Fibro and Anxiety

[Count as THIRD BLOG]

Because Fibro affects every nerve in your body it can be devastating to those who have more than a mild case, like me. I have had at least 5 major episodes of Fibro. Let me see if I can explain that.

If you think of Fibro as a body suit of pain, when I was 18 this suit was put on me. Later when I was in my early 20s another suit was added over that...doubling the pain. Over the course of my adult life I have had at least 5 layers of pain added to my body.

And this isn’t a mild pain, as anyone with Fibro can tell you. Normal pain is like one guy at a ball game yelling. Fibro pain is that guy with a megaphone, the entire cheer squad and the band making noise about pain.

I told my doc the other day that if the pain was noise is was like being on a navy ship where planes land and not having ear protection. It was that debilitating.

And it’s not just one area, it’s all over. It’s everywhere. There is no where I don’t hurt. Some areas hurt worse then others. I have a back injury with arthritis and degenerative disc disease, so of course that area hurts worse.

And now my 3 middle toes are going numb. And I don’t mean mild “going to sleep” numb. If the “mild going to sleep” numb was a teen age boy lifting weights in the garage, my numb is “Mr. Olympia lifting weights” numb. But there is “nothing [other than pain meds to hide the sensation from my brain] to be done, it’s just an effect of the Fibro working on the nerves for so long,” says my doctor.

The meds I’m on now give me some hearing protection, but I can still hear the pain. I can feel the vibrations of the noise; I know the pain is there, just under the surface, waiting for me to miss a dose of my meds, to over do an activity, for my body to adjust to a dose, for something to happen to allow that overwhelming pain to slam into me again.

Anyway, back to the purpose of this writing.

Fibro affects every nerve in the body with pain. Pain causes the brain to go into “Fight or Flight” mode. Meaning it pumps out chemicals that make you “revved up” or “scared” depending on how you (consciously or unconsciously) choose to think when you feel them.

This is why you sometimes “feel your stomach drop” when you stub your toe. Your body does not know the difference in “safe” toe pain and a serious injury pain until the brain has time to let it know. To the pain part of the brain, any & all pain means “Let loose the adrenalin! The body is under attack!”

This Pain-Adrenalin combination also brings another life altering symptom: Fatigue. The body can only handle so much adrenalin before it needs a break, but if you have Fibro, you don’t get a break. The pain is always there when you have Fibro causing the body to make adrenalin all the time. With no real rest. And ‘round & ‘round she goes.