A Fibromyalgia Friendly Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and Christmas are already exhausting and stressful for most everyone. Add to the mix fibro flare ups and it can be simply a nightmare if you let it. Today, I want to share a few tips to help get you through the holidays, and hopefully enjoy it!

Tip 1: Conserve Energy

Conserving your energy that way you are not overly stressed or fatigued is an important step to avoiding fibro flare-ups. Time is energy.

Try drinking green tea during the holidays, it has 1/4 of the caffeine as coffee, but other ingredients that also help with energy levels. Coffee is not recommended for fibro sufferers mostly because of how easily you can get dehydrated. So if you must have that Cup of Joe make sure to drink PLENTY of water as well.

Vitamin D seems to help a lot with energy. Take it in vitamin form, eat it in fruit form, add a few drops in your cereal, anyway you can consume should help with your energy levels.

D-Ribose is an excellent way to boost energy levels. We have a great post about that here: D-Ribose For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia

Tip 2: Start Planning Early

Start planning your feast a couple days before thanksgiving.  This will allow you to create your shopping lists ahead of the meals, which means you can ask your spouse or someone else to make the trip if you need to rest.

I also recommend you prep some of your dishes for thanksgiving in advance so that it’s less stressful on Thanksgiving day. What ever dishes you can make ahead of time, freeze, and then simply heat up, go ahead and make those the day before. This will save time, stress and conserve energy.

Tip 3: Get The Rest You Need!

If you suffer from fibro you understand that real sleep is both hard to get and very important for you. Not usually a great combination when what you need is very hard to accomplish. Try your hardest to get to bed at a decent hour and do what ever rituals that works best for you to get to sleep.

Limit distractions. Check all your emails ahead of time, get everything done early. Then, Turn off your cell phone, turn off the TV, clear your mind, stay off the laptop, turn the lights off and try to sleep.

Drink Chamomile Tea before bed to help your body feel relaxed.

Tip 4: Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

I know sometimes it is hard to say that 4 letter word, HELP!

However, keep in mind that people generally do want to help. So when your sister, cousin, aunt or whoever comes and asks if you need any help in the Kitchen, don’t be afraid to accept thankfully. Allow others to help can take some of the stress off of you and help you to conserve your energy.

In Closing,

The Holidays CAN be extremely stressful and for Fibro sufferers downright dreadful. Hopefully you will consider some of these tips and I pray they are helpful to you!

I wish you an amazing Thanksgiving, A Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!