Fibromyalgia insomnia, morning pain, stiffness

Last night, I had bad insomnia again. I had taken a Tramadol and a Benadryl and was still wide awake at 1:30 in the morning as if it was afternoon. I finally ended up taking muscle relaxant too.

An irritating aspect of Fibromyalgia/CFS is that I am sleepy during the day. In the daytime, I'd adore going to bed. Napping? I love it. However, nap or no nap, I now have difficulty getting to sleep.

Some people suffer all their lives with insomnia, but I've only been aggravated by it over the past year I'd say.

I need to work harder, seriously harder, to not consume caffeine, and that includes chocolate.

But another thing I have noticed about myself is a psychological dread of going to sleep. Because, after all...what does sleep bring me but pain when I wake up!

When I wake up, on at least 6 days of the week, I feel disabled. While I used to be a morning person who could just pop right out of bed, now I have to carefully raise myself up into a sitting position, feeling a bit fuzzy headed and dazed.

After that, I shuffle to the bathroom like I'm 90-years-old. My ankles and feet are pretty painful. I'll be stiff and achy everywhere, but the muscles of my shoulders and neck will be quite tight, sore, and I van definitely locate knots. I work on gently massaging these as I can in a circular motion.

It's during "my bidness' time that I kind of take stock of my mental state about my pain and various discomforts. I can bitch to myself that "this is HELL," but most of the time I refuse to let myself dwell on the bad stuff. I often tell myself, "Once you get moving, you'll feel better" -- And, "You've gotten through this before, you can do it again!'

It takes hardiness of spirit to work through a chronic condition day after day. Fibromyalgia sufferers get labeled as  'whiners' & the condition is disregarded by many as being a psychosomatic "It's all in your head" -- Well it IS in the head only in the fact that it is a neurological condition, but Fibromyalgics definitely are NOT whiners.

Try having the flu for decades, then let's see how cheerful and non-depressed YOU are! Many people whine about their flu on Facebook & my heart does go out to them --

BUT:

You'll be over that flu I'm a week. I've been feeling shitty for years! I wish I could rest, at chicken soup and drink orange juice and be all better in a week. The next time you have the flu, please think about what chronic pain sufferers go through. with no apparent light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe we should start a campaign that encourages people to donate money when they have the flu, to chronic pain condition charities that research for a cure.

Just an idea.