Physical Therapy for Fibromyalgia

I recently started going to physical therapy for my Fibromyalgia. This started out as a good idea. I thought that it would be a great way to work on my range of motion and improve my flexibility. I The last thing I expected was to have it spark a flare that had me in serious pain for three days even with medication.

I went for a session on Thursday and the pain started to set in about an hour after I left. The pain stayed with me until early Monday. It let up just in time for my next appointment. I told them what had happened to me after I left there. Needless to day my next session was modified.

Here it is almost time to go back for more therapy. I tried to do the exercises they want me to do daily but it's getting harder to motivate myself to do this knowing it's going to cause me more pain then my medication can handle. As I type this point I don't want to have my arms away from my body. It makes doing every day tasks much more difficult. As if I didn't have enough problems with every day life already.

There are times when I wonder how long I can continue to take care of myself. I wonder when the pain and fatigue will reach the point when I won't be able to do the things I need to do. There are times when I go without eating for a day or two because I don't have the energy to make something to eat. Normal things like shopping or laundry seem like overwhelming chores as it is.

The pain is bad enough but when you add deep fatigue with it then you have a bad combination. I have days when I don't have enough energy to do even the most simple of tasks. The confusing part is even though I don't have any energy I have a hard time getting to sleep. It's not the kind of fatigue leads to sleep.

I have tried to look back at when it all began. I think that it started a long time ago and gradually got worse over the years. When I started going to the doctor I was told it was a problem with my thyroid and they gave me pills for that. For the first two weeks I felt great but that was all the relief I ever got from thyroid medication. I kept going back to the doctor and telling them that I was still having the same problems but they didn't listen. I continued to work but it was taking more and more out of me and taking longer and longer to recover on my days off.

We moved to Washington State and I started a job almost right away. I worked in the house keeping department of the local casino. I worked hard scrubbing bathrooms and stainless steel kitchens on the grave yard shift. After a few months I noticed my hands cramping and pain everywhere that took longer and longer to ease up after a shift. I started calling in more often until I lost that job.

That made me head back to the doctor again and again. They kept doing blood work and adjusting my thyroid medicine. I was starting to wonder if I was not being realistic with my level of pain, fatigue and inability to sleep. In short, they had me questioning myself. It didn't help when someone close to me would yell at me to get off my fat, lazy ass.

After a couple of years of trying to explain my symptoms and get someone to listen I was finally diagnosed as having Fibromyalgia. It helped me to know that there was a name for what was happening to me. It helped to know that I wasn't alone with this disease. At least I know that I am not crazy or imagining things.