Fibromyalgia Resource Center

The key in the downward chronic pain spiral is:  AVOID DECONDITIONING. For someone like me, who earlier enjoyed life in the active lane , I unfairly judged  other people who traverse the slow lane as dough boys. But after I became de-conditioned, I humbly learned that without guideposts, anyone in chronic pain can really get stuck.

In no uncertain terms I have listed 8 consequences of deconditioning:  muscle deterioration ; stiff joints, loss of calcium from bones, (a recipe for osteoporosis); increased risk of coronary complications  and diabetes; disappearance of sufficient red blood cells; fading of sex hormones and production of swimmers; declining immune functions; obesity and depression.

Deconditioning is a polar contrast to conditioning. Conditioning is a clinical reference to all the great things that happen when you are in shape.  Below I describe what actually happened to me in the downward spiral of deconditioning.  I had no idea I had gotten caught until a friend, who has been fooled also,  showed me the  guidepost to becoming happy and healthy again. 

Imagine me, a zero flab, chestnut-maned , sporty and fun-loving Sagittarius assuming responsibility for raising  an infant grandchild…scraping through a costly divorce and … taking a sit-down computer job with  car- commute of 150 miles.  I also had not yet rehabilitated a limb  injury. However, I benefited from ultracret, a very reliable medication.

I want you to flash “aha!” at the down- spiral in the following five junctions  that I chalked up.  Then, you will be able to stop the action and bust up the old routine and produce a safe and healthy one.  You can reduce your pain on a daily basis…. for the rest of this life. Yes!

Junction1: Inactivity.  I felt much pain, so I limited what I would normally do.  I called off my planned excursion to the beach because it meant another hour in a car and lifting my baby out of a car seat, which would make me feel even more however you-harden up-after-you-are-dead .  I postponed gardening tasks, because just thinking  about kneeling and stooping  made  me  tired.  I stopped calling my work-out buddies to go ocean swimming because getting in and out of my wet-suit screamed pain. I turned to my reliable medication,tramadol.

Junction 2: Catching up.  I felt okay the next day.  I hopped into the car, dropped my little babe at the Kid Zone and got in some reps.   I replanted two dozen bulbs.  I put on my wetsuit for a Saturday plunge at my favorite beach. Life seemed good again.

Junction 3: Inactivity. After my active and feeling great day, I woke up stiff and sore. “Ow! I did too much,” I hollered at myself in the mirror, so I slowed down again and canceled my beach outing.

Junction  4: Repeating the cycles. I went through this scenario several times trying to adjust to life with chronic pain. It became a deconditioning cycle:  I felt better. I did more. I felt worse. I slowed down.

Junction 5: Deconditioning.  Bingo, out of the game! De-conditioning resulted as my body suffered. I actually got out of shape in response to my pain. The time I spent slowing down made me depleted and wimpy: what an irony, eh?  I chose to protect myself through slowing down, but this inactivity actually hurt and weakened my body.  Among other things, it caused my muscles to fizzle, which stone-walled my stamina and brought on exhaustion.

Another danger in the pain cycle is that I began spending more time solo. My bodysurfing buddies didn’t  text me anymore because I cancelled one too many outings , so they  gave  up on me. My family settled for (albeit lovingly) doing things for me and without me. They believed they were helping by playing proxy and no longer expecting me to participate. They didn’t understand that the more helpless I grew, the more pain I would  attract.

I am excited to share this information and trust you will take in what applies to you.” Pleasae don’t ever give up!” — Chloe Taylor