Hi peeps,
I'm new to the forum, and I'm curious about everyone's experiences. I used to study neuroscience (in a different field from fibromyalgia, but it always fascinated me), and
I'm a strong believer that fibromyalgia fits within the realm of autoimmune disorders. But, I'm not actually trained to say that definitively. Just an opinion.
I have had chronic musculoskeletal issues since I was 15, and I was in and out of physical therapy over the years from "overuse issues". I'm now 33, and my pain has been so severe that I decided to leave bench science and work a desk job. [I absolutely love my current job, I am 100% happy with my path]. Interestingly, my pain changed almost a year ago when I was in a car accident. Now, it sometimes feels like I'm being electrocuted through my finger tip, yet my bones in my hand/arm are made of metal. I get reverberating pain that echos through the entire limb/portion of my body, and nothing seems to make it go away but time.
It started affecting my mental health; I would come home and become an angry couch potato. I had a support group that helped me realize I was using up all of my spoons at work, and when I had none left for home, I wasn't fun to be around. It really affected my fiance too. He always took on extra housework without complaint. But he would feel bad that I felt bad all the time. I made him less happy and less fun to be around. I was actually draining some of his soul. That's when I realized I needed to get better control over this. So, I want to step back and look at this from a data analysis viewpoint. What are people experiencing? What are they doing that helps? What are they doing that hurts?
I started seeing a pain psychologist, and she recommended painTRAINER. I actually noticed it was working; I was not stressed out as much, which means my muscles weren't extremely tense too much, and overall I've had less pain. It's been GREAT! Like a breath of fresh air.
But..... that was in between flare-ups.
I was really doing well for a while. Completely in high spirits that I gained control over my symptoms and my positive energy would win out.
But after the holidays I got really sick. Some kind of cold/flu/virus/nonsense that took a week to recover from. Now that it is starting to leave my body, I'm noticing that electric shock pain in my hands again. I'm remembering to do my painTRAINER exercises, but even as I do it, it doesn't feel the same. I don't come out the other side feeling calm and in control. So, I'm worried that my "coping techniques" from the past few weeks aren't actually helpful when I'm in a flare-up. So...
What works for you?
I'm new to the forum, and I'm curious about everyone's experiences. I used to study neuroscience (in a different field from fibromyalgia, but it always fascinated me), and
I'm a strong believer that fibromyalgia fits within the realm of autoimmune disorders. But, I'm not actually trained to say that definitively. Just an opinion.
I have had chronic musculoskeletal issues since I was 15, and I was in and out of physical therapy over the years from "overuse issues". I'm now 33, and my pain has been so severe that I decided to leave bench science and work a desk job. [I absolutely love my current job, I am 100% happy with my path]. Interestingly, my pain changed almost a year ago when I was in a car accident. Now, it sometimes feels like I'm being electrocuted through my finger tip, yet my bones in my hand/arm are made of metal. I get reverberating pain that echos through the entire limb/portion of my body, and nothing seems to make it go away but time.
It started affecting my mental health; I would come home and become an angry couch potato. I had a support group that helped me realize I was using up all of my spoons at work, and when I had none left for home, I wasn't fun to be around. It really affected my fiance too. He always took on extra housework without complaint. But he would feel bad that I felt bad all the time. I made him less happy and less fun to be around. I was actually draining some of his soul. That's when I realized I needed to get better control over this. So, I want to step back and look at this from a data analysis viewpoint. What are people experiencing? What are they doing that helps? What are they doing that hurts?
I started seeing a pain psychologist, and she recommended painTRAINER. I actually noticed it was working; I was not stressed out as much, which means my muscles weren't extremely tense too much, and overall I've had less pain. It's been GREAT! Like a breath of fresh air.
But..... that was in between flare-ups.
I was really doing well for a while. Completely in high spirits that I gained control over my symptoms and my positive energy would win out.
But after the holidays I got really sick. Some kind of cold/flu/virus/nonsense that took a week to recover from. Now that it is starting to leave my body, I'm noticing that electric shock pain in my hands again. I'm remembering to do my painTRAINER exercises, but even as I do it, it doesn't feel the same. I don't come out the other side feeling calm and in control. So, I'm worried that my "coping techniques" from the past few weeks aren't actually helpful when I'm in a flare-up. So...
What works for you?
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