Hi Kael,
I think it's great that you've finally accepted it - now you can do things about
it! I think it's wonderful that you're learning how to deal with it apart from medications, only occasionally using mild painkillers. This is the key to long-term improvement in your symptoms, anyway. There are loads of ways you can deal with the pain without using strong painkillers, although I know sometimes the pain is so bad that you either get a strong painkiller or stay in bed. So I spent a lot of days in bed during the first year that I had it.
Now, 2 years after being diagnosed, I'm dealing with the pain a lot better, basically by having radically changed everything - my outlook, my lifestyle, my diet, my relationships, my thought patterns, my exercise. FMS forces you to live a life where you are really careful to look after yourself. (But I still help out others, too, because it's important to me - this is also part of me looking after myself, in terms of my mental health.)
I'm glad you're being proactive about exercise. For the first 5 months that I had FMS, I didn't know what was wrong with me. I thought the pain meant my body had been damaged and that I needed to rest so that the body could heal itself. And it hurt to move an inch! So I didn't exercise. Literally - I would hobble from my bedroom to the lounge room to watch comedies, then hobble to the bathroom, then hobble back to my bedroom to sleep, and so on for five months. Wow... I can't believe that I actually lived like that for so long! Well, the point is that my muscles actually did start wasting away because I'd been still for so long! I just became so weak! But I tell, as soon as I got the FMS diagnosis, I started reading about it and doing things for my health which enabled me to improve my health more than I used to think was possible.
In the last two years since getting the diagnosis, I have gradually built up my exercise from daily 5-minute walks to weekly 90-minute dance lessons and 40 mins gentle exercise daily, normally split into two 20-min sessions. So keep exercising but be gentle with yourself; build up fitness gradually.
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By the way, I think the first thing you should do for your health (because it's free and you can start right away) is really simple but really important: your sleep routine. Getting enough restorative sleep is so critical to helping reduce the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Here is the routine that works for me (based on my research and trialled in my own life):
9pm - start doing relaxing things; no TV, computer or phone; hot bath. (They say to relax in the last 30-60 mins before bedtime.)
10pm - bedtime, lights out; go to bed with a hot water bottle or bed buddy (helps with the pain). You can make your bedtime earlier if it takes you a long time to get to sleep; you would still need to do the relaxation hour beforehand.
10pm-6am - sleep/doze. If you can't sleep after 30 mins of trying, after waking up at any time during the night, then do something relaxing until you feel sleepy again, then go back to bed with a freshly warmed bed buddy or hot water bottle. Why do I say these particular times? Just a general rule: Between 10pm-2am, the body is repaired and built IF you are asleep; between 2-6am, the brain is built and repaired IF you are asleep.
6am - this is the earliest time you are allowed to get up because otherwise not all of the repair work will be finished. Have a regular wake-up time some time between 6am-9am. Most people need at least 8 hours sleep, but you may need more. Regularity of wake-up time optimises brain function.
I don't always follow this routine, but whenever I do, I feel so much better the next day. I hope you don't think I'm being too pushy; find what works for you. I'm just tossing around some ideas that have helped me that I wish someone had told me when I first got FMS.
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Anyway, I really hope you'll check out the last thread I posted which has a link to a useful website.
Welcome to the forum!
Jasmine