Did you enjoy this article?

• Subscribe in a reader.
• Leave a comment

Similar Stuff

• Kate Update: January 5, Mayo Clinic, Day One
• Kate Update: January 4, Arizona, Mayo Clinic
• Kate Update: What is Possible and Getting Lost
• Kate Update: Please Forgive Me
• Kate Update: In Third Person

Existing Comments

Comment by Sherlock on November 9, 2009 @ 6:17 am

I feel your pain, lit­er­ally! For some period of time things will go along rel­a­tively well and then bam! it hits big time (usu­ally with weather changes). When it hurts that bad, I think back to the last time it got so bad and then count the weeks since then when it wasn’t so bad and that way I can focus on remem­ber­ing that it does get bet­ter after a while.

Comment by Kris Stroscher on November 9, 2009 @ 3:17 pm

Hi Kate,
I know just how you feel. Some things I try to do when the pain is worse than nor­mal include:

Take extra pain med­ica­tion and maybe a mus­cle relaxer if I’m hav­ing mus­cle spasms too.

Take a nice warm bath with epsom salts. I light some can­dles and put some rose scented bub­ble bath from Crab­tree & Eve­lyn in too (it’s a nice scent to me and not too strong, as scents often can cause me headaches). I also like to put the Spa Radio chan­nel from Pandora.com on– it’s free and very relaxing.

Relax and just lie down and read or watch tele­vi­sion. I do have to roll over and stretch a lot though, as stay­ing in one posi­tion too long is not so good feeling.

Deep yoga-type breaths.

Drink a cup of hot tea.

Take a nap mid-day.

Pet my dog.

For me, really cut­ting back on activ­i­ties helps a lot. I find that if I push too hard and overdo it one day, I’ll pay for it for the next few. The things above help me get through those more painful days. I just remind myself to do the best that I can, and that is good enough. It’s espe­cially rough get­ting through some of those days at work, but I keep in mind that my dog, my hus­band and a nice sooth­ing bath are wait­ing for me at home, and that in itself can help a lot.

I hope you are in less pain soon.
–Kris

Comment by Benia on November 11, 2009 @ 2:10 pm

She’s back! I’m glad you’re writ­ing, but sorry that the topic is not hap­pier. Regard­less, it’s good to see you blog­ging again.

I have often reflected on how hard it is to remem­ber pain while not hav­ing it. With Fibromyal­gia, the lev­els and types of pain vary so widely, that on a bet­ter day, I may not be able to accu­rately describe the hor­ren­dous pain that may have chal­lenged the very fiber of my being just the pre­vi­ous week. It’s yet another think we fibromites have to bear. On top of deal­ing with pain, fatigue, and fibro­fog, on top of hav­ing dif­fi­culty describ­ing these things in real time, on top of already sound­ing crazy to those doubt­ing “nor­mals” out there, we must also deal with the fact that describ­ing our prob­lems after they have sub­sided, can be extremely dif­fi­cult, even when try­ing to do it for ourselves.

When I feel utterly use­less, I head for the bed (with cozy blan­kets) and try to nap. If sleep doesn’t come, some­times I just lay there with eyes closed, zon­ing out, or think­ing, or imag­in­ing things. If I am able to read or watch tv, I may move to the couch to veg, but oth­er­wise, rest is my priority.

Last week­end, I was extremely exhausted after weeks of hard work at the office and stress­ful dead­lines. I was begin­ning to be use­less Fri­day morn­ing, but still went to work. Luck­ily, it was the first day AFTER the big dead­line, so things were much more relaxed. I left work early and went to our couch, then slept as long as I pos­si­bly could (about 12 hours) that night and the next. By Sun­day, I felt alive again and actu­ally enjoyed some good weather and time with my husband.

Try not to worry too much about how long the flare will last — just focus on what you need right now. Rest if you can’t han­dle things and hope for the best.

Hope you’re feel­ing bet­ter soon.

Comment by nicole on November 12, 2009 @ 3:15 pm

Ok, first I am glad I found this and started read­ing it. Sec­ond I am in the mid­dle of a flare up so this post in par­tic­u­lar got my atten­tion. I too for­get some­times how bad it can hurt but as I men­tioned I am in the mid­dle of a flare up and it is all too appar­ent that this is my real­ity. I usu­ally have major flare ups in Novem­ber and March. This morn­ing I dragged myself out of be at 5 am and sat in the chair and watched the news. I needed to be dis­tracted. The pain I was feel­ing while I was just lay­ing there still was almost unbear­able. I don’t think I slept and if I did I don’t remem­ber sleep­ing at all. I am at work and even typ­ing this right now hurts. Over the last few days I have been exhausted by the never end­ing pain. I have explained this con­di­tion or chronic ill­ness to my boss and there are days, like the one you describe in this post that I just can’t get myself to work. I feel guilt over this and I try so hard to get there no mat­ter what the pain but there have been times I have had to tell him that I can’t even func­tion. I don’t look like I have a prob­lem as I am sure you don’t either which makes it hard for oth­ers to under­stand. How do you explain this to your boss? I have 3 kids who do not totally under­stand that dur­ing these times that the words “No” and “I can’t” do not mean I don’t want to do some­thing it is that it is not pos­si­ble. I look fine to them, they do not get it. I have just been doing what I can when I feel good enough to do it lately. It has been a rough week or two for me. It has been awhile since I had a good day but I know that day will come I just need to let my body rest and find a way to make sleep occur which may require a mus­cle relaxer tonight even though I will pos­si­bly feel hun­gover tomor­row. I need relief or the depres­sion will get worse and noth­ing good will come of that. Right now I feel like I am being held against my will in this body and I want to be free. I hope this flare up ends soon.
Thanks for Listening

Pingback by ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia Around the Web : FightingFatigue.org on November 13, 2009 @ 3:03 am

[…] My Life With Fibro […]

Comment by Kate Blaylock on November 22, 2009 @ 8:42 pm

Sher­lock: You’re so right. It’s been over a year since I was this bad. I have much to be grate­ful for.

Kris: Amen to the cut­ting back on activ­i­ties. I have a dif­fi­cult time doing so. I feel torn between not want­ing to tell peo­ple I’m strug­gling and not want­ing to make it worse. Thank you for the well wishes.

Renia: I am back! Describ­ing the tough times is awful. When I go to the doc­tor I always pray I will feel badly so they can see it… I just can’t describe it any­more. And some­times I won­der, what’s the point? Under­stand­ing my descrip­tion won’t make them know how to fix it. Thank you for the reminder to focus on the lit­tle things and the sort term goals.

Nicole: I am so glad you found me. I love your per­spec­tive and your hon­est ques­tions. I too find deal­ing with work is my great­est strug­gle. I am often con­flicted on how to act and how to pri­or­i­tize. I fear I put off rest­ing, for fear of falling behind (on tasks and advance­ment) at work, so long that my health suf­fers. I under­stand the feel­ings of guilt. Look for a post on this soon. In the mean time I pray you get feel­ing better.

Comment by Keith on December 4, 2009 @ 2:37 pm

Hi Kate,
Recently found out that my pain(including headaches)is fibro…
WOW!!! It really hurts.
I think the worst for me is try­ing not to com­plain all the time. It’s sure hard not to talk about it. Glad I found your blog.
I guess I’ve han­dled it for a long time because of some mar­tial arts train­ing I had years ago. My Chi­nese gung-fu instruc­tor always stressed the need to “eat bit­ter”.
An expres­sion to swal­low pain. I never thought I’d need it for this.

Any­way, it’s good to know you’re out there.

Keith in Louisville

Comment by June Augustina on January 23, 2010 @ 11:31 am

Dear Kate,

Thank you so much for your BLOG. It is so hard to find peo­ple online that have Fibro and are still work­ing. I have had Fibro since I was 40, and I just turned 57. I work FT as a psych nurse, and not work­ing is not an option!
Even cut­ting down my hour­sis not an option.

I am so glad I found you! You are a true bless­ing. I have been sick the last 4 days, three of those being work days. I hate being sick. It is hard know­ing what is being sick, some­times, and what is the Fibro. I worry about not hav­ing enough sick days to cover my pos­si­ble days off.
My work sit­u­a­tion is pretty cool. I have told peo­ple I have Fibromyal­gia, but most times I don’t bring it up. I am a psy­chi­atric nurse that works as a men­tal health tele­phone advice nurse. So, I am on the phone talk­ing to peo­ple all day, many with Fibro and other chronic pain issues, plus their men­tal health issues. I find it extremely reward­ing to be able to share some of my expe­ri­ences, when appro­pri­ate, with them. I cer­tainly have lots of empa­thy! I just have to remem­ber to take care of me, also!

Love and hugs to all,

June PS I would love to hear about the prac­ti­cal things peo­ple do to help them­selves feel better.

Make a comment or ask a question:

Comment Etiquette: If you have something to add, or can answer any of my questions, please do. If you are immature, unkind, or selling metaphoric snake oil, your comments will be short-lived. And remember, I want to get to know you, so use YOUR NAME or initials, not your company or blog name. Be proud of what you have to say! I look forward to your contributions.