A is for Air Conditioning

For the A to Z Challenge, we will be discussing some fibromyalgia must-haves--things that often help us fibro warriors to deal with or decrease our symptoms or to make our lives a little better or easier.  Fibromyalgia is a complicated condition, which manifests itself in vastly different ways.  Some of these in my list may not work as well (or even at all) for some of you.  However, I tried to stick with the bare essentials, so you will find many helpful tips over the next month.

So, without further ado...A is for air conditioning.  I know many people in the U.S. are just recovering from a frigid winter, but summer will come and with it, hot, humid days.  I have heard that they are predicting an extra hot and humid summer this year in many parts of the U.S.  Consequently, I’m working away at creating my summer oasis--somewhere I can hide when the temps get too high and too unbearable.

I’ve noticed that I can’t handle extreme weather (cold or hot), and many of my fibro friends are the exact same way.  For many of us, hot and humid weather saps our energy, increases our headaches, gives us intestinal issues, and even may give us rashes.  So, it is imperative to have a plan to combat the summer heat and humidity.

Having air conditioning in your home can be perfect, too, if summer heat causes you grief.  However, it isn’t always possible to have air conditioning or the power may go out, so create alternative plans. There are many ways to help you stay cool: (1) set up a comfortable spot to relax in the basement. (2) Stock up on fans (or even misting fans).  (3) Keep your fridge and freezer full of cooling drinks and treats.  (4)  Jump into the pool, shower, or bathtub.  (5) Limit time outside during peak sun times and while excessive hot and/or humid.  Or (6) if the summer weather gets too unbearable, find a public air-conditioned spot (mall, restaurant, grocery store, loved one’s home, etc.) as your fall back spot to take a break.  With a little planning, we can all get the most fun and enjoyment out of summer despite the sticky weather.

Wordless Wednesday: Are You Ready for Winter?

Weather Woes

My poor body is in total shock. It has been sunburned, then frozen, then soaked, and finally roasted--all within a matter of two weeks. (And now it looks like it will have to deal with scattered thunderstorms again for the next few days.) The weather has been completely bipolar this month, and my body is suffering.

As many of you may already know from experience, fibromyalgia doesn’t like extreme weather. And it especially hates sudden and drastic changes in weather. These changes make the body severely sore, stiff, and unable to regulate its body temperature. And the worst part is weather is a fibro trigger that we can’t do much of anything about.

You may argue that we can always move to a more tolerable climate or simply stay in the house. However, weather can be pretty unpredictable anywhere you go. And hiding indoors does little to silence the chaos outside our door.

In the end, we are forced to muddle through the best we can. When we experience a weather flare we should try to get plenty of rest. Also, stocking up on anything that helps soothe our flared symptoms is a must. Finally, we can’t allow ourselves to do too much. Pushing ourselves when we are already under a lot of strain from the weather will only makes things worse. Using common sense and pacing ourselves during these difficult times could be the difference between a flare that lasts only days to one that goes on and on for weeks.

Which one would you prefer? I, for one, would much rather spend as little time laid up as possible. Because of this, I’ve learned to listen to my body and only do what it is capable of doing at the moment. If it says to sleep, I sleep. If it tells me that I’m pushing myself too hard, I take a break and later return at a much slower pace. Ultimately, we must all learn to listen to our bodies. That, my friends, is the best treatment we can prescribe for ourselves!

L...Layers and Layers and More Layers, Please!

Fibromyalgia is mostly known for causing widespread pain throughout the body. However, a lot of people don’t realize that this same chronic condition can cause problems with body temperature regulation. Since I developed full-blown fibromyalgia (over 4 years ago), I’ve noticed that I am very sensitive to both hot and cold. If I get too overheated during the summer, I get physically sick to my stomach, and I’m hit with a wave of dizziness and horrible headache.

My sensitivity to cold, though, is much more extreme. During the winter, I have to dress in multiple layers just to be comfortable in my own home (since I can’t be sweating out the rest of the household with the furnace). And whenever I need to go outside, I need to don even more layers. If I don’t keep myself covered with 3 or more layers, the cold makes me hurt to the core. Imagine taking the coldest ice cream and shoving it into an exposed tooth nerve…then multiply that by at least 10. That’s what cold exposure does to me.

Without tons of layers, I feel like I am rolling around in snow drifts completely naked. The pain knocks the breath out of me, and I can feel my warmth escaping from wherever I don’t have enough clothing. My life gets extra complicated during cold weather because I have to make sure I am properly dressed every single day. And the colder it gets the more layers I have to force myself into.

Since I’ve endured a few winters now, I have had a good bit of practice. It is becoming more of a habit. I no longer worry about how fat or uncomfortable I look under all those layers. It’s much more important to me these days to stay warm. Yes, I still sometimes feel strange having to wearing so much clothing at once, especially when people start asking about it. But I try not to allow it to bother me.

Despite all the strange looks and critical comments, we must remember that we shouldn’t worry about what others might think. We must do what we must do to survive another day with a chronic illness, and that is all that matters. Other people might make us feel like freaks of nature, but we just need to keep focusing on how strong we truly are. We keep fighting for daily life even though we face such tough challenges. Keep pressing on, my fellow fibro warriors. We shall prevail!