Sannel Larson

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Stress is one of my biggest enemies



My apologies for being one day late with this blog post.


As some of you may know, I am dedicating Tuesdays to write about my two illnesses, Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). However, when you are living with FM and CFS, things usually do not go as planned. There will always be the usual obstacles in the way, that will make it hard to finish anything at all, like pain, exhaustion, brain fog, anxiety and so much more.

Then there are other unexpected obstacles and interruptions like the internet connection is down, too many phone-calls, too many emails that needs to be replied to, too much pain which in turn will make my writing slow. . . and all those expected and unexpected obstacles will as a result make my stress levels to rise, and my Fibromyalgia symptoms worsen.



Stress Is One Of My Biggest Enemies 
When I notice, I'm not able or have the time to go through with what I had planned, then my stress level hits the roof and that's when I lose control over myself. I stop function all together, and I go into this foggy world of so much sadness, confusion, aggravation and worthlessness. When I'm in there, it takes all my willpower to try to find the opening and get the hell out of there as fast as I can, or it will trap me in there for days and days.



The Person I Once Was
Nobody knows me better than I know myself, so when I see myself in my own mind's eye, it's rather frightening. How can this person possible be the same efficient person who once could do multitasks like no other. Quick, hardworking and full of energy. Stress – No problem! There was always thousands of projects going on at the same time. There was no limit to what I could accomplish in one day, and look at me now, I can't even complete a freakin' blog post.




Stress Triggers Fibro Flares
In order to better cope with my Fibromyalgia, I have to eliminate as much stress from my life as possible. I have to stop delaying things until the last moment ( like a blog post) and start organize my life in order not to trigger any stress. I should start making lists and finding ways to get things done without the pressure of a ticking clock and get my stress under control. I just wish, somehow in my foggy brain, I could remember all those things.




As Soon as Stress Enters My Life - My Symptoms Escalate
People who suffer from Fibromyalgia experience pain, exhaustion, sleep disturbances, fibro-fog, indigestion, headaches and much more. When stress is added, our symptoms escalate, and then we get more stressed as a result. This is what happened to me yesterday, with the conclusion, I could not finish writing the original blog post that was intended, and nothing else for that matter. Hopefully, that post will be completed by next week, as long as I do not let stress enter my life once again.
So for all of you who thinks Fibromyalgia is just about pain, I just want to say, it is so much more.