Clicking joints

[Jemima]

Hi Jemima thanks for the post. Interesting information. Yes even tiny things can effect stress, I’m super aware about that too from trial and error - yes I agree - yes perhaps the extension of my idea is to take stress on head to head and “counter attack” it when necessary as well as trying to avoid it (which you also explained in your own way). Good ideas.

I'd say more of a soft and gentle diffusion than a counter-attack Were you also historically someone who always pushed through tough challenges? I've been really struck here that so many people seem to have been inclined to push through struggle at their own cost before fibromyalgia stopped them. Learning to drop that habit like the hot potato it is has been one of my biggest hurdles!

 

[Medicine]

I'd say more of a soft and gentle diffusion than a counter-attack Were you also historically someone who always pushed through tough challenges? I've been really struck here that so many people seem to have been inclined to push through struggle at their own cost before fibromyalgia stopped them. Learning to drop that habit like the hot potato it is has been one of my biggest hurdles!

I think in the past yes, but now I try to avoid doing that and feel like I do. It’s hard to get the balance right all the time.

That’s why I first thought about just avoiding stress and concentrating being stress free. I suppose word attack, even after counter, can have a negative connotation attached to it. Not that sure on the best wording, I don’t like calling it defending though for example - so I just put the word counter in front to try to soften it. “Taking care of” stress is a better way to put it !

 

[Jemima]

I think in the past yes, but now I try to avoid doing that and feel like I do. It’s hard to get the balance right all the time.

That’s why I first thought about just avoiding stress and concentrating being stress free. I suppose word attack, even after counter, can have a negative connotation attached to it. Not that sure on the best wording, I don’t like calling it defending though for example - so I just put the word counter in front to try to soften it. “Taking care of” stress is a better way to put it !

It's inspiring to hear that this is something you've been able to master moving away from doing too - I'm getting better at it, but it can still feel like a challenge sometimes! I agree that the idea we have to defend is also not so helpful - I guess choosing the language we use to communicate even with ourselves is important. I'll say one thing for fibromyalgia - it sure does teach us constantly!

 

[JayCS]

Yup, and this extension then works even when with others, in a relationship or at work etc.
Like you've been implying I also think it's good not to think of it as an attack, fight etc. but finding peace and stability in ourselves, instead of being geared up by what's happening around us.

When my jaw starts hurting I know it might be any or several of 8 triggers (e.g. food between 2 teeth, an inflammation), but usually it's slight stress, incl. certain movements in housework or during table tennis. So that reminds me to stop in my tracks and relax deeper. And then deeper. And deeper. Usually quite a few layers possible.
Now even if it's not hurting, I often do spontaneous "fast autogenic training" by relaxing my legs and jaw "and everything in between" inside of seconds. What motivates me to do that is that I can now make my feet and legs tingle & tickle, sort of a "good stim". Helps getting to sleep too.
My other big trick is a mindfulness Here-and-Now exercise, which I've discovered "by/for myself", altho it's been preached so often so it's not really mine. Usually our stress is caused by ("films" of) the past or the future, not by what is actually happening. My image for this (and I got my fear of heights down by this) is concentrating on standing on a high place. As long as I'm standing, I'm not falling. But I don't think about not falling like I can't not think about white or pink elephants. I concentrate on standing, on being safe & secure, on nothing happening. This has greatly reduced my anxiety and stress and allowed me to do much more things 'bravely' than before. I then test myself more and more, like imagining I'm flying, safely flying. Useful sometimes at night when I think I'm falling, I've trained in half-sleep to let myself fall and either start actively flying, or "walking on air" or on my very own invisible columns which are wherever I need them to be....

Oh and while I'm on about my big tricks, I was just thinking if you could apply my twist-stretching to your needing-to-click sensation. If anything is hurting or uncomfy while standing, sitting, even in bed, I stretch my legs and arms/palms outwards and arch my back backwards, and then in again. This is quickly effective for a lot of strange feelings, maybe it could help your click-need?