New Year, New Flare!
Yes, new year, new flare! We have all been there, you make plans and then your body decides to start giving you magnified versions of symptoms you already have or completely new ones! It’s a very frustrating start to the year for me so let’s talk about it and how to cope with it.
New Flare
I was so excited for the start of this year, the end of 2024 was not easy, my Grandad died, and it shook the family. It reminded us all how we need to appreciate and love those around us and sometimes, unfortunately, we need to be reminded of that.
Christmas is always a difficult time for me, and I have spoken many times on this blog about how much I struggle with the holidays. This year we decided to not even decorate, the decorations remained under the stairs. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to bother, and it felt right to just forget it this year other than having a nice meal.
To be honest, I think as well as the stress of a bereavement, the other trigger for this flare has been our diet over Christmas. I had McDonalds after the funeral, plus we were given a lot of chocolate for Christmas, and generally we just didn’t eat well.
I try to generally eat healthy in the house, we don’t have a lot of sweets or chocolate in the house, so we aren’t tempted. But we fell off that wagon and I definitely saw an increase in my chronic pain with the increase of sugar in my diet.
Too much sugar causes our bodies to release stress hormones and insulin which in turn causes inflammation; this causes pain to be worse. I know this, it is why I had reduced the sugar in my diet, but we all have times when our mental health makes us want the things we shouldn’t have.
Now, I am back on my healthy eating and cooking food instead of buying processed food and I know as soon as my body gets back to it I will feel better. But for now, with my goal set and things I want to do, it is incredibly frustrating to find myself struggling with high fatigue, constant headache and high pain.
I don’t think starting to crochet and getting back to doing workouts from my accessible exercise playlist each night is helping. It’s often when we are trying to change things, even for the better in the new year, new flares can be triggered.
For right now, I am napping a lot, and trying to listen to what my body needs, while trying to achieve my goals. For example, yesterday I needed to record a YouTube video so I could edit it this afternoon, but by the time the paint had dried ready to do the bulk of work, I was struggling.
I felt overwhelmed with fatigue and was really feeling pain all around my ribs which was making it uncomfortable to breathe. I had to call it; I went into the living room where it was less bright and fell asleep for an hour.
Sometimes, my body makes the decisions, and I cannot override it, and I think that is what annoys so many of us. The fact that we can make plans, and the chronic illnesses decide that we can’t do them and there is nothing we can do!
I had reduced the sugar in my diet, but we all have times when our mental health makes us want the things we shouldn’t have. Share on XCoping with flares
- Listen – Our bodies are constantly speaking to us and telling us what we need, so listen to it. Often when we have plans or things we want to do, we can try to push through and ignore what our body is trying to ask for. By listening and resting when needed, we can often shorten the length of a flare.
- Rest is best – I know that fatigue is frustrating, and society measures our worth by how much we can do. But rest is what is needed when dealing with a chronic illness flare, so make sure to rest as much as possible.
- Turn to hobbies – I often find solace in my hobbies when I am flaring, like rewatching a favourite TV show like Buffy or Supernatural. I might do a jigsaw, or play my Dreamlight Valley game on switch, hobbies can make a big difference when you are spending a lot of time with only a small amount of energy.
- Mindfulness – I know! But meditation can help with pain and fatigue, but also being mindful allows us to notice the triggers that can cause flares. It also makes it easier to perceive what our body needs to recover, so it can be very useful.
- Talk – This is an important one, whether it is to a medical professional, friend or family member, talk! Opening up about how you are feeling about your chronic illness and the frustrations it causes is healthier than bottling it up.
I know new year, new flare wasn’t what I had in mind, and if you are in the same boat, it probably wasn’t what you planned either. However, flares come and go they do not define us, and we can make it through if we listen and do what our bodies need. Tell me, do you struggle with frustration when flaring, or do you calmly understand it is just the illnesses?
Thank you xx
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