Arishthis Website

by Paul Teeuwen-Green, 40 years old

Does Fibromyalgia own you or are we able to take back that ownership? This is the big question for me. What are we able to do in order to take back this ownership? How can we rethink what pain is and how can we use this to our advantage? This article is not about what medications to use or what specialists to see, nor is it going to be about what someone else can do for you. It’s purely about what you can do personally to help yourself and to give yourself back some form of a quality lifestyle.

I have suffered from fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) for over 17 years. At the tender age of 23, I was injured, due to a previous sporting injury, whilst serving in the Australian Army. Since then I have gone through the many highs and lows that FMS puts us through on a daily basis. I have tried many different medications and have seen numerous specialists. Some have helped and most have not. One day, I decided that I had had enough with the lack of control over my own body and life. After sitting back and analyzing every aspect of my life, I realised that I had somehow let the FMS control my every action. This was not good enough, so I decided to take back the ownership of my body and life.

Let’s now look at pain. In its rawest form, pain is just a physiological response; it’s the response that the brain puts into play when we are injured. For people with fibromyalgia, the chemicals that restrict these nerve responses are lacking; thus the pain response is always turned on. This alters the way we perceive pain and over time we forget that some of these pain signals are actually TRUE pain responses being sent from the brain. My lovely wife (who is a psychologist), reminded me one day that all people feel pain from time to time; I had seemed to forget this very fact. With this new insight on life, I decided to call this pain that everyone felt, GOOD Pain.

What is GOOD Pain? Do you remember coming home from the gym, a hard sporting workout or just a really hard day at work? Oh what pleasure we used to feel from that slow burning pain that used to ripple through our bodies. What about the pain we feel after we have injured ourselves or from an old existing injury, we are suppose to feel this type of pain, so isn’t that GOOD Pain as well? What about head aches and shoulder tension that we feel when we are stressed or depressed, if everyone else suffers the same then this must be GOOD. So yes, there are some pains that we can categorise as being GOOD, as we are supposed to feel them. What we need to do now, is to use this new way of thinking to re-train our brains and fight back at the FMS.

What is BAD Pain then and how does this pain intensify the pain we actually feel? When we feel pain, the first voluntary response we tend to do is to tense up. This tension then adds more pain and soon spirals out of control (very BAD Pain indeed). However, this is something that we can control! If it is the tension that is the secondary root to the original pain, this can be controlled through relaxation techniques and through distraction. By taking a few deep breaths or focusing on something else, we have started to stop the pain at its core. If the original pain was actually GOOD Pain, haven’t we actually turned a BAD into a GOOD? It is the same for pain that is caused through stress, all that tension and negativity does no one any good, however, through relaxation and distraction we can reduce the pain felt.

Good body maintenance is also another way that we can control our pain. It is a well know fact that for FMS, the best form of maintenance is to exercise. Now they are not talking about running marathons or going to the gym and lifting 20 or 50kg weights. Start out very small; walk to the sink and get your own drink or a short walk, maybe two houses or to the corner and back, then to the next house or corner. The same with weights, a can of peas or 0.5kg will do the trick to start. Go at your pace, what you are looking for is that nice slow burning pain we talked about earlier, the one that gives you satisfaction that you have done something good, not the pain that has you lying on you back for a week.

Taking back your life and controlling your own destiny is what this is all about. Find yourself something that you like to do; something that is outside of your four walls of doom and gloom; something that gets you out and about, meeting new and interesting people. This could be anything from joining your local Community Garden, Tai Chi, dancing, Men’s Shed’s or craft clubs – all good places to start looking. Your activity could even start out by doing some gardening at home; you would be surprised how many new people you will say hi to, just by being in your own front yard. Try adding some raised garden beds that you can sit beside or on, you would be surprised at what you can grown in a pot. I have met a wonderful elderly lady at my local Arthritis NSW meetings for fibromyalgia, who suffers from FMS and she does dancing, but for that time she feels not pain because she is out enjoying herself and is totally distracted. If the activity you choose is only on at a certain time, then this works to your advantage, as it motivates you to go.

As a person with FMS you are going to be feeling pain no matter what you do so you can chose to sit at home in pain or go out and do something you enjoy and maybe distract the pain for a while, this is the lifestyle choice you have to make. By doing so you will be covering a lot of what we have talked about here; exercise, relaxation and distraction. All these things can be very self rewarding and gratifying, they will also help you find your self-worth and give you a new purpose in life.

I personally have started training in Tai Chi, Kung Fu, have added raised garden beds and also attend the local Community Garden. Over the last year I have entered into a couple of martial arts tournaments and was invited to try out for state. Yes, I still feel pain after doing the things I love, but I have met new people, made new personal achievements, I am a lot fitter, my pain is now controllable, I have a new appreciation for life and a spark in my step (which I have not seen in years), and my relationships with my family and loved ones could not be better.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and take back control over your lifestyle.