How to Fight Fibromyalgia Fatigue

What is fibromyalgia and how to fight fibromyalgia fatigue is likely what brought you to this site! We’ll you’re in the right place because we’re going to dive into both! Fibromyalgia is widespread pain all over the body, fatigue, emotional and mental swings, and sleep problems. Approximately 80-90% of people who get diagnosed with fibromyalgia are women, however, it can affect both genders.

This post is not providing medical advice, and all concerns related to your health and fibromyalgia should be directed to a medical professional for evaluation and diagnosis.

What you need to know about Fibromyalgia

As mentioned above fibromyalgia is complex and can affect many parts of the body, most commonly pain is associated with a fibro flare. Most commonly fibromyalgia can be triggered by a stressful event, injury, or infection. The stressful event can include physical stress, and or emotional stress.

Common symptoms of fibromyalgia can include:

• Exhaustion
• Difficulty sleeping
• Muscle cramping
• Itchy skin
• Numbness in hands and feet
• Anxiety
• Memory problems
• Difficulty concentrating
• Headaches
• Depression
• Gas/ Bloating
• Nausea
• Difficulty Breathing/ Shortness of Breath

Every individual with fibromyalgia can experience differences in symptoms and severity between fibromyalgia patients. Chronic pain is the most common among most diagnosed patients, however, symptoms and pain should be reviewed by a health care professional to oversee diagnosis and treatment options.

What is Fibromyalgia Fatigue?

To put it in a very basic form it’s extreme fatigue, as mentioned above each individual’s symptoms can range however, for the most part, it’s extreme exhaustion. Do you know when you have the flu or a cold and feel like getting up to have a shower is the most exhausting thing ever, or you get winded walking to your kitchen for a glass of water when unwell? This is similar to what most fibromyalgia fatigues feel when a fibromyalgia flare occurs. These symptoms can mimic and feel similar to chronic fatigue syndrome, and overall they drain you of all your energy.

This can also impact sleep quality and folks who live with fibromyalgia syndrome can have difficulty sleeping or feeling rested when they wake. This lack of energy can often then lead to the symptom of fibro fog which is when patients have a difficult time concentrating or remembering things that commonly would not be an issue.

How long can fibro fatigue last? On average it can last anywhere from a couple of days to weeks at a time for most fibromyalgia individuals. However, the severity and duration are unique to each individual, as well as the prescribed treatment plan with a health care professional to help remedy fibro fatigue.

Reduce Stress

Stress can make any health concern or chronic illness worse and reducing stress can typically help reduce symptoms. I’m not saying reduce stress and all your problem will be gone, believe me I wish! Reducing stress can help with increasing your blood flow, providing a mental health boost and overall can promote a sense of calm. This can help with reducing feeling of pain and stiffness and overall help improve your mood and outlook.

With a fibro flare you want self-care activities that reduce stress but are also mindful of the pain and symptoms you are experiencing. For example, doing a workout when you’re feeling numbness in your hands or cramping in your legs will not likely help. Ways to reduce stress with fibromyalgia can include taking a warm bath, taking a slow and short walk, taking time for yourself, engaging in your hobbies, colouring, gentle massage, spending time with a loved one or pet, and reading. Depending on the severity of symptoms you are feeling this will help determine what activity works best for how you’re feeling.

Identify what triggers your fibromyalgia fatigue symptoms

Spending some time tracking your symptoms and understanding your chronic widespread pain and other fibro symptoms can help with determining potential triggers for your fibromyalgia fatigue. Chronic illness tracking can be helpful with understanding your individual fibromyalgia symptoms and what can specifically trigger your fatigue fibromyalgia feelings.

Tracking your symptoms, foods eaten, environmental factors, stress level, daily tasks and medications taken when symptoms arise can help you and your medical professional with figuring out a fibromyalgia fatigue treatment. Symptom tracking can help doctors and medical professionals understand any patterns in your health and also understand how well your treatment plan is working to help you with fibromyalgia and fatigue.

Speaking to a medical professional about fibromyalgia fatigue

When it comes to fibromyalgia fatigue medication be sure that you speak to a medical professional about what supplements and medication will work best for you and your specific symptoms. It can be often that you will go on Google and search for supplements and treatments, however, it’s recommended that you speak to your doctor about specific fibromyalgia fatigue supplements and medications.

Fibromyalgia symptoms can be tough to diagnose, and remaining persistent and consistent with speaking to your medical professional about fibromyalgia exhaustion and your specific fibrofog symptoms will hopefully help them direct you to the correct specialist if they are unable to provide care for you or it is out of their scope. You can also speak to your health care professional about pain clinics and fibromyalgia pain options which can also help with reducing fibro fatigue.

Foods to ease symptoms

There are foods that you can try to help with reducing your fibromyalgia chronic fatigue symptoms. If you have a specific diet or food plan with your medical professional ensure to follow that, this list of food is simply a suggestion of food that may benefit fibromyalgia fatigue. Foods that help to fight fibro fatigue include:

• Fresh Fruits
• Low Fat Dairy Products
• Fish
• Fresh Vegetables
• Whole Grain
• Chicken

On the flip side, there are some foods that you may want to steer clear of. Foods that you could try avoiding as they may be a trigger for your fibromyalgia symptoms include:

• Sugar
• Caffeine
• Bell Peppers
• MSG
• Chocolate
• Gluten
• Tomatoes
• Artificial Sweeteners
• Eggplant

When trying to take in more of the food that can ease fibromyalgia symptoms or reduce the foods that can be potential triggers ensure to record how you feel that day and for the couple of days following. Creating a food diary, or including it in your chronic illness symptom tracker will help you better understand how each food interacts with your body and which foods can help and hinder your symptoms.

Summary

For some folks, it can feel like fibromyalgia fatigue is worse than pain and that fibro fatigue has taken over. Fibromyalgia can be severe in its symptoms and can be a challenge to learn how to manage and how to find a treatment plan that works.

Fibromyalgia fatigue is one of the most challenging symptoms I’ve experienced personally and often increases my fibromyalgia brain fog which then snowballs into other symptoms. While this is complex and challenging, speaking to a medical professional and continuing to try different things to help has been one of the best things for myself and my chronic illness journey. Best wishes to all my fellow fibro warriors wading through this challenging disorder.