The 'Fibromyologist'

In the story of the Princess and the Pea, the Prince and company are on the genuine search for a match. One stormy night a drenched Princess comes along the Prince’s castle. Needing shelter and claiming she was a Princess, they of course accommodate her and to test her true royal-ness the Prince’s mother placed a pea under a stack of mattresses and feather beds. The Princess claims that she slept wretchedly the next day because of something hard under the mattress. She had the bruise to show for it. The Prince and mother rejoiced because this proved her royal highness-ness, as only a Princess would truly complain of such a thing and be that sensitive!

Fibromyalgia has had me relating to the sensitive Princess in this story. I had no idea that wearing a bra or certain kinds of clothes like anything racer backed or spaghetti straps, would eventually be impossible. The weight of my winter coat on my trapezius muscles could cause a headache, neck ache, and or backache if I had it on longer that a trip the the grocery store. Needing a hat on my head would cause a headache yet so could the cold air. In fact my scalp became so hypersensitive I could barley touch it with my finger tips. Putting my long hair up for summer was out of the question as it was too heavy and would give me a headache if I didn’t already have one. Getting my hair layered with quite a few inches off the length helped. Wearing anything in my hair has been impossible up until just a bit ago. Wearing jewelry can be difficult also. I’m looking forward to the day when I can wear a chain again.

On some level we fibromyalgic’s are sensitive, yet I don’t believe that we are overly sensitive to pain. The pain is as serious as a heart attack. I think our reaction to that pain is completely valid.

Unlike the Princess, hopefully sleeping in your mattress is a delicious haven. In my case my body pain was so out of control for a very long time – that even laying on my new 3 inch charcoal memory mattress pad would cause distress. Any blankets, sheets or clothing not perfectly straightened out under my body could give me great discomfort on top of that. I was once in love with my weighted wool duvet. Until one day I realized that I was having troubles lifting the duvet over my shoulders during the night, night after night. It became too heavy to have on me as I was struggling for strength and dealing with increasing body discomfort of having the comforter on my body. It made better sense under me than over.

Keeping your bedroom fibro friendly and not a fibro fortress will mean you come to some kind of make-your-life-easier, or the FF hacks. (Fibro Friendly or Fuck Fibro hacks- you decide). I have ditched the heavy comforters, and gone to plush velour blankets over sheets. But I fake it, and don’t go under the plush. I have another plush that is throw size that is easy to maneuver over my body with one almost effortless gesture thus not waking me fully. The huge bonus is that there is just some very light straightening in the morning and voila, you’re done making the bed! If you’re sleeping with a partner it would be good if they had access to a different blanket if is hard to tolerate the tugging and pulling that might occur in traditional sharing.

Thankfully those nights with that kind of intensity are behind me. I’m no longer the sensitive Princess feeling bruised by the Pea. That is solely due to the guiafenesin protocol from Dr. St. Amand and his 60 plus years of research and his own devastating diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

Looking back I am grateful to my feline fur baby named Sweet Pea, who didn’t seem to mind my mattress at all.

Make your recovery, your new discovery❤️