Fighting Fibro with Fire

The pain started this past Tuesday and has been ramping up all week. It feels as though my muscles are wrapped around brittle glass instead of the bones that should be there. It’s a sharp, grinding, burning pain, that seems to just appear out of nowhere. It started in my left foot, which is an unusual place for my fibro to hit. Normally, the pain is in my hands/arms and back, sometimes it hits my legs, but never my feet. I initially thought maybe I’d injured my foot exercising, but by Thursday, I was feeling the exact same pain in my hands as well.

I slept miserably last night. As soon as I laid down, the pain shrieked up my back and then down my arms; it’s very hard to sleep when your body is shrieking at you. Once I did fall asleep, the nightmares started, so the little bit of sleep I got was nowhere near restful. <SIGH>. Needless to say, I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I’m proud to announce that I managed it anyway.

It’s really hard to stay positive when you’re wrapped in layers of pain, but I’m trying. To be honest, as wonderful as it was to have a break from the misery, it just makes it seem so much worse now. It’s like being dropped into a tub of ice water after laying out in the hot sun all day; it’s a shock to the system.

Don’t worry, I’m not giving up. As soon as I get this posted, I’m going outside for my walk. I may have to shorten it a bit for today, but I refuse to sit on my butt until this flare up goes away. It will go away, I just don’t know how long it will take. On the upside, the flare up will help me add some things to “How to Fight Fibro”. See? Positive thoughts, hard at work.

Ok, slight change of topic here, but I want to make a point about positive thinking. What people don’t seem to understand is that thinking positively doesn’t make the pain go away. It just makes the pain more bearable. For me, the hardest part about fibro pain is that utterly pointless. Pain is supposed to be an indicator that something is wrong, it’s supposed to be fixable! By giving my pain a reason to exist, (for example: if I’m hurting, I’ll be more likely to write about things that help make it better), I’m making it easier for me to deal with, which helps to keep me from falling even further into mental misery.

Now, it’s back to the fight, wish me luck!