Don't Give Up

When I was a child, my big brother was merciless when it came to teasing and hurting me. While we were standing facing each other, he would lace all of his fingers into mine and then apply enough pressure to bring me to my knees. He loved to hear me say “Uncle.” I tried hard to be strong and endure whatever he dished out, but I’d always give in. When I said “Uncle,” he would stop.

In the present, fibromyalgia is merciless. It applies enough pain to make me say “Uncle.” But where this oppressor is concerned, giving up does not mean freedom. Giving in does not bring relief.

You are almost certain to have days (maybe even weeks) when you feel like your fibromyalgia is an invincible foe. You try a few lifestyle changes and occasionally you feel a little better. But you also feel pain that you can’t equate to anything you did or failed to do.

Is this frustrating? Completely. Fibromyalgia goes against every “happily ever after” ending in every storybook I’ve ever read.

You might question whether anything you do has any effect. I believe that if you make the lifestyle changes I am recommending, you will experience for yourself that it does.

Fibromyalgia is very unfair. You don’t deserve the pain you feel. And I mean that with all my heart. You don’t deserve that pain.

Giving up is not an option. The unpleasant truth is that relief won’t come from giving up. Relief will only come from making wise lifestyle decisions, and carrying them out.

And if you make all these lifestyle changes, will you be pain free? Maybe, and maybe not.

I can tell you that when I follow the things that I am advising you to do, my pain is reduced to a minor annoyance most of the time. I might have six pain-free days in a row and on the seventh I’ll have the kind of pain that makes me take a couple of Advil.

However, if I catch a cold, it might morph into a bad cold with a muscle spasm in my back. If so, I’ll suffer much more from the muscle spasm than the cold.

If I fall and hurt myself, if I am in a car accident, if someone I love dies, or if I have to survive on very little sleep to care for someone else who is sick, it can bring on fibromyalgia pain.

You might find that the world is just loaded with circumstances that threaten your well-being. Stay the course with good lifestyle choices, and you’ll be ready for those circumstances. You will feel very much better than you otherwise would.