Best place to live with Fibro

Interesting thread, thanks. California has been the best place to live for me. I've lived in Maine, Connecticut, and Maryland -- and my symptoms were pretty horrendous in those places. Not realizing there was a connection to where one lives, I moved to the East Bay for work (San Fran/Oakland) two years ago. My health started to drastically improve. I'm now able to bike 10 miles, hike 4 (and not regret it), I have a lot more energy, and I just feel better. My skin even feels better. I'm calmer, I sleep better, I rarely get sick (knock on wood).

Recently, I had to go back to CT for 3 months for a family emergency. The weather was lovely for most of my stay, with the usual evening summer storms and nice days. But guess what? My symptoms all returned: burning muscles, pain in joints, ringing in my ears, dizziness and vertigo, crushing afternoon fatigue, heart racing and heart palpitations. If it hadn't been for the return of my symptoms in such a sudden way back in CT, I probably wouldn't have made the "where you live" connection.

It's like night and day for me, and now I am quite sure this is where I want to stay (CA).

When we have vacationed in dry climates...i always had lots less pain...the barometric pressure changes really hurt..and a day out ..like someone said earlier..so i react to fronts, cold or wet and low pressure...

On the beach in hilton head was like paradise..but off the beach the humidity was suffocating...

We stayed in place to be near our kids....

Hello everyone;
My husband and I got on this sight because I have fibromyalgia and we are considering a move to Florida; put our house up for sale 3 weeks ago and no interest as of yet :( We live in Pennsylvania, have all our lives and are so sick of the winters.
Diagnosed with Fibro in February but have been dealing with it for over 20 years ( I am 54, to be 55 in January) and finally got a diagnosis. Due to the Fibro I cannot help with yard work or snow shoveling anymore. My wonderful husband even vacuums and mops for me. I also have Osteoarthritis and a bad back.
Anyway we just wanted to see if anyone had a better place Ha!! I did realize that no place will be utopia, you have an incurable condition and it goes where you go. I am so amazed at those who like the cold, that is so crazy to me by body hates the cold, I agree with the poor lady from Pittsburg that says she doesn't think she can live through another winter, I am with you sister!!!!
I cried this summer thinking of enduring another winter here.
I too did very well this summer thinking some changes I made helped (and they did but not as much as I thought) for when Fall hit I got a bad flare up - but we had been considering putting the house up and so there was a lot of stress too.
I just had to write too to encourage you folks to not give into this condition. When I was diagnosed as I said I live in Pennsylvania and my Dr. a Rheumatologist, sent me to a Fibromyalgia clinic in Lancaster Pennsylvania - it was a great help. They fashion a plan just for you. Occupational therapy (which for me was a waste of time) Physical Therapy, which was the biggest help and they also have a nurse talk to you, but I was already implementing dietary changes so she was not of great help. But the exercises they gave in the PT help A LOT - very gentle exercises I do every morning, in a flare up or not - it helps to keep moving even though you hurt. I also go on our elliptical machine for 30 minutes a day. If I am in a flare up maybe I can only do 20 but I do what I can.
Also change your diet!!!! I cannot stress that enough. I was just with my Rheumatologist a few weeks ago and he said he wished more people would be willing to change their diets instead of taking so much medication. The only medication I take is one Tylenol if the pain is bad. I cut out sugar ( get it naturally in fruit), white flour, preservatives (no prepackaged foods) now I have not gone organic that I do not do, that stuff is to expensive. But mostly I do meat, vegetables and fruit. You can actually go on line and find a good diet for Fibro, what is good and what is not, but everyone is different and what bothers one will not bother another as we see in the posts on this site. Also I had said to my husband one day "there has to be something that would be a natural muscle relaxant, so he looked it up on line and found "magnesium" folks this is WONDERFUL - even my husband is taking it. Now it does have laxative effects so you have to see how much you can take by mouth, I can only do 250 mg a day (I am a very small person) they recommend no more then 400 mg a day. But I found Epsom Salt lotion and I use that on my skin every night and I do soak my feet in Epsom Salt if I have had a really busy stressful day.
Also find a good Chiropractor, one that will take x rays and see if you have discs out in your neck or back. This has helped me tremendously - I really believe the diet and Chiropractor have been the biggest helps for me. Also massage is a good one too all these three have really cut down on my migraines - I can empathize with the poor woman who had 4 day headaches mine lasted 7 and I did not have much of a break between, I would lay in bed at night and just sob, saying to my husband "I cannot go on like this" I had tried massage but it only helped at the moment and sometimes brought on a flare up - found out with Fibro the massage must be gentle not a deep tissue - so the clinic turned me onto a "Theracane" a self massage tool - again use it gently - I made the mistake of pressing too hard and using it too much and caused yes a flare up. Nothing is a substitute for human touch but the Theracane is great you can also buy that on line too around 40 dollars.
And you have to know your limits - I used to walk 11/2 hours with my dog every day, I cannot do that anymore, if we walk it is with my husband and not that far. If you feel yourself getting tired take a break, I sit down and do relaxation, putting heat on my neck and back - I make fresh fruit salad every Friday, if I find myself getting tight in my back, I must go sit down and rest a bit. It seems dumb but it helps and avoids a flare up. We had walked one evening and ended up talking to some people on the way and I cannot stand in one spot for too long, well we were out too long and the next day I was done in could not do but 20 minutes on the elliptical and had to sit most of the day, but avoided a flare up.
But with the winter setting in (we had only 37 this morning BRRRRR) I have no idea how it will go, but have had a good run with few flare ups since the spring.
Hey if any of you want to move to Pennsylvania we have a nice house for sale. We did check out San Diego - absolutely ridiculous, they wanted $399,00 for a Studio, they have got to be kidding, we have a 3 bedroom 2 story with attic and basement 1 1/2 baths and in addition an apartment with a tenant that gives $400 a month to you as extra income. So far no one is interested for only $174,900, we live in Myerstown Pennsylvania on West Main and it is listed with Century 21 - it is a nice neighborhood close to a good school, and we do not have high property taxes, but for us it is a bit too much to take care of (hey we will even throw in a snow blower for $800 extra HA!!!)
Anyway my prayers are with each of you and if any of us can move or not I pray we all get more relief ( I to do not agree that Fibro is not progressive because my got worse with time also, but as I said I have found relief in some life style changes!!!)
Take care all of you!!!

This is for Joy who replied to my post
Did the move South help you feel better??? I see you have many issues, and where in the South did you settle? We don't want anything much because we don't want a lot of up keep anymore and we have done 2 fixer uppers in our married life and we are DONE with all that!!
Thanks for your reply, we do hope too that we could sell and move quickly but we know it is all in God's hands!!
Lorna

Hi everyone! I'm new to this site and also suffer from fibromyalgia really bad. I am born and raised in New Jersey (Northeast). I visited Cape Coral Florida in October, and I felt great, however it was not humid. When I returned to NJ, not more than half an hour, I was suffering in pain again, wheezing from my asthma and overall felt horrible. I wish I could move but do to financial reasons, I am unable to. This seems like a wonderful site and would love to keep in touch!
I hope everyone has a wonderful painfree day!

I am one of you, looking for the right place to live with fibromyalgia. We moved to Pueblo, Colorado and thought that would be a good climate because of the dry heat and dry cold. Man, was I wrong. I can't wait till our lease is up (thank God we are renters) and we can move to..... I don't know yet, still looking for information.
Colorado's weather changes a lot. I heard it now a few times from people I met at the dog park: "If you don't like the weather wait a bit, it will change." Very bad for me and I guess a lot of fibromyalgia patients. But everybody is different and what is bad for me, is not necessary bad for you.
Here in Colorado (Colorado Springs is even worse) the weather from March till September (minimum) is bad for my pain, fatigue and metal state (my depressions are far worse here than I ever encountered before), because nearly every afternoon/night we get a thunderstorm. The barometric pressure change is in my case the culprit of feeling so crappy.
We lived in Oregon before and we moved (and are very sad about it), because the rental cost are going up and up and up. Not affordable anymore for us. My husband is a truck driver and just don't earn enough money. In Oregon I had crappy days, but nothing compare to here.
So for me it isn't the rain that plays havoc with my fibro, but the weather changes.
We were thinking of moving to Ohio - plenty of work there, where my husband could be home more often - and the rentals are priced great, but I am afraid the weather (barometric changes) will be nearly as bad as here in Pueblo.
It is difficult, but at least we can move somewhere else. So I am still looking and doing a lot of research.

So where is the best place to live for Fibro people like me. I'm not finding an answer and I want to leave right now for that place. I have read that "parts" of New Mexico are great places to live for people with Fibromyalgia. What parts? What part does Luvzminis live in? I am thinking about moving to NM. But where? The high desert gets cold at night. Wouldn't that be just like a cold front every night? It's very dry around Albuquerque less than an inch a year! But every night it gets a lot colder than in the day time. I would think that would be very painful?
Where? I have a full tank and my bags are packed.

Luvzminis said...
I have to agree: a consistent climate would make the most sense.


I live in MN and do okay from about May to September or October. I struggle through the winter, and this time of year (always seems to start in February) is a real battle for a few months.

Thanks Luvzminis!

Hi, Flowerpicker, and welcome! You can have problems no matter where you live. There is no magical area to help stop pain. If there were, we certainly would know about it. It's totally individual and every person is different. For example, you said Florida was not good for your husband. Well, I live in Florida and it is far better for me than when I lived in northern Ohio. I didn't move here because of Fibro either. I'm better because I'm can be active all year around, I think. So, in my humble opinion, I think packing up and moving from place to place will only cost you a lot of money and cause a lot of disappointment. Don't take my word for it. Try googling this. I did and some were saying they moved to these states and were still suffering...especially allergies. Now, what a disappointment that would be since you've moved twice already!

If a person has fibro, they have pain in all four quadrants of the body that has lasted at least 3-4 months. I've had fibro for 30 years and have never been pain free but I do have the pain totally under control.

What your husband should do, if he hasn't already, is find a good doctor...a board certified rheumatologist who treats fibromyalgia patients would be good. They would run a lot,of tests to rule out other illnesses. There is no good test for fibro and many doctors, if they don't know what is causing the symptoms, will just tag on a diagnosis of Fibro. Well, there are other illnesses that have many of the same symptoms as fibro and have a completely different treatment for them...things like lupus and Lyme disease. These need to definitely be ruled out before a diagnosis of Fibro is given.

Once he knows for sure what he is dealing with he can work on finding things to help get in control of his pain. Unfortunately everyone is different and what might help one won't help another with fibro. It's more of a trial and error type thing. He can get a lot of ideas on this forum.

I use ibuprofen with food, Tylenol, magnesium malate, vitamin D3, and a muscle relaxer called Robaxin which has made a significant difference in my pain. I also walk daily as a gentle form of exercise. Swimming and yoga are good too. Gentle exercise is very good for fibro and it does really help too! I pace myself when doing things also and I get a gentle massage once a month to help smooth out the muscles. I use a massage therapist who has been trained in how to massage fibro and myofacial pain clients. All of the above has helped me live a full and enjoyable life in spite of this illness.

I also keep a positive attitude. I focus on other things and don't think about illness and so the pain fades somewhat in the background. If I think about where I hurt, it just magnifies the pain!

Be sure to read Fibro 101...the first thread on the forum. There are links to good info about fibro and you will learn a lot there. There are links about magnesium malate and vitamin D3 and how these work in the body. Quite a few members have gotten good help from these supplements. There is also a good link about how to maintain a positive attitude when you suffer from chronic pain. All of Fibro 101 is good so do read it.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. Don't hesitate to ask questions because we are here to help you. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Sherrine