Sometimes I get very frustrated with all of comments and emails I get about how to cure fibromyalgia. Yes, I guess I really appreciate that people want me to get better. However, I don’t like feeling guilty or pressured because I don’t want to spend any more money on things that might not work for me. Well in the same spirit, I don’t want to be annoying with my recent progress. I am not cured. I am still in pain everyday. I still hate wearing shoes. I still can’t stand for long periods of time. Plus, all of my progress gets thrown out of the window if I don’t sleep, can’t get enough rest during the day, or am stressed out. So, here is how I didn’t cure fibromyalgia (but made dealing with it significantly easier.)
Changed climates. I moved to a lower elevation, about 2500 feet lower. It’s not humid here but I’ve always live in the West so I don’t know how humidity effects fibromyalgia. It’s also a lot warmer in both the summer and the winter. I won’t have to deal with snow.
I started getting more sleep. My new apartment is so quiet; there aren’t even any dogs that bark in the neighborhood. This means I can go to sleep when I’m tired. I still wake up several times a night, but that’s my bodies fault instead of my neighbors. I also bought a new mattress that was comfortable for me. I was expecting to spend several thousand dollars on a decent one, but really even the $12,000 one wasn’t comfortable to me. I ended up with a $700 coil mattress with wrapped springs and a thin layer of memory foam on top.
I stopped stressing out (Well, ok, I cut down my stress by probably 75%, the remaining 25% is still probably above average). Through my use of the “Change Your Life in Seven Days” book I learned actual coping skills. I also read Carol Tuttle’s book “It’s Just My Nature” and am learning more about her program. I think with fibromyalgia there will always be more stress and more situations that read as emergencies simply because it makes life so much more difficult. However, I’ve learned to not let the little stuff break me. I have even changed my work at home job several times. I’d rather work a few more hours a week and not be stressed out. I find that if I earn more per hour, but have to deal with cranky editors, it’s not worth it. I end up getting so sick that I can’t work as many hours, so the dollar amount evens out to the same but I’m just sick and miserable in one of the scenarios.
Life is still hard. I am still not in remission. I am still scared that all the progress I’ve made will disappear. I just wanted to write this to say, it does get better, at times it’s even manageable. It doesn’t go away, but it does get better. I’ve struggled with this illness for over half my life. I’ve watched other people get “cured” or go into remission and wondered “Why not me?” It will always be a difficult disease to deal with, but as you learn more and can change your life to work with your illness, it gets easier, it gets better.
