Bump!
I’m finally starting to feel a bit more alive (!), though I’m still fairly low on energy. I keep making the mistake of thinking I have more energy than I do. I’ll spend a couple hours curled up watching tv or reading, and start to feel pretty good. Then I get over-ambitious and decide I have enough energy to go grocery shopping etc. and as soon as I’m halfway there I realize that I was only feeling better because I was resting. Then I get all cranky and headachey.
So today I’m just going to stay put! I have a movie to watch and I’m in the middle of a great book. I also have to write some poems, but hopefully that won’t be too much. Sometimes fibro can work to my advantage by providing me a totally legitimate reason to spend the whole day curled up with a book :)
On another note, the other day I hurt myself twice by colliding with doors. One time I opened the freezer door into my foot, and the other time I just didn’t see the side of the door in front of me and just walked right into it! Ouch. The reactions I got when I posted about it on facebook reminded me that while I may be used to constantly walking into things, it is not such a regular occurrence for other people.
I know everyone bumps into things, and some people are overly clumsy, but with fibromyalgia it happens on a regular basis – especially if I am flaring. Others with this illness have agreed with my realization that fibromyalgia can cause disturbances in balance and spacial awareness. Headaches and sleep deprivation lead to impaired mental clarity, which increases these difficulties.
As with almost all symptoms of fibro, balance and spacial awareness aren’t always a huge problem, but when I am not feeling great, or even just at the end of a long, tiring day, I spend a lot of time nursing bruises. What makes these sorts of incidents even less fun is the fact that they hurt so much! People with fibromyalgia feel increased pain when pressure is applied. So whacking my hand on a counter (etc.) hurts a lot, because it is a quick and intense transfer of pressure.
While this tendency sounds awful, and often is, I find that I mostly take it in stride now. It is probably the thing that most often leads me to swearing loudly, but it doesn’t really surprise me anymore. As with anyone though, if you injure yourself dramatically enough, you are going to feel it for awhile after.
So anyone with fibro who feels like a klutz – know that it is not just you! Though so far today I haven’t walked or bumped into anything!
I’m wishing you a collision-free day :)
