fibromyalgia
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raetonycass
Posts: 58 Member
Does anyone here suffer from fibromyalgia and trying to lose weight? I really need some support on the weight loss level from someone who can understand physical limitations due to chronic pain.
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Replies
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Howdy!
Although I've not been diagnosed yet (it was/is in my military medical records as "Fibromyalgia?") I know pain...and how!
I went and searched in the "Groups" section of this site and there are a *bunch* of groups for folks dealing with pain. I haven't wandered into them yet, but probably ought to. Search "Fibromyalgia" and you'll get the results.
Anyway, my pain doc is trying to figure out treatments for me...heck, he's still trying to figure out *why* I'm in pain. I get the "joy" of a discogram later this month. (anything dealing with "disco" makes me roll my eyes...I *still* remember how to do the Hustle ~lame chuckle~)
My pain doc suggests, or has in the past, that I get in the pool. Funny/sad thing: I got hurt there too. :sad:
If you need a friend here, you have one and please add me if you'd like.
Keep hanging in there as best you can and be good to you!0 -
Rae...
I was dx'd with fibro 3 or 4 years ago....along with Chronic Fatigue. Ive also had chronic pain for more than 15 years. The reason: being busted up so many times and beaten on a regular basis growing up. Ive got titanium pins, plates and screws as well as some titanium joints from my neck to my ankles. I know pain intimately. All of that makes it very hard to move much less exercise and lose weight.
BUT I AM DETERMINED and will succeed. Ive lost about 40 pounds in the last 45 days and have great hopes of losing even more. Im working out a little each night (15-45 minutes) and am loving it.
PLEASE add me if you'd like support and encouragement...even just someone to talk to0 -
Good to know I am not alone. Fibro is so hard because I certainly don't look or sound sick but I am hurting. People just don't get it. My dr can't give me any reason I have it but he suspects it goes back 20 yrs or more. With the fibro I deal with IBS, depression, fatigue, sleep disorders and of course pain. I dont' think I even remember what a pain free day is like. But again, good to know I am not alone.0
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I have fibromyalgia and have had it for at least 34 yrs. It is just in the last 10 or so yrs that it has gotten worse. I have found that exercise really helps me.. I know that it is hard to push yourself when you hurt so bad, but I have pushed myself and I have been walking since April (either outside or on my treadmill).. I have lost almost 20 lbs since February.. It hasn't been easy and there are days when I don't have the energy to do it, but I do try to exercise at least 5 days a week. I still have pain, but it isn't as bad as before... If you want to be friends, I will do my best to try to encourage you
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I can not imagine what it is like living life with fibromyalgia. I do know several people you struggle with it daily and how they have managed the pain.
Their focus has been on the nutrition part... getting rid of sugar & grains has worked wonders for them both. So what does your diet look like? The result didn't happen over night... it took sometime to rid the system of the impurities.
Once the pain lessened, it was a little easier to start cardio & strength conditioning.
You can get through this!0 -
I can not imagine what it is like living life with fibromyalgia. I do know several people you struggle with it daily and how they have managed the pain.
Their focus has been on the nutrition part... getting rid of sugar & grains has worked wonders for them both. So what does your diet look like? The result didn't happen over night... it took sometime to rid the system of the impurities.
Once the pain lessened, it was a little easier to start cardio & strength conditioning.
You can get through this!
My diet is well, unstructured at best. My life is way too busy for that. I can tell you I don't even eat out once a week, eat maybe a piece of whole grain raisin toast with coffee for breakfast, lunch is something lite when the kids go down for naps. Lately it has been a lot of tuna salad or pbj, dinner is usually of the mexican variety (married to a puerto riccan). Sadly, I consume most of my calories after the kids go to bed and that is junk. Most often cereal. My portion sizes are usually pretty good, one thing I really learned from weight watchers. I also take a handful of meds and suppliments in the morning and at bedtime. Turmeric, Bromelain, Omega 3, B complex, Bee Pollen, multi vit, yukka root plus Welbutrin, Celexa, Metaprolol (hypertension), Naproxin and a sleeping pill I can't remember. I have a gym membership but can only walk or do the eliptical. I max out at a mile walking and 9 min on the eliptical. I also added 50 reps on some ab machine. I don't get there as often as I like. By the time I can go, in hte evening, my body is already shutting down. If I want to go earlier I have to have a babysitter.0 -
Does anyone here suffer from fibromyalgia and trying to lose weight? I really need some support on the weight loss level from someone who can understand physical limitations due to chronic pain.
Hey there. I would love to be friends. Send me a request if you want.
I have been diagnosed with fibro for 9 years now, but had it longer. I also have IBS, migraines, a few different heart problems, renal tubular acidosis, and a host of other things...lol. 28 separate conditions altogether.
I NEED to lose weight to help quite a few of them, and exercise helps my fibro pain somewhat. Strength training is what helps the most, which I have recently started back.
Good luck on your journey.0 -
Hi! I just found this thread through searching for "fibromyalgia". I have had it for well over 25 years. I basically the typical couch potato until about March of this year. August of 2011, I hit 260 and was horrified. I was prediabetic and had high blood pressure, doc was ready to put me on meds. I started off making small lifestyle changes, cutting out sweets, empty calories and junk food. Then, I added tight portion control. I then joined MFP in Feb 2012. Now, I track calories and find it easy to keep within.
As you already know, adding exercise was not as easy. But I am doing it. I work with a health mentor at the Y once a week, doing weight machines, some cardio and floor exercises. I take an aqua aerobics class once a week. I would highly recommend it for anyone with fms. The water adds boyancy and allows me to do way more than I could on land. I do feel achy the next day, but it is not painful. As a matter of fact, I am slowly feeling LESS pain and fatigue. I am now adding a Pilates routine DVD once a week to work on toning too, one more day during the week.
Like I said, I was 260 last August,. I am now 217! Yes, it is slower for us than for those without FMS, but well worth the work.
Please feel free, anyone with FMS, to add me. I may not remember which friend has it, lol....nutrition and execise doesn't do much for fibro-fog.0 -
Ah, the wonderful fibro fog! Seems to be getting the best of me some days. I still try to be as active as I can even though that isn't always easy. KNowing I am not alone certainly helps though as I am sure you know.0
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Ive had fibro and Chronic fatigue for 3 or 4 years now. Ive taken every med out there and none of it helps. NOTHING has contained the ensuing "disability" other than plain old diet and exercise. Ive been busted up over the years more than the average person. Ive had Chronic pain for more than 15 years because of it. Ive taken narcotic pain meds for many many years.
I STILL WORK FULL TIME. I exercise. I clean, I socialize, I shop--granted not to the degree I used to but I refuse to let fibro stop me. I AM NOT FIBRO....it is not WHO I am.
2 months ago I got sick and landed in the hospital for a week. It taught me well. I KNEW then I couldnt let this happen. I could not let illness take over, I couldnt let fibro and CFS win.
Since that hospital stay Ive lost 50 pounds. I work out circuit training every single day. Ive missed TWO days in 4 weeks. I started slow....with 1 lb weights averaging 5 minutes a night. I didnt think Id ever get any better. NOW...I am up to 40 minutes or more every single night using weights from 3 to 10 pounds and I go like a fiend.
My diet is 200% better than it was July 1st. I sleep better than I did then. I was taking mega pain meds (8-10 a day) then....I take less than 3 most days now. I work out every day for at minimum 40 minutes. My complexion is clear, my hair is silky soft and shiny. I dont have the water retention I did. The circulation in my legs and feet have improved 75%. I can move now without mega pain. I dont have "fibro fog" now that my system isnt laden with sugar and starches I didnt need. My diabetic medicine has been reduced by at least half. I personally cant believe the difference in how I feel and how I look.
It hasnt been simple or easy or quick but its already worth it. Fibro sucks.......but combined with weight issues it only gets worse0 -
I'm a fibro sufferer too. The biggest issue I face is that my muscles don't stretch as well as other people. I had a trainer a few years ago and he would have to stretch all my muscles before every session and the very next day they would be as bad as the day before. He said he'd never seen anything like it.
I'm also having ankle splints (think shin splints but in the ankle - OUCH!)
As far as loosing weight goes though, I don't know how much of an effect it's had on me. About 6 years ago I lost 50lbs in about 5 months so I know I can do it.
Somedays dealing with the pain is pretty bad though.0 -
I havent been diagnosed with fibro, but have the symptoms. I would be happy if you wanted to add me as a friend, Im still new here and know it would be nice to have someone understand how I feel. :flowerforyou:0
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I wrote this on your other post but I am writing it here also so if other women want a MFP to encourage them understanding their limitations they can send me a Friend invite. Sorry Guys who send me Friend invites, Thanks for the invitations and I know you also suffer but I have a all gals Friend list, besides you do not want to hear women talk.
I also have Fibro plus Chronic Fatigue,Adrenal Gland Fatigue, Hypoglycemia, and hypothyroid I won't bore you with the other health crisis's. I am having a bad day myself with battling depression over my health. People talk about Fibro flare ups and flare up leaving days later they are exercising and doing Zumba! Or lifting weights, etc. my Fibro Flareups never leave! I do not know what energy is anymore. Food does not give me energy. You write about sleep, when I do sleep it feels like I have not slept. I have insomnia and can stay awake 24 hours straight. Or when I do fall asleep I never get sleepy I just pass out and wake up after 4 hours maybe 6 hrs if I am lucky and cannot go back to sleep no matter how exhausted I am.
My husband calls the Fibro fog "zoning", he can see it on my face the same thing for low blood sugar I just stare off into space and he can see it on my face. The worse of my Fibro is in the spine of my back I keep reading how people exercise even with pain but I do not think it is level 10 pain they are experiencing because I have many days it literally hurts to breath just to stand for 1 minute!
I use to be an active successful Career woman traveling all over the world and now I am a shut in and the only way pain is relieved is laying on my stomach in bed. NO doctor has helped me they do not know how. I have to depend only on decreasing calories to lose weight because I cannot do exercise and I am assuming you cannot either. I learned there is no way to build muscle without exercise and when we lose weight along with the fat, water, comes muscle. Muscle burns fat so the bummer is the more I lose the less muscle I will have to burn fat. This will make losing weight even harder as the lbs decrease.
I also learned today that people like me who have an under active thyroid I was diagnosed about 15 yrs ago, for every 1 lb we struggle to lose the average person loses 5 lbs. I know this is true I am watching my MFP Friends that started out with 20 lb loss and now 25 or 24 lb weight loss for every 1 lb I lose they are losing 5 lbs many of them without exercise but many of my MFP Friends we do the same calories 1200. My metabolism is slower due to lack of inactivity forced on me, and under active thyroid. I was on synthyroid for several years and the Dr. would just increase the dosage as my body became immune to it. I was taking 5 pills and said enough this is only making the problem worse.
You said your pain level is a 7 out of 10 because of meds, I live in Europe and Physicians have been no help to me, all I hear is "Sorry there is no known cause or cure." I refuse to be an experiment for their pills they were only making my health worse, or keeping me feeling drugged with pain medication. I refuse to go to the Medical Doctors anymore doing so only increases my depression. I am going the holistic health route with vitamin supplements, and eating unprocessed foods, staying away from sugar, flour,rice, watching my sodium level keeping it at 1500 since now I also have hypertension and kidneys just do not function the way they use to function. Fibro plus chronic fatigue is like a open door to so many health woes.
If you want a Friend to vent with who understands your health issues send me a Friend invite. The best part about MFP is I do not feel alone anymore in my health battles. I do not get on the pity pot very often but today has been a rough day and I am struggling emotionally and physically only someone who suffers in Chronic pain can understand. I am writing to other Fibro and Chronic pain suffers to let you know you are not alone. I forgot to add I also get the Fibro migraines yesterday I could barely talk and just wanted to be left alone even when company came over. I have to say even though I have dark days of depression they are less now because I have the most loving caring MFP Friends who take the time to encourage me as I take the time to encourage them. I am so grateful for my MFP Friends they know who they are and have prayed for me at the darkest hours, this is a shout out of love and gratitude to them! I love encouraging them and hearing about their victories in the weight loss battle. I am so grateful for MFP, my face to face friends,family cannot understand but strangers coming together to encourage each other does make it easier to continue to fight what use to be a losing battle for me. I
my MFP Friends, and I MFP! 0 -
Hi I am also a fibro sufferer, although only my GP has given me that diagnosis, so far I have not been to see a Rhumatologist. I am also trying hard to lose weight. I have gained 2 stone since going on Pregabalin, I am also 54, so am fighting with weight gain from the menopause. I also have Temperol lobe epilepsy, so am on Tegretol and other weight gain medication for depression and anxiety.
I am desperate to lose weight but find it very hard with the aches and pains I have, have any of you got any tips, I am getting desperate.0 -
my best friend of over 30yrs has it I know for a fact you need to get that diet in order and wthout that its going to be an uphill battle ...if you cant workout as you want to ...that I understand you cant control but you have got to control your portions and food choices....with good food choices you CAN lose weight!...you may not look like some toned magazine queen but you will be healthy over time and thats the goal in the end I believe! good luck0
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I was told by my doctor that he believes I have fibro. He wanted me to go see a specialist and get officially diagnosed. I refused to go, I don't have time for fibro lol. Working a full time job and raising 2 kids keeps me very busy and I try to eat reasonably well (ha ha). I stretch every day. I bought a treadmill, some yoga and exercise videos and use them when I can. It really does help the pain.
Feel free to add me if you'd like 0
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