Feeling Pretty Good

Just wanted to post quickly that I've been sleeping much better lately, and have not been experiencing so much pain as my previous "usual" most days.  I've had twitches and headaches and the odd pains here and there (like what's with this TMJ soreness in the right side today and yesterday?), and still get fatigued somewhat easily, but with some pacing and caution, I seem to be doing okay at the moment.  It's hard to remember to notice the days when I'm not dealing with 17 strange pains or other symptoms, but I do believe that it's important to stop and appreciate the absence of symptoms, whichever ones they may be.

Today, I was reminded of the back pain I would typically experience during any given day when I had a sudden, sharp, muscle spasm today at work.  It made me realize that I'd been working more days, and have been feeling more "human" recently.  By that I mean that I can smile, I can walk at a reasonable pace most of the time, and I can talk to people about various topics without being constantly distracted by various pains and discomfort and my next move to try to relieve it.  As a caution, I took a half-tablet of a muscle relaxant and moved around a little.  It seems to have helped, but I feel it wanting to stage a coup.  My awareness of it lurking there will remind me to continue move around a little more than usual to prevent it from flaring up, hopefully.  I've learned so much from my years of dealing with these random symptoms!

This is reminding me, once again, of a task I've been putting off for a while now: update my WRAP.  My WRAP is my "Wellness Recovery Action Plan" and in it, I have details about how to proceed, when my fibro-fogged brain forgets, when I recognize a trigger for a flare-up, a mild flare-up, a major flare-up, and everything in between.  What has worked for me and what hasn't?  This is my reference for me and anyone in my household who may need help figuring out what to do when things happen to a chronic pain sufferer like myself.  It's good to have one just for yourself, too.  But definitely keep it in sight, or it will escape you in moments of need.  Take it from me.  I have forgotten, plenty of times, what I should do next during times of crisis.

Once I make the updates, I'll be sure to share with you all so you can create your own reference.  Having to update the information feels like a kind of a graduation of sorts.  I had limited experience with Fibromyalgia when I first wrote it, but now that I've kind of been around the block and figured out my body a little better, it's time to improve it with more current information.

Things are busy at work, as always, and life at home is plenty busy as well.  I do, however, feel like I am able to do more around the house lately.  My personal to-do list, however, is not getting much shorter for some reason.  I wonder if part of the reason I'm feeling better is that I'm forcing myself to do less after a long workday.  I may have to test that theory out and see if doing one or two things in the evening is safe for me to do.  My energy limits seem to be a moving target, so this will be an experiment.

I'm going to follow my own advice and do just one thing on my list tonight. Wish me luck!