SMART Program

I recently went to an Information Session called – SMART Program (Self-Management and Resource Tools) and walked away feeling well informed.

The aim of the SMART program is to increase our knowledge on persistent pain and to introduce patients to an active approach in managing pain and to help develop strategies.  We talked about the types of medication that we may be on and what type of effect it may have on you long term.  I have already spoken about the immediate side effects of my medication but I didn’t even give much thought what long term effects the medication may have, nor did I really think about being pro-active in having the relevant blood tests to ensure that I am not developing any sort of long term effects now because of the medication – I suppose I was just caught up in the cycle of “I’m in pain and whatever it takes I will do”, so this has been food for thought for me.  We briefly touched on “Is Medication a cure, what else is there”.  This is something that I have definitely thought of so it was good to see that the program does encourage other methods of managing pain but it can be bit of a viscous cycle as I have found.  The need and want to do some exercising sometimes blows up in your face when you spend the next couple of days recovering, so instead of being the “go hard or go home” mentality I need to adapt my thinking to “slow and steady wins the race” and the big take home for me was “once the nerves have been damaged they may heal but will never behave the same as they did before the injury/damage”.  Once this statement had been stated, everything become so clear.  Research has shown that people who develop Fibromyalgia have developed the condition possibly after an accident/injury/illness and for some reason this creates an increased sensitivity to in the Nervous system.

I have been pouring over the paperwork that was handed out at the session and after reading and thinking about the information, I feel that I am doing everything within my power and capabilities to try and adapt to my new normal with the exception of setting myself some goals.  It’s all well and good for me to take my meds everyday but I feel I can be doing more.  I have a one on one session with an Occupational Therapist next week to discuss one of my goals and I have selected the one that I believe will be critical in helping me feel like I have a purpose and will give me back the old fire in my belly. 

Stay tuned :)

Why do I have good days?

This week I have had days where I wake up feeling really good and there have been days where I’m ready to throw myself under a bus and this got my thinking, why is it some days I wake up feeling better than others.

I had one morning in particular where I woke up and the fogginess and confusion didn’t seem to be hanging around and it’s days like this that I want to bottle this feeling and it makes me want to get all the things done that I can’t do when I’m having a bad day.  Anyway back to why I have good days and I realise that I have subconsciously made some changes to my life and I like to think that this has played a part

•  Drinking lots of water, sometimes up to 2.5 litres a day, lucky for me I love water so this has been an easy one for me to stick to but I have found when I don’t drink enough water I feel sluggish.

• Cut out a lot of junk food/processed food but still indulging maybe once or twice a week.  I found myself whinging about my weight gain whilst shoving a biscuit in my mouth!!! Medication plays a huge part in the weight gain but eating crap is just not helping my cause

• Routine…now this is a big one for me and it’s one that has taken me a while to get down pat.  Waking up at the same time every morning and going to bed at the same time every night has allowed me to take my medication at the same time each day and it has also helped with getting the correct amount of sleep at night

• Embrace the good and letting go of shit.  There are just somethings that you just need to not waste energy or emotions on.  For pretty much the whole time my husband and I have been together he has always said “don’t stress about things that are out of your control” sadly it took me to get sick to finally realise this – don’t confuse this though with frustration because this condition can leave you feeling frustration beyond belief but these days I just let a lot of things slide because there are much more things I can be using that energy for.

• Having a bath every night – now, this one is just something everyone should indulge in if they can, it not only helps my muscles and joints it also allows me to just lets me block out all the white noise in my life and just be in the moment.  My perfect world would be to sit in a bath 24 hours a day at optimum temperature of about 24 -25 degrees, absolute bliss :)

• Laughter  -  Everyday you can pretty much guarantee that I'm laughing and its usually because of something I have done or said, one must learn to laugh at themselves.

Now I can’t say that all these things are the magic answers nor does it stop me from having really bad days, but it has helped bring some order and structure to my chaotic life.  

Now tomorrow could be a complete disaster and everything may go to pot but, I’m in a better place now than I was 6 months ago when I had no structure and quite frankly feeling like fish out of water 

Why do I have good days?

This week I have had days where I wake up feeling really good and there have been days where I’m ready to throw myself under a bus and this got my thinking, why is it some days I wake up feeling better than others.

I had one morning in particular where I woke up and the fogginess and confusion didn’t seem to be hanging around and it’s days like this that I want to bottle this feeling and it makes me want to get all the things done that I can’t do when I’m having a bad day.  Anyway back to why I have good days and I realise that I have subconsciously made some changes to my life and I like to think that this has played a part

•  Drinking lots of water, sometimes up to 2.5 litres a day, lucky for me I love water so this has been an easy one for me to stick to but I have found when I don’t drink enough water I feel sluggish.

• Cut out a lot of junk food/processed food but still indulging maybe once or twice a week.  I found myself whinging about my weight gain whilst shoving a biscuit in my mouth!!! Medication plays a huge part in the weight gain but eating crap is just not helping my cause

• Routine…now this is a big one for me and it’s one that has taken me a while to get down pat.  Waking up at the same time every morning and going to bed at the same time every night has allowed me to take my medication at the same time each day and it has also helped with getting the correct amount of sleep at night

• Embrace the good and letting go of shit.  There are just somethings that you just need to not waste energy or emotions on.  For pretty much the whole time my husband and I have been together he has always said “don’t stress about things that are out of your control” sadly it took me to get sick to finally realise this – don’t confuse this though with frustration because this condition can leave you feeling frustration beyond belief but these days I just let a lot of things slide because there are much more things I can be using that energy for.

• Having a bath every night – now, this one is just something everyone should indulge in if they can, it not only helps my muscles and joints it also allows me to just lets me block out all the white noise in my life and just be in the moment.  My perfect world would be to sit in a bath 24 hours a day at optimum temperature of about 24 -25 degrees, absolute bliss :)

• Laughter  -  Everyday you can pretty much guarantee that I'm laughing and its usually because of something I have done or said, one must learn to laugh at themselves.

Now I can’t say that all these things are the magic answers nor does it stop me from having really bad days, but it has helped bring some order and structure to my chaotic life.  

Now tomorrow could be a complete disaster and everything may go to pot but, I’m in a better place now than I was 6 months ago when I had no structure and quite frankly feeling like fish out of water 

The Week I Wish I Could Forget.....FAT chance!!

This week has been a hard and long slog. What started out as a good week turned into a week fraught with pain and discomfort?

On the 24^th August I was called “fat”.  Now I’m not very good with dates and remembering things but being called fat is something unfortunately you don’t forget.  Now I’m not naïve to the fact that I have put the weight on and I don’t feel that I need to justify it but I do feel that my weight is something that I need to get under control.  So Monday after work I started my new workout regime with low impact exercises and some weights thrown in for good measure, as I’m not really keen for the tuck shop lady arms and after I was finished I had a soak in the bath and felt quite good about myself…

Tuesday morning I woke up to feeling quite horrendous – my whole body had decided that it was going to slowly but surely malfunction.  I had pins and needles in my feet, my muscles were burning, my head was pounding, my back was spasming, my foot was burning and I felt like I was getting a head cold as well.  Throughout the day the pain intensified the more I was cleaning and walking around and all I could focus on was getting to the 3pm mark and just going back home, I even messaged my husband and said please don’t call me pain is insane and I just can’t conduct a conversation in the foreseeable future and as the days progressed the pain was still there but was settling as each hour passed until we finally got to a usual pain level of 4-5 which is normal for me.

Now that I am at Friday I do wonder if it was from the exercising or was it my body just telling me it’s time to really slow down and just rest.  What scares me the most is that I use to be that person who would go to the gym every day and exercise my ass off, I would be that person who would occasionally go for a run, I even ran the 10km Sydney Bridge run 4 months after fracturing my wrist in two places and enduring 2 operations with a further one a few months after the run, so to not be able to do low impact exercising and to not be able to do my job to my full capacity infuriates me and scares the shit out of me.  It’s not just the fibro it’s the foot injury which is a big part of the problem and from the looks of things it’s never going to get better or back to its former self, so I know find myself at a real cross-roads, and which ever path I travel unfortunately it will be out of my control.

So after the week from hell I’m now following doctor’s orders and only working 4 days a week with Wednesday as my rest day. As for what my working life holds for me, I can’t be certain and only time will tell but for today I feel like I’m through the pain fog and will start back on the exercise regime next week and fingers crossed all will be ok….