal for my insights. I are in touch with the whole universe!

RECORD KEEPING: I keep my own health log for lots of reasons. Write everything down I eat, and I soon became very aware when I was off-track. I could figure out what I ate or did that provoked problems. I had data for professional health care people I consulted. I could look back and see progress and be encouraged to keep on. I use a Cambridge Action Planner notebook from the grocery store, a page a week, with a key at the front for what I do for myself, and a list of symptoms from my worst time reminds me how good I feel now! I invented a scale describing levels of my pain, rating each day from 0 to 10.

It is hard to do it all, but what is the alternative? A life of passively enduring pain and disability? Take care of yourself, because if you don’t, who will?

You can contact me at womenbefriends@yahoo.com. With questions or comments.