Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique used to help decrease muscles tension. It focuses on one part of your body at a time with a goal of relaxing that part. Believe it or not this technique focuses on slowly tensing and releasing each muscle group at a time. You might be discouraged as soon as you read tensing up your muscles, but the technique states to stop tensing before you feel pain! I actually read about this technique in a book I have in regards to PTSD. I decided to research more about progressive muscle relaxation and came across articles stating this technique may be used to ..read more

Fibromyalgia can be a very confusing condition. Not all healthcare providers believe fibromyalgia derives from the same body system issues. Some classify fibromyalgia as arthritis, others state it is neurological and then there are still health care providers out there that believe fibromyalgia is a mental illness. The one question we all ask is “Does fibromyalgia initiate an inflammatory response in the body? If one was to do a quick google search the results quickly reveal fibromyalgia does not produce inflammation in the body. However, many of the current speakers at fibromyalgia summits ..read more

I saw the above picture being shared over and over on many chronic illness/pain and fibromyalgia communities. I often share my belief that it is okay to have days where your chronic condition wins. Trying to find relief and battling our own bodies day in and day out can be exhausting in itself. I am definitely struggling with this lately myself. How do we keep pushing forward when there is no cure for fibromyalgia? Some days I wonder how I do it myself – reality…we are not given a choice. However, it can become very discouraging and daunting at times. I was recently scrolling through a fibro ..read more

One aspect of dealing with chronic pain that has always frustrated me is how many health care providers think that they can rush you through a program or treatment route as fast as possible and have success at the end. A chronic illness is just that – chronic. You can’t rush a patient through various sessions and advance them above their capabilities faster then they can keep up. This last week I have been enrolled in an overcoming chronic pain summit. One presenter made a key point that you can’t force healing to take place. All that we can do is to create circumstances that make it more lik ..read more

Living with fibromyalgia we learn quickly how unpredictable the condition and its symptoms can be. We learn how to manipulate and change our surrounds and routines to avoid certain symptoms from spiraling out of control. However, what happens when we can’t prevent said symptoms from arising or becoming worse?? If you have fibromyalgia you know too well what I mean by this comment. For those of you reading this who do not live with the daily struggle of chronic pain you may be wondering how one can’t possibly control their symptoms. For myself as summer changes to fall weather – my fibromyalgi ..read more

When we stop and think of pain many of us think pain is just pain. I have recently bought two books on how to “live” with chronic pain and to make the best life possible. Both these books introduced a concept that I was not aware of. I am sure the terms have existed for years in the medical field, but since I have been dealing with chronic pain I have not had a doctor explain it using these terms. Did you know there are actually three types of pain? 1. Nociceptive pain which occurs if there is an injury such as a broken bone, appendicitis etc. 2. Neuropathic pain occurs when there is an injur ..read more

Just when I thought I had fibromyalgia figured out, my body decides to throw another curve ball and I am left trying to find that path I swayed from. At the beginning of my fibromyalgia journey ( 2019) I trialed and errored different medications used to help lower the pain levels that comes with fibromyalgia. After several months, I finally found one medication with minimal side effects. It lowered the intensity of the pain immensely. I even found a sleeping medication that was able to be used nightly with low chances of addiction and dependence. I’ve remained on this regiment for years. A fe ..read more

People who are diagnosed with fibromyalgia eventually find themselves asking the question,” Should I continue to work?” Debating whether it is appropriate to stop working due to fibromyalgia can be a very confusing time. Not everyone is able to stop working and they continue to push themselves through their shifts day by day. Here is a shout out to all of you who have managed to stay working ! Everyone will have to make the decision to continue to work or resign due to medical reasons. You must do what is right for you and your circumstances. For myself, I tried to take a month off from work ..read more

When most of us think about hypnosis our minds often wander to watching someone get hypnotized on stage and running around barking like a dog or clucking like a chicken. This is known as stage hypnosis. The hypnosis therapy I am referring to is clinical hypnosis. It is very different then stage hypnosis and has many benefits. A bit of a personal story before I get into what hypnotherapy is and the benefits… In January (2023) , I began seeing a psychologist ( I will call her T. in my blogs) who is trained to understand chronic pain and to perform clinical hypnosis on clients she works with. Sh ..read more

Since I started conversing with people world-wide who live with fibromyalgia, an interesting topic in regards to associated coexisting issues keeps arising. I never had the answer or even heard complaints of this topic before – hearing loss. I thought to myself hearing loss can’t be yet another possible condition that coexists with fibromyalgia. To my surprise, it is possible to suffer from hearing loss from fibromyalgia!! According to researchers, a study revealed people with fibromyalgia are 4.5 times more likely to suffer from hearing loss then people without the illness! Visit here to try ..read more