| Survival The following are the tools to surviving FM that I have discovered so far. They do work but I have days when I feel too terrible to stick to them; but, I have learned that the secret is to follow them as much as I can and when I can't I accept that and realize it's the FM that's stopping me not laziness. ACCEPTANCE: For me even harder than accepting I had this condition for keeps was accepting that I could no longer do exactly what I had done before. I have fought very hard to not let go of the things that I believe are important but each of those things is kept at the price of something else. If I want to attend a performance my sons are giving in the evening I give up seeing my friends that afternoon. If I wish to take my grandmother out for the day I have to accept that the next day or longer will be spent in bed. I try to live as normal a life as possible but I have to accept that it is done at a price to my body. TOLERANCE: One of the harder things to live with is the fact that this is an invisible enemy. There are many people who will give advice because you do look perfectly healthy. So expect to hear comments like; "If you would just start exercising..."; "Try watching what you eat...";"Maybe if you stayed up later"; Even some doctors can drop some really upsetting comments. Practise tolerance. Most of them mean well and all we can do is try to educate our friends--although I have been known to give written articles to doctors I have to deal with on a continuing basis. DRINK EIGHT GLASSES OF WATER DAILY: Seriously this does seem to help although it is hard to do. You can't count tea, coffee, etc. It has to be 100% water and the first week you will feel as if you will have to stay close to a washroom. It seems to cleanse the body of toxins so that you feel better over the long term. It does not mean you won't have bad days just that the good days are better. I think also the really bad days don't last quite as long if you can keep the water consumption up. BE WARY OF SUGARS: I think this is the most difficult to do because when we are in pain or feeling extremely fatigued there seems to be an almost instinctual reaction to reach for something sweet as if it will give us enough energy to go on. First of all it doesn't give us more than perhaps a five minute burst (more of an ability to force ourselves on for another five minutes than a burst) plus it sets up a rebound effect where we feel as if we need more. I'm finding if I can fight that strong feeling that I need the sugar and concentrate on eating healthy I do feel better. I do find that I need to have carbohydrate sources such as bread, cereal, pasta (in reasonable amounts). If I am getting an adequate amount of these I don't feel that I'm deprived and the cravings are more controllable. N.B. DON'T cut out sweets completely. I have found that a sure route to giving up the whole healthy diet idea very quickly. I have one or two gingersnaps with my tea in the evening. I have dessert on Sundays. And when a really good treat throws itself in my path the deal is I get a small portion IF I eat it slowly. The days I absolutely find I'm going to have to eat a chocolate bar completely I make a deal with myself. First a glass of water and then decide what I'm going to give up to make up for it. Sometimes if the day is a bad one I just decide I deserve this treat BUT it's only a treat if it happens occassionnaly; otherwise it's an unhealthy choice. Also for me, eating large amounts of sweets always results in indigestion so that's a deterrent right there.Most days I can convince myself that fruit is the sweet I really want. Next page Yeast, Caffiene, Depression copyright© 2000, Mitsou. All Rights Reserved. |