The are only two reliable things about Fibromyalgia and chronic pain in general
- Our bodies are pretty much always in pain. All day, every day we are in pain to some extent. I don’t think I’ve had a pain-free day, other than heavily medicated, in at least 2 decades.
- Our bodies are reliably unreliable in regards to this disease. Consistently inconsistent.
Pain Levels Change
These change, frequently. They ebb & flow.. We can from a 2/10 one day, but the next a 5,/10, then a 3 then a 6,.. Even worse, they can shift hour by hour, especially when it bounces. Goes 5 to 6 to 5 to 6 to 5 to 4 and to screw me up, back up through 5 to 6 again.. Some of our pain is predictable by pattern like weather changes & over exertion, but not even necessarily then..
Now, jumping at lower levels like 1, 2, 3, or even 4 aren’t so bad.. but bouncing at the higher levels is alot harder on the body .
Duration Changes
The shifts in our pain levels can bounce from hour to hour.. They can be sustained for a period of time. Sometimes hours, days, even weeks.. I’ve even stayed steady at a 3 level pain level steady for months at a time. And I have seen no way to predict how long it will last I’ve had the same thing cause a shift and each time the shift (be it up or down) has lasted different lengths of time.
Frequency Changes
Our pain levels, as you can tell from comments above can last a different length of time each time. Sometimes minutes (but that’s usually an outside source!), Hours, days, weeks & as mentioned even months.
Triggers Change
I’ve noticed that sometimes I will get triggered by an activity one time, but not the next. On the reverse, something else that doesn’t normally trigger me will. Inconsistency. Shifts in the weather are a good example. We recently shifted to rain at the end of last week and I got hit hard for a bit, up to a 6, but slowly was able to manage it back down. But the inverse, the week prior we got hit with a similar shift to rain, but there was very little impact to my body.
Timing Changes.
When our pain will change is in no way predictable. Since childhood, I’ve had a tendancy to be better or healthier in the evenings. It’s to do with my circadian rhythms, I think but everyone has that Other than that, time of day has very little impact. There are days where I will suddenly wake in excruciating pain because of the pain. There are days where I will wake naturally & when I make that first move, Whammo! There are days when suddenly, mid-day, pain shoots up. There are days where I woke well and by the time dinner rolls around, I already want to curl up and ignore the world to deal with how bad I feel.
A Side Note – Third Consistency.
In writing this entry I keep noticing that the reference to changes emphasized to the increase. That’s probably because the increase is bad. But I also noticed that I’ve never had the thought, as I’m writing & editing about sharp drops in pain.
- Pain can rise quickly, but without intervention, it always drops slowly
Fibromyalgia 