One of the most frustrating components to the illness is the condition of Fibro Fog.  Fibrofog is a term given to a variety of cognitive problems that many fibromyalgia sufferers face from time to time.  Fibrofog encompasses memory loss, difficulties using language, and difficulties with learning.  These symptoms tend to descend in a haze or "fog," around the sufferer.  Fibrofogs can occur at any time and can vary in intensity when they do occur.  Fibrofogs tend to be at their most severe during flare ups. Fibrofog affects about both women and men who have fibromyalgia pain, though it tends to hit women more often.  Women between the ages of 30 and 50 are most likely to be affected by fibrofog.  Episodes of fibrofog typically last only a few days, though sometimes severe fibrofog can last for weeks or even months.

Fibro Fog Symptoms Include:

* short term memory loss
* difficulty remembering where you put things
* difficulty remembering plans
* difficulty with language, including trouble holding conversations
* difficulty finding the "right" word to use in conversation
* trouble remembering simple numbers
* transposing letters and numbers
* trouble concentrating and focusing
* trouble retaining new information

Anyway you can ease up major brain functioning during this time can be an added blessing to ward off stress. Simple lists to attack daily needs can enable a sense of confidence when the day is through.  Do be aware of how much you can physically undertake.  Making lists that are multi-tasked and loaded with a major task load should be avoided or split over several days.

When fibro fog hits, be gentle on yourself.  Don't push these days; wait for the fog to pass.  You can always make up chores on good days when you are feeling better.  Pushing yourself only leads to compound anxiety that fuels flare-ups.

One major tool I've implemented is the use of pill boxes.  No more worries if I've remembered to take that pill or supplement.  And there is nothing more that heightens anxiety than wondering if you took an extra pill, or forgot to take one.  I have a large pill box for supplements. On Sunday evening I can easily set out my vitamin supplements for a week.  Since I can't take several doses at once, I can easily take them throughout the day until my section remains empty.  Taking several doses prompts slight flare ups which I've learned to avoid.  Any medications go into a smaller pill box.  This allows me to stretch doses so that my body is not overwhelmed.  I have medicine sensitivities so I have fewer pills and don't feel comfortable mixing them with other daily supplements.

​One of the most substantial benefits you can add to your daily regimen is to increase your day to day intake of water.  Fresh, filtered water expunged of impurities can make a remarkable difference in your overall health.  I've personally opted off bottled water due to unknown carcinogens in plastic and have adopted a stainless steel water bottle to house my drink.  

How does drinking considerable amount of water become a healthy source of Fibromyalgia Nutrition?  The body functions properly when it is replenished with sufficient  water and nutrition, this has been noted in fibromyalgia patients especially.  Every day you  lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel  movements.  Optimum re-hydration with water is  absolutely necessary for proper fibromyalgia nutrition. Water is pure liquid refreshment and accounts  for a large percentage of what makes each of us “human”. The average 150  lb. adult body contains 40 -50 quarts of water.  Almost 2/3rds of our  body weight is “water weight”.  Our blood is 83% water, muscles 75%, the  brain  74%, and bone is 22%.

So how much water should you be drinking each day?  Take your body weight and divide by two.  That is how many ounces of water you need daily to adequately flush your system, digest and  absorb vitamins and nutrients, and detoxify your liver and kidneys.

Increase water intake and notice the following benefits:

* Improve your energy

*Increase your mental and physical performance

*Remove toxins and waste products

*Keep skin healthy and glowing

*Help you lose weight

*Reduce headaches and dizziness

*Allow for proper digestion

*Help to keep you more alkaline

I came along something again to share quite by accident.  I was loading an app on my phone to upgrade when something caught my eye "Tapping Solution".  It was green icon which seemed to speak my colors lately of serenity and peace.  "What the heck?" I asked myself and downloaded it.  It couldn't hurt!

I don't know about you, but most days my nerves are haywire.  Oh, and it doesn't take much to turn on the switch.  From the moment my feet hit the floor upon rising from my bed that circuit is alive in 30 minutes, thoughts traveling the rate of the speed of light.  You'd think that highway would get jammed and bump a few off on the nearby exits.  Not a chance!  Every little thing that is viewed produces mounds of unwanted needs and expectations. 

So, I was well versed on how anxiety produces more pain.  And pain is a facet of life these days.  The trick is to reduce that steady amount of pain.  Doesn't it make sense if we can rewire, or coat those existing wires with a little more insulation, they don't get frazzled?  This is where my talents falter.  I have never been able to reduce that initial anxiety I feel that revs me up all day long.   

But this new technique promised a complete rewiring.  And all you had to do is tap away.  

I tried the tapping.  I felt relief.  So, of course, I needed more information!  Let me give you a bit of the story:

​Tapping, also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), is a powerful holistic healing technique that has been proven to effectively resolve a range of issues, including stress, anxiety, phobias, emotional disorders, chronic pain, addiction, weight control, and limiting beliefs, just to name a few. 

Tapping therapy is based on the combined principles of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology. Tapping with the fingertips on specific meridian endpoints of the body, while focusing on negative emotions or physical sensations, helps to calm the nervous system, rewire the brain to respond in healthier ways, and restore the body’s balance of energy.

Tapping makes full use of the mind-body connection, acknowledging and integrating the concepts that physical pain, disease, and mental well being are intricately connected to our emotional states. 

The body is equipped with an energy system that travels along pathways known as meridians. Tapping on these meridian endpoints helps to stimulate this system, and when verbally or mentally addressing the root causes of distress, the areas of blocked energy are able to release and flow naturally. 

The basic Tapping technique requires you to focus on the negative emotion at hand - a fear, a worry, a bad memory, an unresolved problem, or anything that’s bothering you. While maintaining your mental focus on this issue, you use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times on each of the 9 specific meridian points of the body. 

Tapping on these meridian points in sequence while concentrating on the negative emotions engages both the brain’s limbic system and the body’s energy system, encouraging a sense of safety and resolution. And as the scientific field of epigenetics is proving, when you change your internal environment - your emotions and beliefs - external changes in your mental & physical health will follow. 

In some ways, Tapping is similar to acupuncture. Like Tapping, acupuncture achieves healing through stimulating the body’s meridians and energy flow. However, unlike Tapping, acupuncture involves needles! “No needles” is definitely one of the advantages of Tapping! 

Tapping is simple and painless. It can be learned by anyone, and you can apply it to yourself whenever you want, wherever you are. It can be used with a specific emotional intent towards your own unique life challenges and experiences. Most importantly, Tapping gives you the power to heal yourself, putting control over your destiny back into your own hands.

​It happened again. The season crept up on me before I could hide. Yes, I’m a holiday avoider. I wasn’t always. When I was young and energetic, I looked forward to the excitement, the tree, the gifts, the food, and particularly the music that accompanies the season. I am fortunate to have cherished memories of all those things. But times change, and so have I.

As a young mother, I bought into the fairy tale that the perfect “Hallmark” Christmas was not only possible but that it was obligatory. It was up to me alone to create it in my home. Each year I strive to outdo the last — cooking more, decorating more, and spending more, but enjoying it less. And each year I was disappointed in the results. It was lots of work that no one particularly noticed but me.

Eventually, I figured out that “Hallmark” Christmases only take place in greeting cards and on television. Nowhere else is this perfection seen, certainly not in my less than perfect home with my less than perfect family, and especially not with my less than perfect health. At about the same time that I began to question all my efforts, my fibromyalgia said, “Enough!”

Surprisingly, I’m perfectly fine with the outcome. I have realized I can do a whole lot less (translation: barely anything) and still enjoy the season. I’ve had my turn at brightening up the world. Now it’s up to someone else to do it. And, of course, they do. Let me assure you that young, healthy people and especially retail merchants will supply all the Christmas anyone can handle — and more.

As for me, these days I manage to do something special for my grandchildren — usually from home, thanks to the internet. I hang a fresh wreath on my front door. (The smell of fresh pine is one item I refuse to do without.) I buy Christmas goodies at the bakery and an already-cooked turkey with the trimmings from the local grocer. The cards and letters I once sent have become emails.

I enjoy a seasonal visit with my family who live in another city, but never on the holiday itself. I have memories of my one and only Christmas Eve airplane journey that was scheduled to take five hours door to door. Instead, due to weather in another part of the country, it took 13 hours in crowded airports to reach my destination. Unwilling to risk a similar situation, I make my visits about a week before or after the actual holiday. I still get to see their tree, perhaps a Christmas pageant, and share in their excitement. But then I get to go home to the familiar routine so necessary in preventing fibromyalgia flares.
​
Unfortunately, fibromyalgia doesn’t take a holiday vacation. So, rather than try to pretend it doesn’t exist, I’ve learned to do only what I can comfortably do. This is just one more instance where less is more. By Christine Lynch

​I recently came across Mark J. Pellegrino, MD, and was completely fascinated by the concept of fibronomics. Fibronomics is an interesting term related to how we move our body when we have fibromyalgia. It’s like ergonomics with a FM twist. Pellegrino, who coined the term, has had FM since childhood.

Here are some of Pellegrino’s best fibronomics tips:

1. When changing a lightbulb, hold up your elbow with your opposite hand to give it support, while standing on a stool or ladder to get closer to the lightbulb. This example made so much sense to me. I never would have thought of that.

2. For driving a prolonged distance, switch your hands between the 10:00 and 2:00 position, and the 4:00 and 8:00 positions. This technique helps those of us with FM avoid getting too stiff while driving.

3. When you’re washing dishes, put a foot on a stool or open the door to the cabinet underneath, and rest your foot on the shelf. It will take some stress off your back. It’s also helpful to use a dish scrubber with a long handle so you don’t have to bend over so much.

4. When applying makeup, set a magnifying mirror on a table. That way you don’t have to bend over a sink to get close enough to the mirror, or tip your head back while applying makeup. Personally, I just use lipstick. It’s been a long time since I wore any makeup.

Pellegrino’s four rules of fibronomics are as follows:
 
Arms stay home.

Unload the back. 

Support always welcome. 

Be naturally shifty

How does that look on a practical basis in our daily lives?

Whatever job or chore you’re doing, keep your arms below your shoulders, elbows touching your side. One way to do this while cleaning your bathtub would be to use a mop to wash the tub and surrounding tile, rinse and you’re done. Make use of stools and/or step ladders when you can to keep your arms at home.

When sitting, use afoot rest to take pressure off your back. You can also alternate crossing your legs. Just keep shifting your position.

With dusting you can use a long-handled dusting tool. I have one with an adjustable handle that makes dusting so much easier! For cleaning ceiling fans, you could stand on a stepladder and use a hair dryer to blow off the dust.

If you spill something on the floor, rather than bending over to wipe it up, use a towel and your foot to wipe up the mess.

I have an issue with bending over my washer to get the clothes out to put them in the dryer. I use an assisted grabber device to help with that, so I don’t hurt my back or aggravate my shoulder/arm pain.

Using a step stool to get at things in upper cupboards is something I should do more frequently. Store in such places only things you don’t need to use often. For heavy lifting, I get my husband to help. I also use my grabber tool to reach things I’m not worried about dropping or breaking.

Moving and shifting our position and muscles regularly make a difference as well. I set an alarm to go off every 45 minutes, and I stop what I’m doing — even when it’s just laying in bed — and walk around and do some gentle stretching. It keeps my muscles from tensing so much, and helps with the pain.

Pellegrino’s book, Fibromyalgia: Up Close and Personal covers this topic and more. He has written at least 10 books on the subject. - Fibromyalgia News Today

Being a mother can definitely be a very joyous experience, but it can also be difficult if you have to deal with fibromyalgia while simultaneously raising your children.

Is it possible for you to raise your kids while also trying to cope with your fibromyalgia?  The answer is yes, and we’ll go over some of the ways that any mother with fibromyalgia will be able to balance her chronic pain with her responsibilities as a parent.

Energy

The most challenging aspect of being a mother and living with fibromyalgia is that you’ll find it difficult to get the energy to handle both. You should be able to keep informing your family of how you feel so that they don’t expect too much or too little from you on any particular day.

If you’re feeling more energized today, let them know and maybe you as a family can do something fun.  If you’ve never felt in so much pain before, lay down on the couch.

​Spending Time with Your Kids

You should take your kids out whenever you feel great. But should you take them out when you feel bad and are trying to get through another lousy day?  A good way to cope with this is to run on errands only for essentials when you don’t feel well, and to take your children out to the park when you do feel well so that you’re good days aren’t spent on getting things such as groceries.

In the event that your kids are dying to go out when you aren’t feeling well, you may have to alternative things to do, such as giving them an art project, a toy or a game of some kind.  There’s nothing wrong in pushing things off when you feel bad, but remember not to make any promises that you can’t keep to your kids.

​Multi-Tasking

In our culture today, multi-tasking seems to have been accepted as a part of daily life. Mothers especially have to learn to multi-task.  Unfortunately, the more you multitask, the slower things will get done and the less organized you will be.  You’ll become significantly less stressed out if you take things one step at a time.
This means taking breaks when you need them and focusing on getting one task done.  Once that task is done, you can move on to the next.  Yes, this is a challenge especially if you’re trying to juggle around a bundle of different responsibilities, and it’s even more of a challenge if you have children to care for.   You have to learn to live without multitasking.  But is this possible?

If your kids are old enough, you can give them certain chores. Not only does this free up time for you to focus on one task at a time and get the stress out, it teaches your kids responsibilities.  Right now, all you may be focusing on is raising your kids, getting them fed properly, and work at your job.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but you must try to get as much of the stress out as possible.

Additional Tips
Here are some additional tips that you can go over for trying to balance your fibromyalgia symptoms with motherhood.

​1- The first tip is to get plenty of exercise. Yes, it is true that people with fibromyalgia do find difficulty in getting sufficient exercise due to the pain, but exercising is still a great way to energize your body and get your muscles to heal themselves.  A major reason why you are in so much pain is due to your muscles, so exercising stimulates them.  You also don’t need to put a lot of time into exercising each day.  Twenty to thirty minutes of exercise per day will drastically improve your strength.
2- You should also a void smoking. This is because nicotine is bad to the muscles by decreasing blood flow to them, which in turn lowers the amount of oxygen your muscles receive and increases the pain that you feel.
3- If you haven’t looked into fibronomics, you probably should now. Fibronomics is not only useful for mothers, it is for mothers to be as well.  Fibronomics is manipulating your body in order to minimize the pain as much as possible and result in being able to complete tasks more efficiently.  There’s so much information related to fibronomics that we can’t go into all of it now, but it’s still something worth looking into.
4- Remember to get as much rest as you can. Fatigue is a common symptom of fibromyalgia, so getting the sleep at night that you need can be tough.  Nonetheless, being rested will reduce your chances of developing illness and stress, and thus allow you to cope with your fibromyalgia better while raising your children.  Another way to get plenty of stress is to schedule some time each day to your personal hobbies, such as listening to music or reading a book.
5- The last thing we’ll go over is coping with fibromyalgia while in a pregnancy.  Most pregnant patients with fibromyalgia report feeling more pain towards the pregnancy’s end.  This is because each factor that can cause pain all join together at that time.  It will be very difficult for a mother-to-be to be able to get comfortable at this point.

In order to get as comfortable as possible, you can participate in a physical therapy program that will provide heat and massages to your lower back.  An alternative would be to get trigger point injections, but you should carefully review this with your fibromyalgia doctor to make sure that it will have no negative effect on your pregnancy.
​
While suffering from fibromyalgia while late in your pregnancy will be difficult, just know that you’ve almost reached the end.  With help from treatments and physical therapy, hopefully you can get as comfortable as possible. - Fibromyalgia Treating

Are you getting enough vitamin D? According to recent studies, there’s a good chance you aren’t. In 2009, researchers reported levels of vitamin D in the U.S. population had dropped between the years of 1988 and 1994, and then again between 2001 and 2004. Not only had average levels dropped, more than 75 percent of the people studied had inadequate levels of vitamin D in their blood.

Vitamin D deficiency is linked with an increased risk for serious diseases. Reduced levels of the vitamin are associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and autoimmune disorders. Deficiency is also linked with multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, and more. That’s why it’s so import to get enough vitamin D. But identifying vitamin D deficiency can be tricky.
Our bodies don’t make vitamin D, so we have to get it from our environment. The primary source of vitamin D is the sun, but we can also get it from some foods. Lifestyle, race, age, and other factors can put you at risk for vitamin D deficiency

The truth is that it’s extremely difficult to tell whether you have a vitamin D deficiency. The only way to be absolutely sure is to take a blood test. Most people with a vitamin D deficiency won’t be aware of it. It doesn’t usually produce noticeable symptoms. However, symptoms are possible. If you are vitamin D deficient, you may experience:

• muscle/joint pain and weakness
• bone pain
• tiredness or fatigue
• depression

​Your body is designed to get the vitamin D it needs by producing it when your bare skin is exposed to sunlight. The part of the sun’s rays that is important is ultraviolet B (UVB). This is the most natural way to get vitamin D.

​Large amounts of vitamin D3 are made in your skin when you expose all of your body to summer sun. This happens very quickly; around half the time it takes for your skin to turn pink and begin to burn. This could be just 15 minutes for a very fair skinned person, yet a couple of hours or more for a dark skinned person.
You don’t need to tan or to burn your skin in order to get the vitamin D you need. Exposing your skin for a short time will make all the vitamin D your body can produce in one day. In fact, your body can produce 10,000 to 25,000 IU of vitamin D in just a little under the time it takes for your skin to turn pink. You make the most vitamin D when you expose a large area of your skin, such as your back, rather than a small area such as your face or arms.

The assumption that vitamin D supplements will protect you against diseases associated with low vitamin D levels is incorrect, according to Australian researchers. The report found that vitamin D supplements are immunosuppressive and may actually make diseases worse. 

Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor (VDR) influences the expression of over 1,000 genes, including those associated with diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis. According to the new study, supplemental vitamin D actually blocks VDR activation, which is the opposite effect to that of sunshine. Instead of positively impacting gene expression, vitamin D supplements appear to suppress your immune system.

Vitamin D has a remarkable role to play in your health, influencing nearly 3,000 of your 25,000 genes, and playing a critical role in your immune response. Vitamin D could rightly be described as a “miracle nutrient” for your immune system, as it enables your body to produce well over 200 antimicrobial peptides, which are indispensable in fighting off a wide range of infections.
​

Overloaded toxicity could be a major contributor to fibromyalgia.  We store everything in plastic.  Plastic containers from fast food restaurants are harvested and reused to keep our leftovers organized.  Yet, are you aware of the chemicals made to produce these items?  And, sadly, we reheat our leftovers in the microwave allowing the basic components of plastic to leach into our food.  It's no wonder there are so many individuals being stricken with auto immune disorders. We intentionally sell our systems short!

Toxins, Endocrine Disruptors And Carcinogens That Migrate From The Molecules Of  Different Plastic Containers To Their Contents

PET: Polyethylene Terephthalate 
Used for: Soda Bottles, Water Bottles, Peanut Butter Jars, Cooking Oil 
  BottlesWhat migrates from plastic container to contents: Acetaldehyde 

HDPE: High-Density Polyethylene 
Used for: Milk Jugs, Detergent bottles, Plastic Bags, Yogurt Cups
What migrates from plastic container to contents: Antioxidants, BHT, 
Chimassorb 81, Irganox PS 800, Irganix 1076, Irganox 1010 

PVC: Polyvinyl Chloride 
Used for: Water Bottles, Salad Dressing Bottles, Detergent Bottles, Cooking 
Oil Bottles, Shampoo Bottles, Mouth Wash Bottles, Meat Wrap, Also: Babies’ 
Teething Rings, Pacifiers, Nipples and Toys (Barbie for example). 
What migrates from plastic container to contents: Plasticizers (Lead, 
Cadmium, Mercury, Phthalates and the carcinogen, Diethyl Hexyphosphate) 

LDPE: Low-Density Polyethylene 
Used for: Produce Bags, Food Storage Containers 
What migrates from plastic container to contents: Antioxidants, BHT, 
Chimassorb 81, Irganox PS 800, Irganix 1076, Irganox 1010 

PP: Polypropylene 
Used for: Bottle Caps, Drinking Straws 
What migrates from plastic container to contents: BHT, Chimassorb 81, Irganox 
PS 800, Irganix 1076, Irganox 1010 

PS: Polystyrene 
Used for: Meat Trays, Foam Take-Out Food Containers & Cups (not in 
Berkeley!), Foam Packing Materials 
What migrates from plastic container to contents: Styrene (traces found in 
nearly everyone’s body fat) 

Other 
Used for: Laminated Containers requiring properties of more than one type of resin. 
What migrates from plastic container to contents: Depends on plastics used. 

If you must store in plastic containers, by all means ensure the food you tote to and fro is contained in glass when you are out.  Pyrex glass containers are an excellent source to transport your food and ensure no compounds are leached into your fare.  Simply remove cap, microwave, and enjoy!  No health hazards in these containers.  

​One of the biggest challenges women face is learning how to care for themselves while caring for others. It requires a delicate balance between what often feels like polar opposites. I’ve spent a lifetime studying self-care. And I’ve come to the conclusion that good self-care is the single most important aspect of our health, period.

The programming of self-sacrifice leads ultimately to health-destroying sentiments, such as guilt, resentment, anger, and other emotions linked to high levels of stress hormones. Self-sacrifice feels wrong to us on a soul level—our spirit gravitates naturally to joy and happiness.

That’s why self-sacrifice ultimately makes us sick and keeps us stuck in dead-end situations—and why its opposite, self-care, is so essential to living a happy, healthy life. How well we care for ourselves as adult women is determined in part by how well our mothers cared for us (and themselves). Ultimately, however, it’s our responsibility to learn how to optimally care for ourselves regardless of what happened (or didn’t) with our mothers. We refine this process throughout our entire lives.

The key is knowing in your heart that the best way you can care for others is by caring for yourself. I know this requires a paradigm shift for many of you!

Despite what you’ve been brought up to believe, caring for oneself is not an example of a zero sum model (where your gain is someone else’s loss).

Everyone benefits from a woman who knows how to care for herself.

Self-care sustains and enhances the health of all those around you. The flight attendants are right when they say: You have to secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others.

Seven Easy Steps to Better Self-Care

Here’s a simple, up-to-date blueprint for enhancing your health through self-care:

Step 1. Tap into the stream of healing energy regularly.

Your body is connected to a healing stream of energy (also known as chi, prana, light, Source, and God) that you can absorb at will. All you need to do is be aware of it and be open to receive it! This is the basis for the healing power of prayer.

My favorite prayer service is Silent Unity. Silent Unity has volunteers who will pray with you and then pray continuously for 30 days. Tell the volunteer your concerns by phone or email, any hour of the day or night, and they will pray with you.  

Another particularly powerful way to absorb this healing energy is through Divine Love petitions as taught by Robert Fritchie, founder of www.worldserviceinstitute.org. Divine Love is the most powerful energy in the universe. You receive it into your body through your thymus gland, located just below your sternum.

To do a quick Divine Love petition for yourself, sit with arms and legs uncrossed. Now say the following petition out loud:

With my Spirit, and the angels help, I focus Divine Love throughout my system. I ask my Spirit to identify every situation and cause that separates me from the Creator. I release to the Creator all of these situations and causes. I ask that the Creator heal my system according to the Divine will. 

Now, close your mouth, draw in your breath through your nose. Hold it for several seconds. And pulse it out through your nose like you’re blowing your nose. That releases the petition. Throughout the day stay connected to the Divine by saying “I accept Divine Love.”  This practice – which is free to anyone- has been associated with many well-documented physical and emotional healings that conventional medicine cannot explain.

Step 2. Know that you are your own best mother.

Treat yourself like an ideal mother would by talking to yourself in a wonderful, nurturing way and providing for yourself that which you wish you had received from your own mother. For example, say to yourself, “Darling, I see that you’re tired. Why don’t you lie down and take a nice nap. When you get up, we’ll have a nice cup of hot tea” or “I see that you need a break. How about a nice hot bath and a good book.” You get the picture.

Step 3. Do something pleasurable each and every day.

Taking time for pleasure and fun decreases the stress hormones cortisol and adrenalin, which, over time, are responsible for heart disease, cancer, and most chronic diseases such as arthritis and high blood pressure. Plus when you take time for enjoyment, you’ll be able to approach arduous tasks with more energy and a better outlook.

Step 4. Breathe deeply and fully on a regular basis.

Breathing in fully through your nose instantly engages the rest and restore parasympathetic nervous system and helps the body metabolize stress hormones. Put Post-it notes on your phone, your computer, and your bathroom mirror. Write BREATHE in beautiful letters that uplift and remind you to breathe fully.

Step 5. Get support for self-care.

Find a self-care buddy and agree that each of you will hold the other accountable for taking care of herself. Start with my suggestions and add your own ideas. Brag to each other about how well you’re doing and especially how well you are caring for yourself. Plan to call your friend whenever you start to slip into over-care of others.

Step 6. Use the incredible power of no.

When someone asks you to do something you don’t really want to do, say NO! This is especially important if saying “no” makes you feel guilty or unworthy. In most cases this means you’re letting the needs of others overshadow your own. Only you know how much you can handle without over-committing. Over time, you’ll strengthen your “no” muscle and also attract friends who support your need to set healthy boundaries. Remember, saying “no” to someone else usually means saying “yes” to yourself!

Step 7. Don’t wait for permission to start taking care of yourself.

Believe me, no one is going to give it to you, although I know how much you desperately want someone to do so! How well I remember being on call in the hospital watching the nurses give each other breaks. I yearned for one of my colleagues to give me permission to take a break after being up all night. But no one did because the culture of medicine (particularly a surgical specialty) is so macho. I ended up with a huge breast abscess that dissected into my chest wall while I was trying to nurse my first daughter and work full-time. I learned a huge lesson about self-care—and also destroyed my ability to nurse my second child from both breasts!

Taking care of yourself regularly takes courage in our society. Far too many women get sick because it’s the only socially acceptable way to get the self-care they require. I think we can do better, don’t you?

Prepare to be called “selfish” when you start taking better care of yourself. And when someone calls you that, celebrate! (Then call your self-care buddy to brag about it!) After all, taking care of yourself is prevention at the most fundamental level. And it sure beats getting sick. (For those of you who claim that you don’t have time to take care of yourself, think again. Do you really have time to get sick? And will dying prematurely really be the best way to take care of your loved ones?)

Your Body, Your TempleAs you may know by now, you are a Soul. You are not your body. But you do have a body. And it is your job to take care of that body until you leave it. The same way you take care of your house or your car. This is your responsibility—it doesn’t belong to your doctor, your spouse, or your mother. It’s that simple.

Taking care of your body means, first and foremost, having a healthy belief system about what’s possible physically—especially as you move through time. And, you must engage in the physical activities necessary to maintain your physical self.

6 More Ways to Care for Yourself

1. Change your beliefs. Optimal care of your body begins with your beliefs. Every thought you think is accompanied by biochemical signals that move throughout your body. Serotonin, dopamine, and epinephrine are neurotransmitters that affect all areas of your body, and their production is based on what you think and feel. Stressful thoughts filled with anger, fear, or sadness increase stress-hormone levels in your body, which ultimately leads to cellular inflammation—the root cause of osteoporosis, depression, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer. But this isn’t the only way your thoughts affect your health. They can literally determine which genes get expressed! It’s important to know and believe that your body was designed for health, vitality, and well-being for your entire life.

1. Treat yourself like a precious child. Self care is something that our society does not reward us for. In fact, it is often looked down on when someone, especially a woman, takes care of herself. I was reminded of this recently when I was watching my granddaughter, Penelope.   I was cleaning up the living room and realized that she was hungry.  So of course I stopped to take care of her — I would never starve my granddaughter.  Yet, I have certainly done this to myself!  Learning to treat ourselves the way we would a precious child connects us with our Divinity. You can practice this by doing simple things such as using the rest room when you have the urge, or eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full. It also helps to set out a meal for yourself on a plate and actually sit down and enjoy it versus eating on the run while in your car or standing at the kitchen counter.

1. See your body as a temple for your soul. We are beings of light.  Our bodies are the densest, darkest matter.  When you see your body as a temple for your soul and treat it with love, and kindness and respect, you are bringing light into the darkest area.

1. Make gravity work for you. Sitting for more than six hours a day increases your risk of disease including heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. In fact, even if you exercise regularly, prolonged sitting cancels out a lot of the good effects. Standing all day is not the answer. The answer is moving your body through the gravitational field of the earth. Every time you move your body through gravity your body goes through thousands of minute physiologic changes in blood pressure, fluid exchange, hormone secretion, and stresses on bones and joints that help ensure health. So, if you sit at a desk, get up at least six times per hour. But if you can, it’s always best to add in something more such as stretching, knee bends or even squats. And remember, since the soul knows no timeline, it’s never too late to try some activity you have always wanted to do – dance, ride horses, ski, hike – whatever will keep you moving.

1. Take Care of Your Fascia. Fascia is the connective tissue that runs throughout your body. It connects skin to muscle and muscle to bone and every organ in the body. Our fascial network is a secondary nervous system. It can become dense, scarred, and thickened as a result of physical, emotional, or mental stress. Working your fascia regularly through body work, resistance flexibility, yoga, and other exercises can help you release old patterns that are stored there.

1. Feel Your Human Emotions. Being a spiritual being on a human journey requires that we feel human emotions. But, with spiritual practices becoming very popular, so too is the practice of taking a “spiritual bypass” to avoid dealing with painful feelings, unresolved wounds and developmental needs. A spiritual bypass looks something like this: “It’s all good.” “Everything happens for a reason.”  “Spiritual people don’t cry or have negative feelings.” “If you feel sad, you’re not spiritual enough.” While this may seem better than using alcohol or drugs, it has the same effect. Being a human being on a spiritual path requires that you are present in each moment for all of your feelings without letting those feelings define you.  Now, this does not mean that you want to stay in a perpetual state of anger, victimhood, grief or sadness.  These emotions lower your vibration.  It simply means you allow your emotions to surface and embrace them fully without judgment, and then allow full expression of those emotions safely.  That is the only way to deal with them successfully. Your soul actually learns from this process of deep awareness and release. (Every other approach — drugs, alcohol, spiritual bypass — just digs them in deeper.)  - Dr. Christiane Northrup

One of the most substantial benefits you can add to your daily regimen is to increase your day to day intake of water.  Fresh, filtered water expunged of impurities can make a remarkable difference in your overall health.  I've personally opted off bottled water due to unknown carcinogens in plastic and have adopted a stainless steel water bottle to house my drink.  

How does drinking considerable amount of water become a healthy source of Fibromyalgia Nutrition?  The body functions properly when it is replenished with sufficient  water and nutrition, this has been noted in fibromyalgia patients especially.  Every day you  lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel  movements.  Optimum re-hydration with water is  absolutely necessary for proper fibromyalgia nutrition. Water is pure liquid refreshment and accounts  for a large percentage of what makes each of us “human”. The average 150  lb. adult body contains 40 -50 quarts of water.  Almost 2/3rd s of our  body weight is “water weight”.  Our blood is 83% water, muscles 75%, the  brain  74%, and bone is 22%.

So how much water should you be drinking each day?  Take your body weight and divide by two.  That is how many ounces of water you need daily to adequately flush your system, digest and  absorb vitamins and nutrients, and detoxify your liver and kidneys.

Increase water intake and notice the following benefits:

* Improve your energy

*Increase your mental and physical performance

*Remove toxins and waste products

*Keep skin healthy and glowing

*Help you lose weight

*Reduce headaches and dizziness

*Allow for proper digestion

*Help to keep you more alkaline