Fibromyalgia and Fatigue

I found this wonderful article on WebMD about Fibro and fatigue and wanted to share it with you. (see link at the bottom of my post) It has been one of those weeks for me to fight for energy every step of the way. I had to force myself to go to physical (water) therapy yesterday. But I did and after only one hour of easy exercise I came home and took a 3 hour nap! There are so many days I fight with myself because I still have that little voice inside saying "You are just lazy." So I get up and do something - anything to see how the day will go. Sometimes it works and I feel better, but other times I feel worse. I think with us Fibromites it is sometimes trial and error. At the same time I have to be careful not to hurt myself by letting what society (family, friends, spouses, etc) thinks I should do and what I can do get confused. If I do then I end up doing way too much and suffer for 2-3 days after. They call this an invisible disease for one reason and that's because no one except ourselves can know what's really going on with us.

My story may be like that of many of you. I hear rumors all the time about someone saying "What's happened to Darla, Mom, Auntie, etc, she used to have a spotless house and now it's like she only does what she has to". Or "She stays up all night and sleeps in the day time and takes naps". Oh my how horrible is that? lol I am way past 21 and I don't have any kids to raise so now I try and take care of myself and do what my body tells me I need too. I spent way too many years pushing myself to do what was expected of me and often ended up in the hospital from exhaustion. Of course now I realize it wasn't just "nerves", as I was told many times. Actually a lot of it was the stress I was putting on myself by thinking all this pain was in my head and I was just being lazy. So while I was trying to live up to what others thought I should be doing I was actually hurting myself.  I pray that for many of you this information will help you to understand that what we suffer from IS REAL and if no one else can see it and they don't understand what we tell them then it's "their problem." A little thing I learned when I was working was trying to decide "whose problem is it?" and if it's not mine I will not own it and let it go. Please try not to worry about what others think or say! You know how you feel and so go with that and take care of yourself.

Till next time I pray y'all have pain free and restful days.
Gentle hugs - Darla
http://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/guide/fibromyalgia-and-fatigue