Your friends and family love you and want to support you and your fight against fibromyalgia, it is your responsibility to education them. Many people do not understand what fibromyalgia is, and therefore are skeptical of the syndrome.
You can act as their teacher and explain how the pain works, stress, exercise and eating right. Be compassionate to others and their lack of understanding about this chronic illness. It is a complex disorder which can manifest itself in many different ways for different people.
It is your job to explain to your friends and family how fibromyalgia works for you and answer any questions they might have. Try not to get defensive when they show skepticism, instead come back with understanding and information.
Explain How the Pain Works
The best way to explain the pain is to describe how someone feels when they get a headache. Each headache is different and each person handles the pain differently. Some people get headaches every single day and a couple ibuprofens will make them go away, while others might get one headache a month but it is so bad only a specific kind of headache medicine will make it go away.
Fibromyalgia pain works in a similar pattern, some individuals will have pain daily that seems steady, it might lessen with activities or medication but doesn’t go all the way away. While others may have several good days where they are not feeling any pain, followed by a bad day where they literally feel like they cannot get out of bed.
Teach about the Good Days and Bad Days
Explaining the good days and bad days of fibromyalgia may be the part where your friends and family become most skeptical. We are taught that people with chronic illness are always sick, so it is a difficult concept for people to understand that you might feel good on some days. You might have days where you want to go out with your friends or have fun with your family.
Everyone’s body is different and explaining this concept is the most difficult part of explaining fibromyalgia. Research shows that all people, men and women, have fluctuations in their hormones which can affect the pain associated with fibromyalgia. Just like these hormone changes can change how the body reacts with weight issues and blood pressure changes. Explaining these things may take time, but it may help your family and friends understand fibromyalgia better.
How does Stress Play a Role?
Stress is such an intricate issue in the world of fibromyalgia and eliminating it, or lessening it, can really make you feel better. Helping your friends and family understand this information can be very useful for you. If your loved ones understand the detrimental role that stress can play in your illness they can work to help you out more when high stress situations arise. Take your time and answer any questions that may come up and help your family and friends understand the things that tend to add stress to your life the most.
Why is Exercise Important?
You can use your friends and family as motivators to get you moving when you are not feeling like exercising. Explain the health benefits of exercise and why it is important to you feeling better. Stiff muscles will easily become sore and tender if they are not stretched and exercised. Plus moving is shown to reduce muscle stiffness and help eliminate toxins from your body. Work with your loved ones to plan activities that help relieve your muscle soreness and make a regular schedule of activities you can all do together.
Eating right and How Family Can Help
Since diet is such an important part of the triggers for fibromyalgia, it is essential that you discuss your necessary diet changes with your family. Discuss the foods that you cannot eat and see if your family will agree to keep them out of the home. If everyone agrees to eat healthy together it will be much easier for you to reach your dieting goals. Work with your loved ones to make a list of food items that trigger your symptoms and safe food items that you can have in abundance.
Friends Nights Out, How they can Become Your Partner in the Fight
Going out on the town with your friends is a great way to relieve stress, but it can be anxiety provoking if you do not know if you will feel well enough. Talk with your friends about how sometimes you might cancel because you are not feeling well, explain this does not mean you are trying to avoid them, it only means that you were ill. Ask them to keep inviting you to events and outings, even if you have turned down all their previous offers.
Friends may start to feel like you don’t like them because you are saying no to them so much, but if they keep offering, it is likely you will have a good day and want to go out with them. Make sure everyone understands you really do want time with your friends and make an effort to actually go out with them as much as you can.
Taking the time to explain your illness to your friends and family will give them the opportunity to support you. Without you taking the time to explain things, many of your friends and family are left with their skeptical ideas about your illness and no true fact. Fibromyalgia is a complex disorder that may confuse your loved ones; do not feel defensive if they continue to ask you questions whenever you are together. Family and friends asking you questions about your illness is actually showing you that they care about you.
Become a teacher on the subject of fibromyalgia and you might just notice that your friends and family become more supportive than you could have ever imagined. Take the time to re-explain things whenever needed and offer to discuss their concerns anytime they have them.
Further reading
What’s Going On? A Simple Explanation of Fibromyalgia:
http://chronicfatigue.about.com/od/whatisfibromyalgia/a/understandfibro.htm
How to Understand Someone with Chronic Pain:
http://www.chronicbodypain.net/how-to-understand-someone-with-chronic-pain
Understanding Fibromyalgia: http://www.fibromyalgiasupport.com/fibromyalgia-understanding.htm
How To Explain Fibromyalgia To Family and Friends:
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