What I've Learned So Far

I had a wonderful and educational weekend. Hubby checked out some books on FM from the library and what I learned has helped me see things in a whole different view. I already knew that FM is not a fatal disease (that I know of) and basically what is happening is that your body is in pain pretty much all the time. I have monitored my body over the past couple of months and have noticed what activities make my pain worse, what activities make my pain less and what activities I can't do without.
Standing or sitting for long periods of time does not work for me and my body is pretty faithful in letting me know when I have had enough. The same thing goes for walking, I am better if I am walking around somewhere other than just standing looking for things as in shopping - and my body sends off pain signals as soon as it has had enough.
As far as exercise goes - well FM is not fatal and so it is important that I incorporate exercise into my daily schedule. I know that I cannot do too much exercise but what I can do I must do for the overall health of my body as well as emotions. FM is a frustrating disease that could easily have me laying in bed all day everyday if I allowed it to, then I would gain weight and feel horrible and sink back into depression... WHO WANTS THAT????
So I have learned to find exercise that I can incorporate into my life such as swimming - using a paddle board and kicking back and forth down the lanes. The first day I started with 20 laps and I was hurting and weak but I was okay. The next time I tried 20 laps again (two days later) and I could barely get out of the pool and had to lean on my sons to help me to the car. What did I learn? That it is really important to monitor my pain levels before I go swimming (or any exercise). I was hurting before I went swimming the second time around so maybe I should have only swam 10 slow laps instead - I should have listened to my son Josh who actually told me this (but no, I am a stubborn Norweigian!-lol!)!
Everyday I monitor my activities by my pain levels and go forward. I am not a victim because I have FM - it's just a fact of life. I am still a healthy 39 year old woman with a wonderful loving supportive husband and two wonderful loving supportive boys and a great big loving supportive God who gives me wisdom and resources to manage every day.
As far as pain is concerned I am learning to manage it by sitting still, closing my eyes and listening to God's still small voice as it becomes a healing balm to my body.
Just filling you all in on my progress, and hoping this is helpful to others with this disease.
Happy Creating everyone!