Stress Reduction Options

Coping Strategies

There are some realistic coping strategies that can be helpful in these situations.

1. Identify stressful situations at home and at work that seem to trigger your symptoms then find ways to make those situations less stressful or to make them occur less frequently.
2. Step away from unnecessary activities that cause stress for the time being. You can always revisit them later to decide it they add value to your life, and then include them in your routine when you are feeling better.
3. Set priorities and learn to cope with fatigue, exhaustion or physical limitations. If you can't do an activity because of pain, find a less painful way to do it or try a different activity.
4. Tame those emotions - use simple techniques like EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) or TFT (Thought Field Therapy) if you are unable to deal with severe stress or need help finding ways to cope with stressful situations.
5. Use therapies that work.
   • Learn stress reduction techniques such as biofeedback, visualization, affirmations or breathing and meditation.
   • Bodywork such as massage, chiropractic, acupuncture and trigger point therapy should not be overlooked. Many studies have shown an improvement in symptoms from these therapies.
6. Share - explore a fibromyalgia support group. They are available in your local area and online.

Movement

The American Pain Society recommends moderately intense aerobic exercise at least two or three times a week. They also endorse therapies, such as hypnosis, acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and chiropractic manipulation for pain relief.

Mild daily exercise can be immensely helpful in reducing symptoms of fibromyalgia. A walk followed by some gentle stretching exercises is good. If you are new to exercises, start slowly. Find a local physical therapist of exercise professional to help design a routine for you. Most importantly, do not overexert. If you overexert, it can aggravate your symptoms. Maintain some amount of daily exercise rather than a strenuous workout two or three times a week. Once your body is accustomed to regular exercise, you may find that your symptoms begin to improve.

Rest and Relaxation

Remember, fibromyalgia is typical of overexertion and stress. Make it a point to give your body sufficient rest. Set aside at least eight hours for sleep each night. Relaxation therapies may help reduce the added stress that can trigger fibromyalgia symptoms.

• deep muscle relaxation or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) - can help treat chronic pain and insomnia. Many people also use them to lower stress and anxiety.
• deep breathing exercises - deep breathing is the fastest way to trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, through what some practitioners call the relaxation response. 
• therapeutic massage - manipulate the muscles and soft tissues of the body and helps ease deep muscle pain. It also helps relieve pain of tender points, muscles spasms, and tense muscles.
• myofascial release therapy - which works on a broader range of muscles, can gently stretch, soften, lengthen, and realign the connective tissue to ease discomfort.

Stretching

Stretching exercises not only tone your muscles and promote oxygenation, but it also releases endorphins. Endorphins are hormones that make people happy and they are responsible for relieving body pains - something that fibromyalgia sufferers are often desperate to achieve.

To help relieve morning stiffness, take a hot shower or bath upon awakening to stimulate circulation and loosen up stiff muscles. Recent research suggests that alternating hot and cold water in the shower may help relieve the pain associated with fibromyalgia.

Daily Planning

An Integrated Approach from Treating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia

Creating a daily plan gives you a way to understand your capabilities and limits as it relates to a routine of activities and rest on a day to day basis.

Each morning or, even better the night before, list possible activities for the day. (Be sure to include rest periods as part of your schedule.) Then evaluate your list, asking whether you will be able to do everything on it without intensifying your symptoms.

One way to make the list realistic is by applying the 50% rule:

• Prioritize the items on the list, and then aim to do only the top half. 
• Another approach is to look over the list and identify items that can be postponed, delegated or eliminated. 

When you plan your day and live your plan, your symptoms are likely to come under better control and you may be tempted to do more. This temptation is part of the push and crash cycle that you are trying to break. 

The goal is to have a consistent level of activity that you can sustain over a week or more. When you feel comfortable planning one day at a time, try moving on to planning longer periods.

When you feel comfortable planning one day at a time, try moving on to planning longer periods, such as a week. The challenge here is to estimate what level of activity you can sustain over a period of time without worsening your symptoms.

Consistency in activity level brings control. You can find your sustainable activity level through experimentation. Maybe you can be active for two hours a day, four hours or fourteen. The way to determine your limit is by trying different amounts of activity and noting the results in a health log.

A health log, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes a day to complete, can reveal the connections between what you do and your symptoms. It also helps you hold yourself accountable for your actions, by showing you the effects of your decisions.

While many people with fibromyalgia understand that staying within their limits would bring a higher quality of life, many find it difficult to do. 

The idea of doing a similar amount of activity each day and also taking similar amounts of rest seems unachievable and the rewards --having a more predictable life, a lower level of symptoms and an increased sense of control-- beyond reach. 

If you are in that situation, what can you do to increase your consistency in living within your limits? One way is to find support, such as a buddy system or groups like those offered in the CFIDS and Fibromyalgia Self-Help Program.

The Power of Your Thoughts

Optimal health combines physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, environmental and social components. With chronic illness, it is common for most, if not all of these dimensions to suffer. Your mindset can have a profound influence on each of these areas of wellness and move you toward an overall higher quality of life.

Thoughts can influence your health and moods, raise your vibration, and attract desirable events to unfold in your life. Affirmations are statements of intent that are phrased in the now and used to overwrite habitual or automatic thoughts that could be holding you back. They can heal us, empower and enrich us. Reading, hearing and repeating affirmations will help to reprogram the automatic, semi-conscious mental script that may be running your life.

Affirmuse.com has combined affirmations with binaural beats and beautiful theta
music for 30-minute meditation recordings in several key areas of life. The result is a series of empowering meditations that focus on various areas relevant to every conscious human being.

Affirmuse recordings will help you to:

• dissolve mental and energetic blocks
• release habits that do not serve your highest good
• feel better immediately. Yes, immediately.
• experience more focus, more joy, more lightness of heart
• feel more well-being in all areas: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual
• sense your connection to the universe / spirit
• renew your ability to 'let go' and trust the process of life
• replace negative thoughts and expectations with uplifting automatic thinking leading to positive life experiences
• have more energy for life; better rest; clearer mind
• feel more happiness and a sense in your life that 'everything is fine'

Using affirmations daily can have a profound influence on your ability to manage day-to-day health and wellness. The process is self-empowering and has the potential to create higher levels of well-being in all aspects of the human experience.

We encourage you to explore this series of uplifting recordings at Affirmuse.com and read more about affirmations, binaural beats and theta meditation music.

Electromagnetic Fields

Man-made EMFs have a chaotic energy and frequency that is different than natural EMFs, and can disrupt or distort organic energy patterns. It is this ability to distort human energy patterns that causes artificial EMFs to be hazardous, inflicting damage to human DNA, disrupting ionic conductances, and weakening cellular metabolism.

A study done at Penn State University concluded that EMF exposure produced no effect for the “first few minutes . . . then a cascade of microbial destruction occurs.¹ The effect of this damage has been linked to cancer, memory loss and even sterility.

Even casual use of a cellular phone can damage the DNA in sensitive areas of your brain. A landmark study conducted by Dr. Henry Lai of the University of Washington, showed that, even at low levels, exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields and radio frequencies (EMF/RF) caused DNA damage to brain cells of rats, resulting in loss of short and long-term memory and slower learning.

The Neutralizer is effective against harmful EMF/RF radiation with any style of cellular phone or other electronic device, including common house appliances:

• Any antenna style
• Any brand or model
• Digital, analog or dual mode phones
• New models as well as older styles
• Computer monitor and/or tower
• Microwave oven
• Cordless telephone
• Television

Aulterra Enhance, the active substance in The Neutralizer, is a proprietary organic compound composed of natural earth elements which neutralizes the effect of man-made EMF exposure on human DNA.

References:

1. Penn State University, “DNA and the Microwave Effect”, January 20, 2001