The pain and lack of sleep associated with fibromyalgia can severely interfere
with a person's ability to function in everyday life. It can both interfere at
home, at work, and in any circumstance that they find themselves in; and it can
be made that much harder when people around them don't understand what
they're going through. Thus, any assistance or help that could possibly
be offered by friends or family really does make a huge difference in coping
with the daily struggle that living with fibromyalgia can be. So with that, myself
and fellow YouTuber, and friend, Jennifer are going to speak from experience to
share with you guys some basic information about fibromyalgia, as well
as some tips that we feel would be really helpful for anyone dealing with
this condition, so if that interests you stick around!
An idea
can escape,
Ideas are bulletproof!
*Chimes*
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disease characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain,
tiredness, and fatigue in localized areas. Many common symptoms experienced by
someone with fibromyalgia include sleep, memory and mood problems, numbness and
tingling in hands, arms, feet, and/or legs, tension headaches, irritable bowel
syndrome, and even anxiety and depression. Not a lot is currently understood about
fibromyalgia, but thus far researchers believe that the condition amplifies the
pain experienced by a person by changing the way that the brain processes pain
signals. They basically believe that repeated nerve stimulation can cause the
brains of those with fibromyalgia to increase the amount of neurotransmitters
it's producing that signal pain, and unfortunately, along with not knowing
that much about this condition, a lot of doctors can't really pinpoint exactly
how a person got it, but they do know of a variety of contributing factors. One of
which is, above all, genetics. It tends to run in the family and thus, if you know
of someone in your family who has it, you do have an increased chance of
developing it yourself. Another is actually infection. Sometimes different
illnesses or infections can trigger or aggravate fibromyalgia; and also physical
or emotional trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder is actually very
commonly associated with fibromyalgia. As well as your gender, it is actually much
more common for women to have fibromyalgia, than men. And another factor many people
aren't aware of is rheumatic disease can actually leave you vulnerable to developing
fibromyalgia eventually. So for anyone who has those conditions it's definitely
something to keep an eye out for. And as I mentioned, this condition is incredibly
hard to deal with, but that much harder when your friends and family don't
understand what you're going through. The help that can be offered by friends
and family is just pivotal in making this condition manageable. So, Jennifer
has some tips for you guys on how you can offer help to someone dealing with this condition.
Hi! I'm Jennifer; when someone close to you has fibromyalgia
it's often difficult to know what to say or what to do, so today we're gonna be
going over different ways that you can support someone that suffers from
fibromyalgia or any chronic illness. Get to know the illness: take time to learn
about the illness on your own, or it can even be something that you can do
together. Learn about the symptoms like things that trigger it, coping skills,
pain management techniques, diet treatments, etc. Talk to your loved one
and ask them about their experience, that way you might have a better
understanding of what they're going through. Try to put yourself in their
place and think about how your life would be if you were placed with the
same limitations. By watching this video it's a great start to learning about
fibromyalgia. Also, if you need more help understanding the illness I recommend
reading the spoon theory by Christine Miserandino; we'll leave the link in
the description box. Validate their pain: try to understand that the pain is real.
It helps to feel heard, understood, accepted; although above all else what
most people that suffer from fibromyalgia want to feel is validated.
It might be tough for some people to understand the pain, but you can be
someone in their life that does. You can't take the pain away, but you can
make them feel heard. Offer a helping hand: suffering from fibromyalgia can
prevent a person from doing all the things they'd like to do in a day.
Something that may seem simple to most people may be very difficult for a
sufferer, like getting out of bed or putting on clothing. If you can, try to
offer to do things around the house, cook clean, shop, etc.; anything helps! Have
patients: fibromyalgia is something very difficult to live with; in result, it can
cause a person to feel needy, sad, depressed, upset, angry... At times it may
get frustrating, but please try to stay calm, and try to do your best to be as
understanding as possible. And a final tip or suggestion would be to help them
make a coping journal, or a coping box. In the box they could put items that are
helpful for their pain, and in the journal they could vent about the
different things they're going through, or maybe take positive notes to remind
them that life is good sometimes. There's various different ways that the coping
box and journal can be used to help someone who's dealing with this
condition; and Jennifer and I actually work together to make a more extensive
video about these two things, and details about how you can use them, so do go
check out her channel; I'm going to be linking it below, of course, with the
video that we work together on to explain the coping box and the coping
journal further. So definitely go check that out, and if you've got anything
you'd like to add about tips on coping with fibromyalgia feel free to comment
that below, if you're dealing with anything related to fibromyalgia, feel
free to share about that, or if you have any questions on how to support someone
with this condition, please also feel free to share that below, and Jennifer
and I will do our absolute best to try and answer anything that you might have
to ask. Though we're not professionals, we're just speaking from experience
having this condition. So we'll do whatever we can to help, and as always
please do join me again next week where I try again to share a little something
I've learned in life