What have you given up due to Fibro?

For me it has been dancing and snowmobiling, and for some reason I stopped drawing. I think due to being depressed about being sick all the time. So I picked up knitting and started reading more.

Actually, I refuse to believe that I have "given" anything up! But, I am not able to play sports on our school teams because our coaches push us too hard and it hurts me too much..So I had to give up basketball, then volleyball, THEN tennis! lol And I was really good at all of those...

But, I still play. I still do things. Not as much. I dont push myself very hard because I know I am just not able to handle it. Although, I still ride dirtbikes and I wont dare slack up on how hard I push myself with that! I love it too much! Its a very physical sport...but I just have a certain passion for it so...

I sometimes cry because I DO feel like I have had to give up so much....but in reality, I can still do all that I ever did, just not as long, much, or hard as I did before!

I loved and played soccer for years... instead of playing now, since I know I don't quite have the energy for it, I've decided to coach kids this season... I can teach the basics without having to run circles. :P And 12 year old girls always need a little more support when playing on mixed teams (that's all we have here) learning to "chest" the ball takes a lot of courage haha.

my life.

I have given up SO many things; happiness for one, the ability to walk up stairs without my heart racing and feeling dizzy and faint, the ability to go anywhere for more than 20 minutes without feeling really tired and like ive overexerted myself, the ability to keep my house clean and do the laundry. The ability to sit at the computer and read email or anything really for more than a half hour cause my eyes get so tired and its hard to sit up straight for a long period of time, being able to eat normally, being able to sleep, being able to be at all frequently intimate with my husband, hiking, working out, doing pilates. I could think of more but i think ill stop at that.
-kim

Dagger,

Your post made me smile. I KNEW you were smart and now I find that you
are funny.
Well, here on the Forums we're all a little funny. Don't you think so?

Pamela

on the one hand, fibro has forced me to give up everything. who i thought i was and what i was able to do is gone now. this dd has smashed me into a million little pieces and left me reeling with the reality that Life As I Knew It will never exist the same again. i can no longer push myself 24/7 to get done what i want to get done. i can no longer keep a spotless house. i can no longer go for walks and hikes that last for hours and hours. i can no longer go out with my friends or my husband and dance in a club until 2:00 am. i can no longer chase my kids around the park. i can no longer just get up and go whenever i feel like and go wherever i want to. i can no longer spend hours at a time driving around seeing new, interesting places. i can no longer pop out of bed and jump right into my day. i can no longer stand on my feet for 8 hours at a time like i've done in some of my jobs. i can no longer have deep, long winded philosophical conversations that last for hours. i am no longer who i thought i was.

on the other hand-fibro has forced me to give up nothing at all, and has in fact given me a whole new, wonderful world. after the fire that is fibro destroyed my whole world, i was given the wonderful opportunity to build a new life. i am kinder to myself now. i am gentler with myself. i am kinder and gentler with others now, too. in rebuilding myself i have discovered that i am much stronger than i thought i was. i have discovered that short walks and short dances can be just as sweet as the long ones. i have discovered that my children need me to just be there with them. i don't have to jump through hoops to make them happy, i just have to be there and love them, even if all we do is sit on the couch. i've learned that i am brave and strong and a survivor. i have learned i am a BETTER person than i thought i was before fibro came into my life.

so, when i think about it, in some ways i owe fibro my life. not my old one that was based on my need to please others or prove myself to be smart enough and capable enough to make everyone impressed with me, but the new me who is more aware of her life moment to moment, who is more loving, forgiving, and compassionate. if i am truly honest with myself, i have to say that i like the new me better and i have to say that, despite the pain and the fatigue and having to be very frugal with my spoons, my new life is brigher, richer, more fuller than the old one could ever have been.

I feel like I've given up on a lot. Working hurts very bad. Sitting all day at a computer hurts, moving around and standing hurts. Everything I used to take for granted is now work. Gardening, walking, hiking, my photography all seems like work. The only things I really try to enjoy and make it not seem hard. So like others I take it very slow. If I see a pretty flower that I need to take a photo of and it hurts real bad to get down into the postion to take the photo I'd rather do that then pull the weeds around the flower. They just have to wait! I find that now I do things only when needed, not just because I think they need to be done. The laundry can wait an hour. The dishes can too. But fun stuff that makes me feel good can't. If I'm having a good time, I go out and do those things. The other stuff can wait.

One strange thing happened, I started taking a medication that really worked. It took ALL my fibro pain away. I still had pain but from other conditions. I had to go off it due to horrible side effects. But for that glorious month I felt normal. Now I feel bad again, only this time it's much more difficult to deal with becuase of that bittersweet month. I know what it feels like to be normal. I know even though that month was great I may never have it again. It makes me want to cry. I almost wish I didn't have it.

I had to give up my job. My biggest - I've given up taking things for granted.

The worst part is being given up on by people who you thought were your friends.

Fibro has taught me a lot. It's taken things away and introduced new things.

I have given up everything.  I no longer can drive which means im stuck here at home as unable to use public transport, couldnt even walk to the bus stop let alone everything else. I feel I have lost my standing in the family like I no longer exists and my families life just continues around me. I can still wash and iron in small doses and dust the house and as for seeing peole I never really enjoy it anymore so in a way Ive given up my external life as well.  I do try but I cant think, or be what I use to be. Its not a matter of being strong because the pain is just to bad and everyones is different.  So I guess you can say Everything, though I try keep my daughters and my relationship going strong she use to be my rock but now is studying and always busy.

Danielle I loved your post. It wasn't until recently when Ken got sick that I realized how much slack he had been picking around here and how much I had given up in the past couple of years. Now it's time for me to regroup and try harder to push myself and not depend on him so much.

 

Like Danielle it has also made me a calmer person and I'm sure not the self driven perfectionist I use to be that drove not only myself but my family crazy. When your running through life you miss a lot of things but when you slow down and stroll through life you can see the little things around you and appreciate them. It would be nice to find a happy medium between running and crawling the way I have been.

 

Margie I have a garden stool on wheels that you can sit on to work, it also opens so you can keep your tools in it. I think I got it at Ace Hardware. That might make working outside easier.

 

My GD and I were talking about books last night and I don't read like I use to cause just holding a book in my arthritic hands can be a problem and like you said finding a comfy position for any length of time. I do have one book that she has read that she says I have to read so we can talk about it.

 

My grandchildren are all too big to pick up and have been for a few years since fibro has been bad but since we will be having a new baby in the family in April I so hope I can pick him up and rock him. I kinda got use to holding Krissy starting at about 2 lbs and I've worked my way up to 8 or 9 lbs that she weighs now so the gradual increase in weight has made it possible. I hope that helps me when the baby gets here.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

That's the right word Breezie fibro broke my "spirit" without me even realizing it. I've had a do or die attitude all my life, if someone told me I couldn't do something I would have to prove them wrong. I've got a lot to prove to fibro.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Statgeek ...
good idea!
Pamela