When you think about fatigue, brain fog and aspects of how to manage your human energy, you know you’re going to be mightily challenged if you suffer with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. These same challenges exist for folks with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other illnesses too, but today we’re looking at this subject just in terms of the one illness, Fibromyalgia. That doesn’t mean that anyone cannot benefit. These basic concepts work universally.
(Okay. Here’s my plan to tackle this big, week 3 topic as we look more and more closely at Fibromyalgia Symptoms. I’m blogging about Part 1 of fatigue today, Monday, Part 2 of fatigue on Tuesday, moving on to a more thorough look at human energy on Wednesday, and then on to brain fog on Thursday. Friday I’ll wrap up this with some very special thoughts and information for the Friday edition of the Health Matters Show podcast, which airs at 3pm EDT. Please know that it’s always available on the website or you can find it on I-Tunes.)
Whatever you do, be sure to get your hands on all of this information! Use it yourself, pass it on to friends and show it to your loved ones and especially the caregiver (s) in your life. This is definitely good “Caregiver Info” and I hope you use it as such. Remember: knowledge is power. This is a good way to start gaining your power over Fibromyalgia.
#1: Fatigue is an odd looking and sounding word that, at first glance, we might be tempted to consider as trivial. However, fatigue can point to the existence of a darned serious health condition. That is never more important than when it’s your body that we’re talking about.
#2: Fatigue: Doctors report that their offices have more office visits for the medical complaint of “persistent fatigue” than any other reason. So, we have to wonder… why are so many people tired all the time? How does this condition gain so much prominence in our daily life?
Most of us don’t need a definition of the word fatigue because we know it means being really tired. Someone suffering from recurring or persistent fatigue can experience a real disruption in their lifestyle because such a level of fatigue makes daily living a difficult challenge.
People with Fibromyalgia have more of a problem with fatigue than otherwise healthy individuals. However, even if you’re only minimally sick with Fibro (and most people are worse than that), I propose that fatigue affects you more than you realize. Let’s see how.
Example: You get up in the morning feeling fair and decide to put a load of clothes in the washer -or- get the dog and fasten his leash, intending on taking him for a refreshing walk down the street. Mid-way through either exercise, you begin to feel very tired and you ache. Your breathing becomes more labored. You look around for the nearest bench or chair to rest and catch your breath. If, for some reason, you don’t find a suitable resting place or you doggedly push through your fatigue and keep on going, the dull pain you were trying to ignore rears its ugly head and screams at you…
I’ll take you down… you’re at my mercy!
too far… .And it is your fault that I’m worse because you pushed your body
When you begin to pay attention to these not-so-subtle fatigue messages that your body is sending you, a) you may be able to realize ahead of time that you’re on the verge of doing too much, overtaxing your body and pushing yourself into a downward pain spiral, or b) you’ve already done too much and you’re going to pay a steep price for it! Yes, you’ve gone past your limit. Dear one, when this happens to you, consider these types of experiences as important wake up calls. The truth is it’s time to pay attention if you really want to feel better.
Ask yourself questions like these:
- How do you feel about what you’re experiencing?
- Does it bring up certain emotions?
- Can you change the way you “operate” and do things differently from now on?
- Okay, then, what will you do differently when the same type of situation arises again?
- How can you be smarter overall about dealing with your fatigue?
Answering this type of introspective questions is a challenge, but taking the time to purposefully contemplate them and come up with good answers is very necessary if you’re going to learn important personal lessons about your dance with fatigue.
(And, in the act of doing so, any caregiver or any member of your support team can either help you or hinder your progress. Fibromyalgia and fatigue can be a dance of multiple partners, all having their own influence upon your life and how well you survive.)
Until tomorrow and Part 2 on fatigue,
I’m Cinda Crawford, host of the Health Matters Show
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