Arthritis…
(the big A) Fibromyalgia (the big F) and Bursitis (the big B) Oh My!
Mix these conditions together with a few other illnesses thrown in and Taaadaaaa! You’ve got yourself a big old batch of widespread chronic pain. Every minute of every hour of every day of every week is painful.
The only things that change are…
- What kind of pain (Arthritis, Fibro, Bursitis et al?)
- Where the pain is (besides your big F trigger points which always hurt)
- How painful on a scale of 1 to 10
In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t like using words like Arthritis, Fibromyalgia and Bursitis (especially the F word). Thus, the nicknames. It’s a way of pacifying the Me that is still in denial and of kyboshing the anxiety these words cause me.
They suck; they’re painful and can knock you flat on your back for days or even weeks at a time. For the sake of “keeping it positive” though, I’m going to call them FAB (which they most definitely are not!)
Who am I kidding? There is nothing positive about having an ever growing list of painful, incurable autoimmune diseases. That being said, apparently (or so I hear on a daily basis)
- staying positive is important (life’s dandy, how could I not?)
- exercise is crucial (especially if you want to set off a flare or two or three!)
- push yourself but don’t exceed your limits (uh and I know my limits how?)
I swear if one more physically fit person tells me the best medicine for Arthritis and Fibromyalgia is going to the gym I will….well, I’ll probably fake a smile while thanking them for their advice. Like I always do.
Anyway, after my latest visit to the Rheumatologist I realized it was time to finally accept that I do have Arthritis and Fibromyalgia.
Acceptance was the first hurdle. Now I’m going to focus on…
- Staying upright as much as I can
- Keep moving for as long as you can
- My quality of life
- Increasing my durability
I know I’ll never be the Energizer Bunny® again but I will be the best Me that I can be! After all I am FAB!