I’ve been sharing some awareness raising content on my Instagram recently, things I wish people in my life knew and understood. And I thought it would make a helpful post for you to be able to refer to.
The Bucket Analogy
When you have ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia your bucket (energy/abilities) starts the day less full and covered in holes. Regular people’s buckets are full with no holes.
Things that empty your bucket/use energy include digestion, lack of sleep, brain function, pain, managing heat (especially for those who are heat intolerant), stress, illness, activity, other conditions and other people gaslighting/disbelieving us.
Things that help us to fill the bucket with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia include treating other conditions, calming the nervous system, adequate pain management plan, pacing (fatigue management plan), sleep (as best you can). And eliminating personal food intolerances, good hydration and nutrition, gentle movement, support and understanding and pursuing joy.
It’s important to note that while these things help us to be as well as possible with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, they aren’t necessarily going to cure us. I’m working toward my best wellness possible. And finetuning these is the best start I know of.
I’ve been living with symptoms for over 20 years and sharing my journey and research on this blog for 10. My resources exist to help you in your journey.
If this bucket analogy helps you in explaining your condition to others, please feel free to share this post with them.
This is a very simplistic explanation. For more details see the following posts:
