Last Updated on September 8, 2024 by melissanreynolds
I’ve had chronic symptoms for most of my life. In the past 12 years I’ve gone from moderate to mild fibromyalgia – through a lot of hard work. Here’s the six free ways to treat fibromyalgia and ME/CFS that I wish I could go back and tell myself.
If I could go back in time and tell my freshly diagnosed self anything, it would have to be done in tight confines. I had little wiggle room, minimal budget and no available support.
In this Evidence-Based, Simple and Effective Treatments series I want to share the things that help me the most in my journey, that are backed up by a lot of my research and are relatively simple or low cost to try. And you don’t need to do them “for fibromyalgia” you can simply do them “for wellbeing” – you as a human with a body.
What are the 6 free ways to treat fibromyalgia and ME/CFS?
1. Start doing Yoga Nidra guided meditation aka real and profound rest to support the terrible sleep
I lived in a haze of exhaustion with the worst quality of sleep. I was up more than I was down. Waking worse than when I went to sleep. With no reprieve.
I’d tell myself to do a short practice right after work, a full practice at bedtime, and a short practice first thing. No kidding. Things were bad for me and my nervous system needed it.
How this translates for you? Start adding yoga Nidra guided meditation wherever you can. If yoga Nidra doesn’t resonate for you, try body scan meditation. Or restorative yoga. But you need real rest.
Grab my FREE Yoga Nidra download here.
2. Say no to everything non essential (start pacing)
I didn’t start pacing until I had no choice. My body was done. It would have been cool to avoid that.
Even if you can’t reduce your work hours yet, cut all else down. I couldn’t afford to go part-time until several years later. But there’s something to be said for maintaining the income to try things that cost money. Its a cost vs benefit analysis and depends if pain or fatigue is your primary complaint.
Start pacing. I doubt I’d have found any information about pacing in the context of fibromyalgia at that time (because I was insufficiently diagnosed) and because it was pre-2010. But you have more knowledge at your finger tips.
3. Get natural sunlight- 10 minutes before 10am and 10 minutes around sunset.
There’s reems of research on the many ways this supports – our sleep, brain, heart and more. Google it. Try it.
Read more in Wellness habits I prioritise
4. Move – however that looks for you
One thing I did right was keep moving until I couldn’t. However I could have made wiser choices. Stretch on the bed, walk down your street and back, do 5 micro squats, heck you can even start by visualising movement.
The trick of exercise with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia
5. Can the white carbs, sugar, caffeine and processed food.
Hindsight is 20/20, clearly my body was craving fuel. That wasn’t the way. Knowing what I know now I’d go hard on the protein and fat.
6. Do all the sleep recommendations.
Go to bed and get up around the same time. Ensure your room is well set up for sleep (dark, comfortable, quiet). Try to manage pain at bedtime. Try magnesium. This will set you up for the third bonus tip.
Sleeping as a 20 year insomniac
Bonus
What if I could tell myself to do some things that cost money?
Find a gentle chiropractor who understands the nervous system – I’m not sure if they existed then. But a good tip for you. This is my journey with chiropractic.
Ask the doctor to test for nutritional deficiencies and supplement for these. I actually had iron levels at the bottom of a very large range and they didn’t tell me for many years, so read the results yourself and do some research. That would have really helped me.
Then beg the doctor for help with sleep. Show them how bad it is and everything you’ve tried.
Low dose Naltrexone was not a thing earlier in my journey, but its a thing now, so please research it.
Learn more about Low dose Naltrexone here.
So these are the free ways to treat fibromyalgia and ME/CFS I’d tell myself if I could go back and help my poor, exhausted, pain-riddled, unsupported self at the beginning of my journey. What would you tell yourself?
