Fibromyalgia flare up

[FibroSteph]

Hi,

I am sorry if I am posting in the wrong part of the forum, please let me know if I am.

I'm new to this forum but was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago, though I have had symptoms for a while before I was diagnosed.

A few years ago, I couldn't walk well or stand for more than a few minutes without my legs giving way. I collapsed a couple of times, and it felt like my muscles were getting weaker and weaker day by day. It got to the point where I was convinced that I had something life threatening like MND. Thankfully I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia which was a relief.

My muscle strength improved and I have been feeling almost back to normal for a couple of years now. I have still always had pain which gets better and worse every so often.

For the last couple of weeks though, I have had a flare up, I have a lot of pain all over my body and it feels as though I have been beaten up and am bruised all over and that someone is constantly poking the bruises. Except that obviously there are no bruises as fibromyalgia isn't visible. I don't know what caused this flare up but I am scared of going back to how I was feeling a few years ago when I was struggling to walk. I never want to feel like that again. Does anybody have any tips for coping with flare ups? I'm feeling really low because of this and I also suffer from depression so I am also scared of my depression getting bad again.

 

[emily21]

so sorry you're struggling, steph, however I'm glad to hear that you've come a long way since and you've been feeling good for the past few years

what are you currently doing to help with the pain? (it just may be useful so that people don't repeat themselves or give advice you've all ready tried)

 

[FibroSteph]

I take pregabalin 50mg 3 times a day. I have been trying to do excersise when I can but I have never been good at excersise so I just try to do a bit of yoga on my lunch hour from time to time (I work from home 4 days a week). I don't really have any other ways of managing the pain to be honest.

 

[emily21]

I'm bad at exercising, too

to be honest, it's probably why I'm not managing it very well (or one of the reasons)

 

[sunkacola]

I'm bad at exercising, too

to be honest, it's probably why I'm not managing it very well (or one of the reasons)

Hi Emily, you are right in this assessment. Getting enough of the right kinds of exercise is vital to healthy management of fibromyalgia.

 

[sunkacola]

Hi,

I am sorry if I am posting in the wrong part of the forum, please let me know if I am.

I'm new to this forum but was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago, though I have had symptoms for a while before I was diagnosed.

A few years ago, I couldn't walk well or stand for more than a few minutes without my legs giving way. I collapsed a couple of times, and it felt like my muscles were getting weaker and weaker day by day. It got to the point where I was convinced that I had something life threatening like MND. Thankfully I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia which was a relief.

My muscle strength improved and I have been feeling almost back to normal for a couple of years now. I have still always had pain which gets better and worse every so often.

For the last couple of weeks though, I have had a flare up, I have a lot of pain all over my body and it feels as though I have been beaten up and am bruised all over and that someone is constantly poking the bruises. Except that obviously there are no bruises as fibromyalgia isn't visible. I don't know what caused this flare up but I am scared of going back to how I was feeling a few years ago when I was struggling to walk. I never want to feel like that again. Does anybody have any tips for coping with flare ups? I'm feeling really low because of this and I also suffer from depression so I am also scared of my depression getting bad again.

Hi Steph,

You're in the right part of the forum, no worries.

I do have tips, and have written a whole post on that, which you can read. I recommend you start experimenting with changes you can make in your life that may help you. And you can ask any questions you may have here. We are here to help and support you.

My advice for managing fibromyalgia (especially for newcomers)

I am not a doctor or anything, just a person who has lived with fibromyalgia for several years now and has done a lot of research and trial and error experimentation. What follows is just basics. There are a lot of variations. You will find your own versions of everything I say, as this is not a...

www.fibromyalgiaforums.org

 

[JayCS]

I don't know what caused this flare up but I am scared of going back to how I was feeling a few years ago when I was struggling to walk. I never want to feel like that again. Does anybody have any tips for coping with flare ups?

To not to stay or get worse, my experience is it's most important to find out what the trigger of this flare up was. If not this time, then next, using a symptom diary or memory to track when it started up and what you were doing that day - things like stress/distress build-up, not enough physical and mental breaks.
Can you pinpoint what you were doing, like for your work, when it started?

If it is taking this long it will be a whole row of things. Typical triggers for week long flares are things like working too much & stressful, doc/dentist treatments, esp. meds, socializing. Not so much as too much exercise, which you don't seem "guilty" of ... . But generally some kind of overdoing it.

So to alleviate the flare and stop it turning a chronic level reduce or stop working and anything else which is putting a strain on you. This is not the time to start with moving a lot more. Only gentle movements, more stretches. But if as you say you're not exercising enough, it sounds like you're not self-caring enough. That'd be ' normal', and for a time it may work. But now it seems time to turn to be nice to your body and mind - relaxation, breath exercises, oxygen, heat, cold or both, identifying and treating any local pains, eating healthily (unprocessed foods) and watching for and avoiding additional triggers in your environment.