Having fibro is almost like being in a fight, your body vs you. You may not want a fight, but do one wrong thing and you’re in a battle. Lately I’ve been using exercise as part of my arsenal against the fibro. I have been jogging in the mornings or evenings, and on rainy days playing Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). I have an excellent set of dance mats, so I can really get the cardio going. As long as I was staying active I was keeping the fibro at bay, but the activity had another side effect, a growing ache that evolved into a jacked up back. My core isn’t yet strong enough to keep up with my level of activity and the muscles around my spine gave up.
Over the weekend I had to rest my back, ice it, and massage it with my TENS unit. Now it’s Tuesday, the back is feeling better, but the fibro is flaring with a vengeance. Had a moderate mid grade fever last night and woke with a low grade fever. Waking with a low grade fever generally means that the fever will get worse throughout the day. Normally I would fight the fever with exercise. As long as the fever stays low grade I can still walk, jog, and play DDR, but if it goes mid grade I’ll lose. This is why it is a fight.
Predicting the flare ups and fevers is difficult, the rules change. What helps one day may make it worse the next. Some of my flare ups are triggered by food. Each Wednesday lunch is catered at work. Wednesday night or Thursday morning I may be in a flare up. If I eat lunch at home, I’m generally okay. The only constant is that exercise, cardio and a little strength training, reduces the severity and duration of these flareups. If I don’t keep up with the exercise the flare up get worse, if I over exercise I can trigger a flare up. If this doesn’t sound like a battle then I don’t know what is.