Living with Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia

I am sorry that you are dealing with the pain without meds. My sister is allergic to NSAIDS and Tylenol. She can't take narcotics because she is a recovering addict. I can understand what you go through because of watching her suffer through the pain. The pain can be unbearable at times and definitely makes exercising hard. I have multiple pain-related issues, so I can only do light/yoga-type exercises. I prefer Chi Quong or Tai Chi over yoga, but all give you balance, light stretching, and calm the mind. For extra sore muscles, I use menthol and lidocaine gels/roll-ons/patches, ice packs, heating pads, and a massage gun. Epsom salt baths help too. Everything I do for my pain I learned from my sister. I hope this helps.

I've been taking benadryl twice a day for costochondritis. I would definitely look at getting a tennis ball for trigger points/feet, or a massage gun (helps with my feet when fibro flares there). A foam roller is helpful for overall massaging of larger muscle groups. Look into doing some gentle stretching yoga. And you can do all of it with your baby around. I would love to do swimming as well but you're right it's too expensive!

I hear you sometimes the pain can be a lot and you feel like it’s not worth doing anything as you feel like it’s not gonna make you feel better. I would say it might help to find a gel like deep heat as that may help your pain

Do you live in a legal state as far as medical marijuana goes ? It helps with me with the pain, chronic fatigue, anxiety, loss of appetite, migraines, it helps me exercise more and get through daily activities as easy as possible. I normally use a tincture that has THC and CBD in it and they both work better together. I was just trying to think of an alternative that could still help you. Sorry you can't take pain meds. I know how hard that must be especially dealing with chronic pain every day.

May I ask why you can't take pain meds?

Hi Ginga! The painful reality is we have to exercise. Even though, it hurts like a biscuit. I have being doing martial arts and yoga. That's up to you and your pain level and tolerance. Meds have helped me