I feel like recently I’ve been quiet on the blog and there’s a reason for that: my health is really getting to me. I’m struggling with major fatigue and chronic pain and currently in the process of possibly getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
So lets go back to the beginning. About a year or so ago, I was diagnosed with arthritis and put on various medications for it. The medication didn’t work and I went to a different, bigger hospital to get a second opinion.
After lots of tests and scans, which mainly came back clear, it was decided that I probably don’t have arthritis at the moment as there’s no sign of inflammation.
Great! But why am I in pain?
Which is why we’re now looking at fibromyalgia and trying to rule out everything.
What is fibromyalgia
According to the NHS website, fibromyalgia is “a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body”. From my understanding it’s almost like chronic pain and chronic fatigue together.
I’m not officially diagnosed with this yet as there isn’t a definitive test for fibromyalgia yet.
It’s diagnosed by ruling everything else out. So that’s where we’re at. But from reading about it, I can definitely see how I fit into a lot of it.
The joy of flare-ups
So I feel like currently, I am flaring majorly. For the past few days/weeks, my pain has been getting more constant and worse.
From back and hip pain to feeling so sleepy to not being able to move, for the first time in a long time, I feel chronically ill.
It doesn’t help that I’m also anaemic and low in vitamin D and folate. So I’m waiting to go to the DRs to get that sorted too.
I keep getting what I call ‘wobbly leg’ which is basically my legs feeling like they’re going to give way.
I get an almost burning/itchy sensation in the small of my back and hips which sometimes gets to my legs too.
Feeling like I could fall asleep at any point and struggling to concentrate.
To be honest, I’m just feeling a little bit sick of being sick.
Flare-ups affect my mental health majorly
Just like a lot of my chronically ill pals, when you’re in a flare up, it can really affect your mental health.
I do as much as possible to keep a more optimistic mindset; yoga, journalling, meditation but it’s hard.
It’s hard to keep fighting sometimes and when you’re exhausted and in pain, the last thing you want to do is do any form of exercise, even when you know it might help (in my situation, gentle exercise really does help me).
I’m in that space at the moment where I just want to run away from everything and sleep and rest. Sadly, that’s not really possible at the moment so instead I created a little plan to help me feel better.
I like to be in control and life with a chronic illness means a lot of the time you’re not. So I created some little steps and tasks I need to do to try and help me.
Katie May’s fibro flare-up plan to help me feel better
- Cut down on sugar and dairy
- Go to one yoga class per week
- Daily stretching for 5 mins
- EAT MORE VEGGIES – you will feel better
- Go to the GP and see if I can get exercise on referral to help get my body mobile again
- Daily dog walk
- Get into a good sleep pattern, turn off my phone at 9pm and try and get 9 hours sleep
These are all things which I do find help – both physically and mentally. And writing it down really helps me organise my brain a bit. It makes everything feel slightly less overwhelming and you feel more in control!
What’s on your flare-up plan to help you feel better?
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