Fibromyalgia is a chronic, complex condition that can include chronic pain, constant fatigue, and rapid mood swings. You may feel as though you’re being attacked from all sides. Once you manage one aspect of the disease, another symptom rears up and takes all your focus.
1. Fibromyalgia Steals Your Energy
Chronic pain is exhausting on many levels. While there are medications that can reduce the pain of fibromyalgia, these medications may not be safe to take long-term. A pain management specialist can help you track your pain throughout the day and determine the best time to take your meds for the best effect.
2. Chronic Pain Can Damage Your Outlook
One of the greatest challenges of chronic pain is the chronic part. When you’re in chronic pain or suffering a chronic condition, a part of your nervous system is always bound up in dealing with fibromyalgia.
One of the greatest joys in life is to lose time in a creative project or a great book. For many who suffer from chronic conditions, this ability to focus completely is simply not an option. There’s always something dragging at their attention. Over time, this can lead to anxious thoughts and depression. A pain management specialist can help you stay on top of those points of emotional pain.
3. Mood Changes Are Common Among Fibromyalgia Sufferers
It’s hard to be cheerful when you hurt. Even if you can find a medication or an activity to reduce your pain for a time, the anxiety about future bouts of pain can make it impossible to maintain hope.
You may struggle to maintain an even temperament when fibromyalgia is especially bad. You may avoid people and become isolated, leading to even lower moods or more radical mood swings. Because the pain of fibromyalgia is not visible, in that you don’t need a splint or develop a bruise, it can be hard to explain to friends and loved ones exactly what you’re going through.
4. Managing Your Pain Effectively Can Help You Manage Your Outlook
Getting too tired, too cold, or too stressed can increase your fibromyalgia flare-ups. If you have a regular appointment with your fibromyalgia pain specialist, you can look to that appointment as the goal. If Monday activities were manageable but Tuesday was tougher, at least you know that you have your appointment on Thursday. Wednesday might be rough, but Thursday is coming.
A pain management specialist can offer the empathy that you need to manage both your expectations and the expectations of others. Because there will be days when your pain is less, it can be hard to explain why you need to take action on what’s important to you on those lighter days. The uncertainty of each day is part of what makes fibromyalgia such a frustrating condition to live with.
It may not be possible to return to your former energy level, healthy mood, or pain-free life. However, a pain management specialist on your care team may be able to help you plan and find the best treatment for the worst days.
