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Home » Lifestyle » Fibromyalgia: Dealing with a flare up

Fibromyalgia: Dealing with a flare up.

What is Fibromyalgia?
Holiday times are often busy with family visiting. We are out and about with friends, eating, drinking and having fun. We may well slip out of routine, and this could lead to a flare up. What can you do about it? Stop, Breathe and know that it will pass.

1. Hydration

Have you been drinking enough water? We can be distracted at times with visitors and gatherings and forget to drink water. Fill your jug, add some fruit like lemon, mint or cucumber and drink during the day. Take a water bottle out with you.

2. What have you eaten?

Have you been invited out to eat with friends over the holiday period? Not your usual diet? Write down everything you have eaten for the past 3 -5 days in your diary. This will be helpful so next time you have a flare up, you can look for common foods. Get back to eating a diet full of the colours of the rainbow, eat light, easy to digest food.

3. Sleep

Has something affected your bedtime routine? Have you had visitors, been away? Those thoughts that come at night, get the journal out and write down your thoughts before you go to bed, so they are out of your head and on paper. You know then that you don’t need to worry about forgetting them. Your body needs sleep to recover.

Get back to your routine, get into the sun during the brightest time of day to help the production of the sleep hormone melatonin.

4. What is going on in your life right now?

Stress can cause a flare up. Dealing with a family issue, a financial problem, work related situation? Get your journal out and start writing. Taking the problem out of your head and onto paper will help you to see it from a different perspective. What is the problem, how do you feel about it, can you do something to make a change? We sometimes worry about things we don’t have the ability to change.

Calm the nervous system with some breathing exercises or meditation.

5. Have you done too much?

With visitors and holiday season there is a lot of activities going on, we can push ourselves to join in, and why not, as we don’t want to miss out; but the downside is that we can do too much and trigger a flare up.

Get back to pacing your activities, find the balance between rest and activity. Remember that the body needs rest to recover.

If you need help to manage your fibromyalgia, the flare up or help with any of these suggestions do contact Charmaine at Sutherland House Fibromyalgia Clinic.

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