Fibromyalgia

If you read my burnout series, you will know that there are many potential reasons for a person to Burnout, as well as numerous consequences for it, one of them being Fibromyalgia.

I started investigating burnout a few years ago as a topic of interest in my Yoga qualifications. We were asked to choose any subject and relate it to Yoga. I looked at if, why and how a Yoga practice could help in a case of burnout. Clearly my body knew where I was heading even if my brain did not, because soon after I did just that - BURNT OUT! Rather ironic studying and writing an essay on Burnout, but I think my body was screaming at me for years to slow down, which in turn made me want to study Yoga more in depth and then later focus my studies on Burnout! In reality, I think there were probably 4 or 5 times over the preceding 10+ years where my body gave up a bit, ie. a virus that then became post viral fatigue, a ripped muscle that didn’t heal or something similar where I got pretty ill for a few months, had to rest and then as soon as I felt better I just reverted to my old A type ways, always going at everything at 100 miles an hour. According to the Mayo Clinic, Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals. What causes fibromyalgia? According to the NHS, ‘the exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, but it's thought to be related to abnormal levels of certain chemicals in the brain and changes in the way the central nervous system (the brain, spinal cord and nerves) processes pain messages carried around the body.’ There are many reasons for Fibromyalgia. It can come about post Burnout, but also can arise after a viral infection, an injury, trauma, PTSD, toxic load, an accident or other high stress events. Fibromyalgia is horrible, painful, exhausting and terrifying at times, I am a few years in now and for the large part so much better. I still have flare ups but they do not last as long and at least now I know it will pass. I now have a thriving business teaching Yoga and Pilates classes online and in person from my studio and am able to use my experience and understanding to help others experiencing fatigue and burnout. I still have to monitor and modify my lifestyle, behaviour, workload, nutrition, rest, hydration, stress levels and exercise formats constantly, but on a positive, I have learned so much along the way! Also, what healthy, high performing person doesn't need to monitor all the above factors? I am very aware that there is a spectrum of symptoms, some completely debilitating and far worse than my own. I am only speaking from personal experience. Here are some tips and information for you if you have fatigue (who doesn’t?), chronic pain or have a friend or family with auto immune issues (there are a lot of suggestions and as I said, it is a personal experience, some will resonate, others might not be for you). Recovery is a work in progress and I am still very cautious with how I spend my energy - some days are good and some are not, but I know I am constantly and consistently getting better overall. Brain Fog is REAL!! A few years ago I could not have written this or read anything like this as my mind felt like it had broken down, at times I was even slurring as I spoke - not a good look! The Pain is neurological, ie. it is kind of like your nerves are firing at will!! Something that really helped me was knowing that as it is the nerves creating the pain, it is NOT REAL — I know it feels very real, but what I mean is, it isn’t creating lasting damage in your joints. Just knowing this made me believe that I would not continue to get worse. It helped me reframe the pain - yes it is happening but it isn’t going to make me end up in a wheel chair in a few years. I also reframe the pain using brain hacks, one being neuroplasticity. I will do a separate blog on this, but essentially it is training the brain to relax rather than tense up when pain arises. The Fatigue is profound. It isn’t just you are tired, it is like someone has taken your batteries out and you are working on 5% of your usual energy levels. I felt, and sometimes still feel as if I am walking through treacle or had a heavily weighted back pack on. You wake up exhausted and stay that way! Rest and sleep help in the long run but this is a slow process and you need to get into deep sleep to restore your body. Rest is so important and so is stimulating the mitochondria, the power houses or batteries of our cells. I will do a separate blog on mitochondria too!

After I was diagnosed, the consultant and doctor prescribed drugs like Amitriptyline and Gabapentin, in order to blunt the chronic nerve pain and relax the body and reduce the anxiety surrounding how I felt but I decided not to take it, favouring a more natural approach. I didn't like the idea of taking pharmaceuticals and relying on them going forwards if this was going to be a long term issue. I found that good quality CBD oil has similar positive effects to the prescribed drugs, with none of the side effects or addictive qualities. I use the higher strength orange flavour CBD oil from fourfiveCBD nowadays to help settle my pain and discomfort. It seems to help me sleep better too, in conjunction with the tips below. In fact the first few months whilst I couldn’t really stand up or walk for more than 10 minutes, I used cannabis in the form of brownies to reduce the symptoms. A few studies on Fibromyalgia have shown that the endocannabinoid system is lacking and that cannabis can help. I asked the doctor for medicinal cannabis but it is only prescribed for M.S. (Wikipedia - The endocannabinoid system is a biological system composed of endocannabinoids, which are endogenous lipid-based retrograde neurotransmitters that bind to cannabinoid receptors, and cannabinoid receptor proteins that are expressed throughout the vertebrate central nervous system and peripheral nervous system.)

What helped me? -Knowing it wasn’t something worse. -Rest. Getting regular and consistent sleep.

-CBD oil. I use fourfiveCBD, it helps, tastes better than most and you can a variety of strengths to suit your needs and budget. -Massage -Deep breathing/meditation 10 mins a day. -YOGA! -I saw a functional medicine practitioner who helped clarify what my system was doing and what supplements might help. He also does Lymphatic drainage - which is great as your system may not be working very well at the moment. I also saw a kinesiologist who did some muscle testing to get the energy systems/ meridians all working better. -Listening to podcasts. I make more time to relax and I find listening to positive podcasts helps. -Positive mindset!!!! Thinking about the good stuff - gratitude and positivity are proven to have an accumulative and healing effect. Also positive wording, I try not to complain or go on about the pain or fatigue. It is important to be honest of course, but it is also hard on the people around you and complaining never makes anything better!! -Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - A few sessions of CBT helped me look at my lifestyle and modify my behaviour to a more sustainable model. I also did a course called The lightening process, that used a mixture of neuroplasticity and NLP or neuro linguistic programming to get my mind and my brain on board with the healing process. -Heat, I use a sauna when possible as heat is good for detoxing the body and stimulating the mitochondria - the little batteries in each of our cells. - A vibration plate, I use a vibration plate to stimulate the lymphatic system and will go into further details in a later blog about the benefits of vibration training. -I also use red light therapy to help with pain, inflammation and a multitude of other positive health benefits, including stimulating mitochondria and even collagen production. I hope this helps, it is a very personal topic and I had questioned writing about it. I decided to write about it in case it is of help to anyone. There is always hope in any situation! With LOVE, LIGHT and POSITIVITY. Gabby x