Exercise

[MrsNezza]

Well ive been a little confused with this just recently being diagnosed. Since finding out i decided to give my body a rest because i think that was my biggest issue & still is, i have been signed off work for a month. Learning to look after myself, rest, relaxation etc after being a very busy working mum of 3 for years you forget about yourself, i always feel guilty if im sitting round doing nothing. My children are all now grown up youngest 17 oldest 30 & i have a beautiful grandaughter. I still cant believe this has happened but im coming to terms with it. I went for accupunture last week, that definitely helped & although i have been pottering around the house i now know its time to start moving & testing myself a bit more. I am going to start Tai Chi on Monday, a bit anxious about effects, will it make me worse etc & a bit anxious about getting there & starting something new but it seems that i will have to take the plunge. Hard knowing what to do & what not to do

[Bakgri]

I have a great gp who explained to me I need to start small and build up slowly. So where I used to do lots of yoga, I now dont attend an hour long class as thats pushing it too far, so instead some yoga stretches at home each day, saves me the gettinv there and back too. I dog walk but now instead of an hour at a brisk pace, i do half an hour at slower pace. If I am home I have an afternoon lie down too. I try not to pack more than one energetic thing into a day. I pace myself all the time. Try not to overdo stuff on days you feel better, think of the idea that you get a gas cannister of energy per week, if you use it all up in two days you wont have much left for the rest of the week, so plan your week well so you dont have too many busy stuff one after the other. Hope that helps xx

[MrsNezza in reply to Bakgri]

Hi, that is what im working on now as i said i have gave my body a complete rest for a while, been to accupunture which has helped me relax so i can start from scratch & work my way up. I am starting to know my limits as in energy wise, making sure im well rested if im planning on going somewhere etc. My main concern is when i go back to work but hopefully by then ill have a clearer understanding of what i can do & what i cant.

Thankyou for your reply xx

[naturalnikki]

hey hun,

so sorry to hear you have to deal with fibro, but it's good that acupuncture did help you. I'm glad that you are able to focus on yourself as that is very important.

im sorry if I'm a bit scattered brained in this message, I'm going to try to give you as much info as i have and i may jump around a bit. Im sorry if i am giving you way more information than what you were wanting. lol

ok, i love that you are starting tai chi, i wish i had a local place to learn it. i find the most important thing with muscles is to continually condition and strengthening not just your major muscles, but also the supportive/ stabilizing muscle; it will help prevent injury and keep your muscles healthy and balanced. (also nutrition, but I'm still learning about that, and will get to that in a moment)

also start paying attention to your posture (while sitting, standing and in bed) to see what could be exacerbating any of your problems and what you can change to help.

also self massage (foam rolling or using a golf/ tennis ball, though unbelievably painful is well worth the pain because it truly helps a lot) *I feel massage is underrated by a lot people, but I recently came across some old research that was done on fibromyalgia patients and their muscles and it did show that there was a lack of blood circulation in a lot of them, if not all of them. And one of the big things that massage does is increases blood flow and oxygen to your muscles which is extremely important in their health.

*massage is extremely painful especially when first starting, if you can start loosening your muscles before starting massages, it will be worth it. i describe a massage (after not getting one for several months) as it feels like my muscles have a sunburn and they're just rubbing the crap out of my sunburn. or more accurately, my muscles are extremely inflamed and they're pushing on it and it hurts. but it is extremely beneficial and even in the middle of the massage I can notice when my muscles start loosening because they'll go back and rub the same spot and I will be able to tell that it's not as sore as it was.

Also let your massage therapist know that you have fibromyalgia and always speak up if you feel you need to or that they need to rub softer or anything like that.

Going back to nutrition, I don't know what is best for myself or anyone else. But I do know that, i did something close to a juice fast for a while (i would always have a light dinner with meat and veggies (as muscles need the protein) and had unbelievable benefits from that as far as energy and body pain minimizing. Keeping up with that amount of juicing and keeping the juicer clean was really hard and exhausting at times and so I don't know how many other people can really try it at that extreme. I haven't been able to do it again because it's hard to keep up. ( I'm a stay-at-home homeschool mom so even though I'm home all day I have a lot to do in a day and it's just hard to keep up with that amount of juicing) But I do find it helps to juice daily or at least a couple times a week. ( I've also found supplements like spirulina and olive leaf would help me a lot whenever I wasn't capable of juicing that much or at least it seemed like it helped)

I am always testing/ playing my diet and how it affects me but I haven't truly stuck to one thing for longer than a few months. But what I think I have come to, which is simple, is it seems like if I cut out Breads, sugars pretty much everything except for meat and vegetables and maybe a fruit here and there, i start feeling better. Something close to an Elimination Diet. I do worry that I'm going to have to stick with that kind of diet for the rest of my life to really be able to live how I want to.

I've been doing martial arts for close to 2 years now and find it truly beneficial for my muscles, but still struggle and hopefully if i can commit to a diet like that it will help my muscles from being so sore all the time.

I'm sorry if i was of no help, I'm not sure if i answered your question.

oh, when you first start working out it can be really hard because your muscles aren't used to working out so ease yourself into it always stretch after working out even if you don't work out that hard and if you can rub sore spots like knots. Starting with Tai Chi should help you because it's not a strenuous exercise. I've never had the opportunity to do it so I really don't know. But because I do karate I do know that if you start an extremely strenuous exercise that it takes a little while to get used to it but just always stretch after working out and try to to work out your body evenly so if you do something with your right arm do it with your left arm if you do something with your right leg do it with your left leg, try to keep your muscles balanced. I didn't know this whenever I first started working out and I would just work out to the extreme and I didn't really make sure my body was balanced and stretched and it really backfired on me.

soo good luck. I'm sorry if I didn't answer your question. I can always give you more information if you would like, if I have it.

hope you have a good day or night or whatever.

your friend,

nikki

*i agree with bakgri

you should start easy and slow. i forgot to say that. im not sure how slow exactly. i feel like i need to softly exercise, stretch and massage every muscle as often as is comfortable, while giving myself rest days. It's hard to figure it out sometimes, but Listen too your body. and see what helps and what doesn't.

good luck

[johnsmith]

You say: "I am going to start Tai Chi on Monday". Make sure that your doctor is informed. This is because you have been signed off for a month. Your doctor will protect you from awkward questions. You need an area to practice at home. So it is worth planning that bit now. So that you can practice a bit to remember the form's movements when you come back from a class.

[MrsNezza in reply to johnsmith]

My doctor is informed & he thinks its a good idea. I know this will have to be practised at home, thats the whole point, going to classes to make sure im doing things right so as not to cause any more stress or injury to my body. I have looked into this, with being signed off work i have a lot of time on my hands.

Thankyou for your reply.

[Hazel_Angelstar Administrator FMA UK Staff]

Starting small and working up is key. So with your tai chi... Don't push yourself to complete full class... I used to go to a yoga class and would only do the movements for a few seconds each, not as long s the rest of the class. Also, have a chair next to you if possible. Some tai chi moves can be adapted to do seated. But also handy if you need to sit down and rest for a couple of minutes.

Explain to teacher any issues you may anticipate, and if they are a decent teacher they will work with you to adapt moves etc.

And enjoy 😊😊😊

[MrsNezza]

Thankyou xx

[MrsNezza]

Thankyou xx