It's amazing the number of times that I run across a book on my Kindle that downloaded years ago only to finally read it and think "Wow I'm glad I waited!" It's not that the book wasn't amazing but that what I learned from the book was something I needed when I finally read it. I likely wouldn't … [Read more...]
Fibromyalgia and facial expressions
When I took a speech class I had points deducted several times for not showing enough emotion in my face, or not being animated enough. I've seen it in others with Fibromyalgia as well, I think we learn to hide how we feel so well that it becomes difficult to express emotions of any kind … [Read more...]
The Stigma of Mental Illness – #StoptheStigma
The Stigma of Mental Illness Last fall (2014) I took Experimental Psychology and one of the projects we worked on was related to mental illness stigma. I've wanted to share a part of the paper I wrote for that and thought that since May is Mental Illness Awareness Month now would be ideal. Before … [Read more...]
Fibromyalgia and Personality
Fibromyalgia and Personality How many times have you heard that Fibromyalgia is associated with Type A personality? I know I hear it all the time. I wondered if there was actually any research to confirm a personality relationship to Fibromyalgia or even chronic pain. I’ve also wondered more and … [Read more...]
Fighting the Twins: Fibromyalgia and Depression
Depression is probably the most evil thing to come with chronic pain, but for many of us depression is something we were fighting long before the chronic pain took hold. I mostly dealt with anxiety prior to chronic illness. Depression showed up occasionally, but it wasn't the type of thing that … [Read more...]
Controlling Negative Thoughts: Why I Chose to Seek Help
After letting the chronic pain and related issues drag me down the last three months I decided I finally had enough and had to do something. I'd reached a point where I didn't have the answer and couldn't quite get a handle on what I needed to do on my own. I needed help controlling my negative … [Read more...]
What’s Your Mantra? – My MantraBand Review
A couple of weeks ago I posted on twitter about my new My MatraBand bracelets. I love them as they consistently remind me to focus on the thoughts I want to be thinking, rather than the negativity around me. I don't even have to look at them to be reminded, just hearing them jangle together or … [Read more...]
Your Pain Comes From a Futile Search For What You Want
"All your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting it must be found outside you." I just saw this posted on a "friend's" Facebook wall. I put "friend" in quotes because we really were never more than online acquaintances. He's now been removed from my friend's … [Read more...]
Is your Stuff making you feel worse?
Every once in a while I catch the show "Hoarding: Buried Alive"and on a couple of different episodes they've mentioned that the person has Fibromyalgia. It got me thinking about how we try to fill the void that Fibromyalgia puts in our lives. Fibro takes so many things away from us and we have to be … [Read more...]
Learning to Listen to Your Body
We often overlook how important it is to listen to our bodies. Often we don't even understand what it means when we say we should listen to our bodies - and this is because we just don't do it. When you are hungry you feel it, that's an instance of listening to your body that most everyone … [Read more...]
