Living With Fibromyalgia: A Grand Prairie Tx Doctor’s Advice

Fibromyalgia is only starting to become acknowledged as a ‘real’ disease — for years, because there was no definitive test that established that someone had it or not, many skeptics believed that fibromyalgia was an excuse rather than a diagnosis. Today, we know better, and the world is starting to understand that fibromyalgia sufferers deserve help. That’s why Dr. Dale Sandvall, who treats those who suffer from fibromyalgia from Grand Prairie Tx to Arlington Tx and beyond, offers this simple advice:

Get Sleep

Sleeping can be difficult when you feel like you’ve recently been run down by a pack of unruly steamrollers. Even if you can’t afford a new mattress, you can afford a few small nods toward getting a good night’s sleep. Recent research shows that an ‘egg crate’ foam mattress topper, along with an electric blanket and/or mattress pad and a soft, sculpt-able (or contoured memory foam) pillow, is the best ‘budget’ option for a fibro sufferer.

Chill Out — Or Get Fired Up

Warm and cold therapies are both effective for treating fibromyalgia pain — and in fact even the most severe pain can be diminished by switching back and forth between the two (15-20 minutes warm, then 10-15 cold, then back to warm and so on.)  Invest in a seat for your shower so that you can take warm or cold showers without stress. On the higher end, acquire a pair of reusable hot/cold body wrap that you can put in the microwave or the freezer and keep one ready for cold and one ready for heat.

Learn the Relaxation Response

The relaxation response is the ‘equal and opposite reaction’ to the fight-or-flight response. Unfortunately, for people under chronic stress, including those with fibromyalgia, the relaxation response doesn’t happen naturally — it has to be learned, generally through meditation, guided visualization, or other mental tactics. Once you learn the relaxation response, however, you can deliberately engage it to dramatically reduce the effects of stress on your daily life, and that is incredibly valuable.

If you can manage to sleep, keep your muscles happy with hot/cold therapy, and learn to de-stress with the relaxation response, you’re well on your way to being able to cope with fibromyalgia and keep up your quality of life. For more potent and longer-lasting therapy, Contact Us today.