”Different Things Work for Different People”…or DO They!? I Wonder…Managing Fibromyalgia Symptoms

So in my last fibromyalgia post, I wondered…DO different things work for different people (as so many say)…OR does it depend on what you are trying for? As in, whether you’re trying for managing day to day symptoms or for long lasting improvement?

I wondered…big picture…if there IS only one approach that puts us on the path of consistent functionality and enduring overall improvement.

And I’m still wondering.

I’m wondering smaller picture now…as in, managing our day-to-day fibromyalgia symptoms…DO different things work for different people?

Or are these different things that work for us really, in essence, THE SAME THING?

So let me explain.

I said in my last post, “And all those seemingly random fibromyalgia symptoms coming and going… not only have they happened less and less over the years…but by the way, I’ve found if I just keep working on my overall underlying health (my combat mode) each time they crop up, THEY GO AWAY.” (Not right away, of course, it takes a bit of time to focus on whatever I’ve slipped up on and for it to play out in my body and make them go away, but I AM able to make them go away.)

And I said “seemingly random” fibromyalgia symptoms because I wonder…are they really that random?

OR…are they all reactions to our triggers? (Very well-disguised reactions to our triggers!)

And speaking of triggers, I think that maybe it’s not so surprising then that this approach I spoke of (my “combat mode” approach), whereby “I would try doing anything I could do to feel as healthy as possible in every other way” has, besides leading to gradual, long lasting improvement in my overall fibromyalgia, also helped me to reduce what I’ve gradually learned to be my key triggers for my day-to-day fibromyalgia symptoms all along the way…and hence, MAKE THE SYMPTOMS GO AWAY.

Yes, working on my overall health has incidentally hit my key triggers all along the way, these being poor sleep and stress (of ANY kind, physical or mental).

Because as I said in the previous post, when I do an online search of “good sleep”, I find “exercise regularly”, “healthy diet”, and “reduce stress” among the top tips. And when I search “stress reduction” I find “exercise regularly”, “healthy diet” and “good sleep” predominant on those lists.

It turns out these are all the things I’ve been consistently working on as I’ve tried to be “as healthy as possible in every other way” and as you can tell, and I talked about this at length in an earlier post, “these key things seem to work together and depend on each other”.

Which brings me back to that statement I always hear so many with fibromyalgia say…”different things work for different people”.

Whenever I hear someone saying a certain treatment has worked for their fibromyalgia…I guess it’s my own experience, from the over eighteen years I’ve had fibromyalgia, of seeing how intertwined these factors are that affect my own fibromyalgia, combined with my research background, that trained me to question and seek underlying reasons…I rarely take it at face value.

I look deeper…and I wonder.

Do different things work for different people? Or are these different things really, in essence, the same thing?

So I wonder…when I see someone saying “x” works for me…is it really the face value reason they think…or is it actually working on a key underlying trigger, like maybe stress or sleep, in an indirect way?

For example, I wonder…does someone go on a new specialized restrictive diet and find a marked improvement in their fibromyalgia because they needed to eliminate these certain offending foods from their diet to improve their fibromyalgia? Or is it the positive, excited, uplifted mind-set they get from feeling empowered (and not so helpless)‎ that they actually CAN do something and affect some change to help themselves? I mean, in the face of CONSTANT roadblocks thrown at us daily as we struggle with fibromyalgia…continually making us feel helpless and hopeless…certainly the mental boost of such a positive undertaking would help reduce stress?

I certainly know, after living with fibromyalgia for over eighteen years now, anything that is positive, boosts my mind-set, feels empowering…lowers my stress, a key trigger for me…will therefore definitely improve my fibromyalgia too. Why, my own “combat mode” totally fits the bill here…as I said in my post about my healthy diet, “I’d even be willing to bet the placebo effect IS part of the benefit of eating healthy for my fibromyalgia symptoms. I know I feel positive and pro-active when I make a diet change to eat healthier.”

Moreover, if any weight loss comes with it (the diet change), who doesn’t feel lighter, more energetic, hence less lethargic…happier…less stressed?

And I wonder…when I hear someone say they get a massage or soak in a tub to help relieve their fibromyalgia symptoms…well, of course it helps their body but is that the key thing it is helping for our fibromyalgia? Because I have to think getting a massage or soaking in a tub would be relaxing…as in, relaxing and letting the stress(!) just seep out of their body.

And speaking of relaxing…I wonder this too…does resting in bed for a day rest your body…or your mind? I mean, obviously both, but which is the key one it is benefitting for our fibromyalgia? If it rests your body, and that’s what’s needed, that’s great and one should do it.

But, and this is purely a personal preference, if it rests my mind (and that’s what’s needed because I realize I’m overly stressed and this is flaring my symptoms), is there another way I can rest my mind (and therefore lower stress)? I mean, can I find another way to rest my mind (to lower my stress and therefore my symptoms) and still be able to do things and not lose a day resting in bed (at least that is the way I feel about it…losing a day…again, purely personal). That’s if we even can stay in bed, if we have that option in our life at the moment.

For myself, I’ve learned to go about my day WHILE I GIVE MY MIND A REST…no, not always easy, while under the mental strain to get things done and try to function while I’m in pain and/or exhausted or experiencing any of the multitude of weird and wonderful (sarcasm!) symptoms we experience at any given time…but I’ve found it’s possible. Of course I’ll move more carefully, slowly, if I’m in pain, that’s a no brainer…eases the body and the mind.

But this will be one of those days that I’ve talked about in previous posts, when I change what I think to take the pressure off myself of everything that my life is requiring of me and I’ll think in terms of just allowing myself to be satisfied with simply getting through the day, whatever it may require. Maybe I’ll pick easy things to do if possible, a lighter load…or even take a break from the norm of everything I have to be doing and simply do some enjoyable things, a “mental health day”…these always ease my mind and lower stress. Or if this isn’t enough, I’ll lie down for a bit here and there to try to totally relax my body and mind, almost a mini meditation I guess, and failing that a nap on the couch for a bit.

Oh, and breathing, just BREATHING can be a lifesaver on these kind of days…all I truly need to do is “just breathe” today, is the way I’ll often think about it. I try to remember to focus on deeper breathing with the techniques I learned in the self-help book “OVERCOMING Traumatic Stress” that can be so helpful in helping one get grounded, lessen tension (stress!) and even promoting deeper sleep (bonus!).

But by all means, if lying in bed for a day or so helps someone to refuel, to recharge, in whatever way they need, if that is your preference or you feel your only choice, yes, of course do it. This is purely conjecture, something to think about…but I wonder if maybe learning to de-stress without having to crawl in bed might just be another possibility that may work at times…another tool in the fibromyalgia toolbox.

And speaking of de-stressing, what about something like CBD oil, the latest wonder cure-all? Does it help some with fibromyalgia pain because it’s actually changing something physically in their body that is helpful or is it simply helping to reduce anxiety and depression and increase relaxation, therefore lowering stress and resulting in less symptoms? I wonder…

I even wonder about exercise…one of my main go-tos…is it helping because it loosens up my body helping to keep it functional? Sure, definitely…and over time it has helped me to rebuild, increasing my stamina and energy level. But maybe the even bigger benefit is it’s helping me with boosting serotonin levels while also promoting better sleep, thereby helping me to evade depression and hence lowering stress too.

And I often wonder…would someone still enjoy all the benefits I get from working out if they hated everything about it? Let’s face it, it’s no secret that exercise is just not ever going to be on some people’s top ten (or even top hundred!) things they like to do.

For myself, I WANT to keep getting the benefits I’ve known for so long, so I get a sense of accomplishment from getting through a workout…I’ve achieved something hard to do…so I get a positive overall from it. And I have confidence my workouts are a good thing, are helping me on the whole, so I don’t get stressed about the fake pulled muscle thing I occasionally get or if they tire me out worsening my fatigue some days…after all this time I know by now from experience that all those things are temporary. But I always wonder if someone hates everything about exercise, does that negate a certain amount of the benefits…is it going to help them lower their stress level as it does me?

So I guess what I’m trying to say is…look deeper. Question why something’s working.

Because yes, I guess it’s “different things”, technically…but to me, I SEE IT ALL THE SAME.

I can’t help it, I’ve been living this fibromyalgia thing for over eighteen years now without any ongoing medications; it’s second nature to me by now to look deeper, to always look for the underlying reasons so I can make the changes necessary to lessen my symptoms. I look at all these things that people say works for them through this lens. And almost every time, if not every time, someone tells me something that works for them, I notice it also would help lower their stress level and/or help them sleep better as well.

And when you think about it, there’s a ton of things that we could do that could lower our stress level, and/or help us to sleep better, and for so many various reasons, many even unique to each individual.

Massages, meditation, weighted blankets, etc. etc.…wow, I could fill pages listing them. Not to mention that certainly, almost any new thing we try and commit to, could additionally give us a mental boost…boost our mood, our positiveness, our endorphins…leading to a decrease in stress, which could also help us sleep better etc. etc. Why, at a minimum, just feeling that I’m doing something that may make a difference, that I can exert some influence and control for myself…or that someone else is helping, perhaps my doctor…that help is on the way…always lowers my stress.

So yeah, different things work for different people…sure, on the surface.

But I wonder, when I look a little deeper, when I seek the underlying reasons…ARE all these different things that work for us really, in essence, the same thing…in the sense that they are all pretty much DOING THE SAME THING?

And why look deeper?

What does it matter…why look deeper…if something seems to be working?

Well, understanding “why” something works…can give you OPTIONS, maybe options you didn’t realize you had.

Maybe you don’t have to be on such a restricted diet…maybe a healthy diet will do the trick. Maybe you don’t need to spend so many days in bed…maybe sometimes a “mental health day” will do the trick. Maybe you don’t have to deal with short term side effects and only limited known knowledge about the long-term effects of the latest “cure-all”…maybe say, meditation or exercise, will do the trick. Maybe you don’t have to do an exercise you hate…maybe you can figure out one you like that will do the trick. Maybe you don’t have to pay for and take time out of your life for specialized treatments…like all the rest of these things, maybe something else will do the trick.

And maybe, just maybe, the most important part of this is, you can figure out truly what is triggering your symptoms.

Because I can tell you, I’ve been looking deeper, I’ve been seeking the underlying reasons, for over eighteen years now, and it most certainly has helped me to figure out my triggers. I know them well. And I‘ve learned to live in a way to avoid them as much as possible and minimize them as much as possible, so much so that flares are pretty much a thing of the past by now; I can’t remember the last time I had a significant one.

And what I know is real is that life with fibromyalgia just gets better and better because I’ve found that functionality and progress over time has come from MANAGING THE UNDERLYING TRIGGERS WELL.

So I will keep wondering. I will keep looking deeper. I will keep noticing whether these “different things” are really that different. And if you notice something that works for you, I hope you’ll wonder too…and you’ll look deeper…and seek to understand the reason.

Because maybe.

Just maybe.

You have options you didn’t know you had.