Daily Tips for Surviving Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is something we suffer with daily and there are flares that bring on a lot of pain all at once in different areas. Here are some tips you can incorporate into your daily routine to help manage Fibromyalgia, or just as a stress reliever. I try to follow these tips each day and most of the time I feel great! I have to remind myself sometimes that I have Fibromyalgia, so I won’t overdo it and pay for it later. (Here’s My Fibro Story)

1. If you are a coffee drinker, add nutmeg/cinnamon to your coffee every day. Nutmeg and cinnamon are so good for our bodies! Here is some information on their healing properties: http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/cinnamon-and-nutmeg-do-they-really-have-healing-properties.html#b. Cinnamon also regulates blood sugar levels.
2. Have a salad for lunch or with lunch and add kale or spinach. Kale is high in fiber and great for aiding in digestion. It’s also filled with so many nutrients, vitamins, and magnesium. Spinach is known for its nutritional, antioxidants and anti-cancer constituents. Avocados are really good for you too! My favorite salad that I could eat every day is mixed greens with kale or spinach, avocado, tomatoes, carrots, almonds, mixed dried berries and whatever dressing I’m into at the time, with pepper. I usually do olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing. Sometimes I make a quinoa & black bean salad that I will eat over the course of 2-3 days. It’s so good for you and it’s nice to have something I can just grab out of the fridge and eat.
3. Take 20 minutes for yourself some time during the day (even if it’s only 5 minutes!). Lay down and close your eyes in a dark room, just sit somewhere and think, listen to music, go for a walk, read a book. Having that downtime to yourself can help so much.
4. Take a bath with Epsom salt, and lavender if you have some. Epsom salt helps our achy bodies and the lavender has a calming effect. See the link below for Epsom salt and lavender oil on Amazon.
5. Try to stay on a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed around the same time every night and get up around the same time each day. I know if I get off schedule, I am off for the entire day.
6. Juice something, anything! The effects of juicing are huge for anyone with a chronic illness. Drinking fresh juice passes on the nutrients straight through your body in a larger quantity than if you were to eat the whole fruit. It separates the fiber that is harder to digest. And, you may juice something that you normally wouldn’t want to eat. Smoothies are good too! Any way to consume those fruit/veggies. Here’s my post on Juicing vs Smoothies: http://organicfibromommies.com/2014/03/juicing-vs-smoothies/.
7. Take a natural supplement that fits your needs. I take Protandim that helps my Fibro and gives me more energy. Click here for more information on Protandim: http://organicfibromommies.com/2013/07/natural-supplement/. There is also St. John’s Wort that is good for depression. But you don’t want to take St. John’s Wort with any anti-depressant. Talk to your doctor first before taking anything. Taking a Vitamin D supplement may be good to do in those cloudy winter months.
8. Add a slice of lemon to your water. The lemon is not only good for you but it helps keep your water fresh as well. Drinking lemon water can help relieve or prevent digestion problems and can help you lose weight. Lemons are antiseptic and have a powerful cleansing effect on your liver, kidneys and blood, plus they are full of vitamins and minerals.
9. Stretch in the morning and at night. This will help loosen up those joints to decrease pain and stiffness.
10. Drink tea with raw honey. I drink ginger tea if I have digestion issues and green tea other times. Honey has so many benefits. To name a few, it boosts your immune system, helps you lose weight, reduces the risk of heart disease, soothes indigestion, and bolsters your energy levels.
11. Try to get some kind of exercise each day. Even if it’s a short walk, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, doing work around the house, chasing after your kid….
12. Laugh! Try to surround yourself with positive people. Laughter really is the best medicine sometimes. My husband and children really crack me up at times and I feel so much better after a bad day. Or watch something funny, like funny cat videos! haha
13. Apply a honey/lemon juice face mask. This is great for your skin and should clear it up in no time. And it feels so good! Just mix about 1 tsp of honey to ½ tsp of lemon juice, apply to your face, leave it on for 5 minutes and rinse off. I don’t know about you but I break out from stress and Fibro/related issues. Or I sweat during the night sometimes and break out too.
14. Read before bed. I read at night before going to sleep and it really helps get my mind off things that may have happened during the day or things going on in my life that keep me up at night. I have even fallen asleep reading before! Most nights, I get pretty good sleep and sleep straight through. Sleeping is so important with Fibro and we all know that it can be hard to sleep at times.
15. Add herbs to your cooking. There are so many benefits of using different herbs but rosemary is especially good for memory and we definitely need that with Fibro! I even read something about sniffing rosemary to help memory, haha. Thyme and rosemary are really good in chicken noodle soup or on a roast. And in many other dishes! Other herbs I cook with are oregano, parsley, basil, bay leaves, dill, cilantro, and I use chives and mint sometimes too. I have lavender but I haven’t cooked with it. And I want to try sage.

I know sometimes life throws us curve balls and some of these tips are hard to follow every day but if you try to incorporate most of them into your daily routine, it may really help you as it has for me. I have come to realize that if you make time to take care of yourself you will have more energy to take care of others and get things done. If I stick to my routine and diet, I do pretty good most of the time and can keep up with everything.

Epsom Salt, Lavender Oil, and these fingerless gloves can be found here (the gloves are great for those cold mornings or days when you’re working on your computer. I know my fingers get ice cold. There are different colors available too.):

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