Grieving Fibromyalgia

Last Halloween, a local gym sent out a marketing email full of discrimination, shaming, and sexism. I wrote back. 

Setting goals can be challenging for people with fibromyalgia or similar conditions. I share an experience of mine where I met a goal that was incredibly meaningful to me, even if it seemed simplistic to others. 

It's hard to empathize with others when you can't always understand what they're going through, so as a guide for those without fibromyalgia, I talk you through what a good day (pain at a 4-5 on the 10-point scale) looks and feels like for me, and some notes on what happens when the flares hit. 

Thanks to a lot of students writing research papers, my own digging into state regulations, and friends who use this legally to treat various conditions, I've been able to put together a brief overview of how medical marijuana licenses work, what dispensaries are like, how to possibly get products not available in your state, and some serious drawbacks and safety concerns that anyone considering medical marijuana needs to take into consideration. Please note that I am neither supporting nor discouraging this treatment, and that my understanding of this process may be outdated past the date of this publication, and may not be fully applicable or descriptive of exact procedures for your state. I used mainly midwestern states as my models. 

I reveal my history of fibromyalgia symptoms, the details of how I received my diagnosis, and a summary of how things have gone between then and now.

In this episode, I explore the concept of grief with a chronic illness, and how I connect my experience of grief with the loss of productivity due to fibromyalgia. 

Connecting with our bodies, focusing on relaxation and breathing is proven scientifically to have a strong impact on the sensation of pain and/or the coping with pain. However, when you have a chronic illness, connecting with your body sounds like a very bad idea. Join me as I explain the theory behind this process, some of the current research on it, guide you through an example body-connection exercise, and give some alternatives for incorporating this practice in a way that is safe and customized to you. 

If finding a yoga class that is fibro-friendly seems really daunting, this episode is for you! First I cover some of the more common types you'll see offered at studios and which are better suited for those with chronic illnesses, and then list seven questions you might want to ask a teacher before joining a class. 

In this episode, I talk about how, while I really appreciate the Spoon Theory for explaining what chronic illness is like to others, it's not a good fit for how I view my own process working with fibromyalgia. Instead, I begin explaining the Toolbox mentality and give you a preview of some of the major classes of tools I use on a regular basis to manage my condition. 

In this episode, we review a quick summary of Miserandino's Spoon Theory (published on her website butyoudontlooksick.com), how it really helps explain fibromyalgia and other similar conditions to others, and how it can be confusing for those who expect a very abstract illness to be fully concrete and logical.