Negative Events Make Fibromyalgia Worse (But So Do Positive Ones)
When you have fibromyalgia (FMS), it doesn't take long to learn that negative events (i.e., stressful incidents, confrontations) make you feel a lot worse. But have you also connected happy events to a downturn in your health?
A new study shows that positive events as well as negative ones can get our symptoms revved up for a couple of days. I believe it - I just had a really low stress Thanksgiving and thoroughly enjoyed the day, but the Friday and Saturday afterward ... well, let's just say I wasn't out shopping the sales. In fact, I don't think I even left the house. I don't remember for sure. It's lost in the fog.
This study doesn't go into why these events have this impact on us. (And we're not alone - people with rheumatoid arthritis get it, too.) My speculation is that it's all in the physiology of having fun. Emotions, endorphins, higher energy output ... it takes a physical toll. Throw in too much sugar and maybe a dash of alcohol, it's a perfect recipe for a good old fashioned holiday crash.
The sad thing about this is that we need those good times! Who wants to spend their lives avoiding fun and happiness? Fortunately, while our illness may not be under our control, how we live with it is. I already limit what I do for fun, opting to have friends over (who don't care if my house is clean) or watch a movie at home instead of going out to noisy, crowded places. I refuse to ban fun and excitement. They're what gives me the will to keep going through the really bad times, and if I have to have a couple of not-so-great days because of it, I'm willing to pay that price.
However, I'll think a little more about planning for fun events, taking time to rest and recuperate. So if I disappear for a few days, you'll know I must have done something really exciting!
Do you crash after good things happen like you do after bad ones? How do you cope with, plan for, or prepare for it? Let us know, here or in About.com's Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome community forum (under Newsletter & Blog topics).
Suggested Reading:
Photo © Stockbyte/Getty Images
Comments
I don’t think that we should avoid the fun times. It’s just that we have to plan for some extra time off afterward. If I travel home to visit, I usually plan to come back a day early so I have a full day to rest when I get back. And I usually arrange with family to not do anything the day after I travel there, just have a quiet day. Otherwise, I can’t do anything else while I’m there.
Luckily, my family is very understanding of my condition and willing to work with me on making plans around my needs.
I forgot to add: I usually arrange not to travel on the peak travel days. For Thanksgiving, I’ll fly on Tuesday or Thursday, and return home on Saturday when the flights are a bit less chaotic. If I have the vacation time built up, I’ll travel on the Sunday before and back on the Monday after. I find the crowds on peak travel days impact me quite highly. There’s just so much more stress to the travel.
I’ve had two wonderful days–watched my girlfriend’s store for her, went on a two-hour round trip to pick up my son on leave from Iraq for Christmas, and went to a great Christmas party and laughed my sides sore! This morning I went with my daughter to pick out her wedding dress. You guessed it, crash deluxe this afternoon. There was no way I’d trade a minute of it. I’m still out of it, but, it was great!
I find that as the CFS pile up, I have become worried about good times and bad ones. I anticipate how I’ll feel afterward and it makes me approach things with anxiety already in place. Christmas is especially hard because all the fun stuff comes in a two or three week period. Because my family does not do much of anything any more, I must go to the social events or I’ll have no Christmas at all. Then people get upset because I did one event and am too sick to do the next. They are disappointed because they want me there, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am ill. So it’s all a tangle.
I’ve also expeerienced this. I went to the county fair this summer, had a wonderful time. But, paid for it for the next 3 days. I try to incorporate down time after fun events I know will be stressful on me. Even if it is fun stress.
The events in my life that I can’t control, and create bad stress are the ones harder to deal with. I may ot have the down time to recover. Unfortunately, my life is full of unplained stress.
I refuse to give up my fun. I know I will pay for it and accept that. I need my fun times.
Stress of any sort is not well tolerated by me. My fibromyalgia is made worse by my residual effects from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Those effects are bad under any kind of strain, good or bad, because the axons of my nerves are greatly damaged.
Apparently the body puts out the same kinds of chemicals to deal with stress, good or bad, the consequence for me being a heightened pain. I cope with the problem by avoiding as much as possible any stress. Occasionaly I do allow myself to be exposed to good stress, after which I usually have to take two days of time in bed to recover.
This may all sound as though I have a dull and unhappy life, but that is not so. I have some family and some friends with whom I’ve bonded and I choose to tolerate enjoying them regardless of the time I then must take away from the world outside my home or even on the telephone. I’ve lived 76 years and I have a lifetime of delicious memories to keep me happy.
I’ve never used a leave a comment section before. Don’t know what to put in URL box so not sure if this will get posted.
Many years ago during a trial separation from my husband a friend (PhD psychologist) told me everything in life has trade-offs. Each of us must consider these and then make our own decision.
A couple of years before my CFIDS dx my allergist/immunologist told me ‘If you enjoy doing yard work continue to do it but plan ahead to minimize after effects and DO know they will occur so factor in recovery time”
When I was first dx’d (while going through an awfullizing stage) I though of this ds as trying to force me onto a “straight and narrow”
pathway. I determined at that time I would be in control of which pathway I traveled.
Yes, the good times can knock me down but I have a soft landing plan in place and do enjoy
the fun when able. Like someone above said, it’s the unexpected/unplanned/out of my control bad times that hit my spirit the hardest. The forced isolation (I too am usually too tired even for phone conservation), the lack of energy to fix nutritious food–if I have energy to get out of bed &/or to chew, if no soft/liquid food in house. (Do try to always have something on hand but best laid plans etc.)