Life with fibromyalgia is full of highs and lows. Over the last two months, I've felt better than I have in the last two years thanks to: the change of seasons (my muscles and joints prefer warm weather), changes in my diet (my body prefers less grains and sugar), and stopping my prescription medication. Based on how good I have been feeling, I would have thought I was on my way to a period of remission.
Nope.
I was wrong.
Generally, I don't feel stress at work. Not that my job isn't stressful, I just think I've developed a pretty good toolkit for dealing with stress when it's coming. The last couple of weeks have been particularly stressful and the tools in my kit just haven't been enough.
One good way I manage stress is exercise. I love this time of year in our neck of the woods because there are so many great reasons to be outdoors. We've been biking a lot, partly because of the good weather and partly because our one and only car was in the shop for three weeks (another source of stress!). This week, I stepped up my exercise game. Even though mentally and emotionally I know it's the right time to make progress on the exercise front, I don't know if my body was ready.
Yesterday, for the first time in months, I woke up exhausted. I had a few muscle cramps and general discomfort the night before which certainly didn't help my sleep situation. By 9am, I was ready for a nap. Logan and I had been playing "basketball" and I just couldn't hang on. I stretched out across the foot of my bed and tried to watch him play, but couldn't keep myself awake. I asked Ryan to take Logan to the living room so I could sleep for 30 minutes before we left for soccer. Ryan asked me to tell Logan I needed some rest and to ask him to go to the living room but I couldn't. I was experiencing my first real fibro fog. In the past, I have felt slow or forgetful, but this time was unsettling. I could visualize the words I was trying to say and I could visualize a little cartoon hand trying to grab them, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't put the words in the right order. When I tried to ask Logan to leave the room so I could rest, I couldn't form a sentence! I just said words! Luckily, Ryan ended up just taking Logan out of the room. When I woke from my nap, I explained to Ryan what I had experienced and he was surprised. He thought I was just messing with him.
But it was real, and it was scary. I was still exhausted after soccer and a quick trip to Target so I ended up taking another nap which helped me feel better. I wish I could nap twice a day in the office! Unfortunately, the stress at work isn't going to ease up in the coming weeks (in fact, it will undoubtedly get worse) and I'm committed to continuing with my exercise. I'm so afraid this will happen again and this is not the time to sound like a bumbling idiot and collapse with exhaustion! I hope this extreme fibro fog doesn't happen to me again.
