Symptom Management Tools
over time. In medical conditions,
inckuding FM, hundreds of studies
show the effects of the relaxation
response, which is easily attained
through meditation, mindfulness
practices and related approaches.
1.
7.
Other skills concern how you manage your time and activities, i.e.,
“time-based pacing,” or gradually
increasing activity and monitoring
how your body is responding. You can
determine what levels of activity are
tolerated without causing a flare-up
of symptoms to prevent the “pushcrash” cycle. Pacing is also a key concept to determine how much exercise
is good for you. Sometimes referred
to as “graded exercise,” you use pacing
to find the range of exercise tolerance
that allows you to slowly build fitness
over time. The same principle of pacing applies to all areas of your life including social and work activity.
2.
8.
“Scheduling” your daily patterns and
activities, i.e., following a comfortable
rhythm of activity and rest, can help
reduce symptoms. And the scheduling
of pleasurable activities will have both
mental and physiological effects that
promote relaxation and reduce stress,
reducing symptom severity.
It’s important to improve sleep quality through having regular sleeping
hours, bed times, wake times, and
bedtime routines that support sleep
such as bathing or relaxation exercises and avoiding the neurological
stimulation of television.
“Cognitive restructuring” in CBT is
a way of changing automatic negative or catastrophic thoughts about
illness, and replacing them with
thoughts that promote a more relaxed
and peaceful way of living day to day.
DAY TO DAY APPLICATIONS.
B
elow are nine changes in thinking
and behavior that I have found helpful in my work over the past 25 years
with people with FM. You may already
be implementing some of them and
want to add others to the list.
28 Fibromyalgia & Chr