Healthy Habits // Fighting Fibro

Thursday means that it is time for Katie's new link up - Healthy Habits. I'm super excited for this one as I have been thinking of taking a day a week to talk about my health and fitness aims / routines plus a love Katie's blog so it's kind of a win win situation. If you haven't checked out Katie Did What yet then you really should. Hers was one of the first blogs I discovered and she's the sweetest lady and a gorgeous new mama! 

So, for those of you who don't know, after years of feeling unwell during my later school years and early twenties plus suffering with an eating disorder, I was diagnosed with coeliac disease, osteopenia and last year at 31 fibromyalgia. There is some disagreement amongst the doctors over which condition caused the other but it is fair to say that they are all linked. Some times have been so debilitating that I have been unable to walk unaided and I still get flare ups where the pain is just so bad and the chronic fatigue that goes with it means I even need help to get dressed in the mornings. Put all this in the context that prior to being unwell, I was an athlete competing at European level with dreams of the Olympics, then I'm sure you can imagine how frustrated I can get!

I have had a relatively stable few weeks in comparison to usual (touch wood) which has enabled me to work out a little more than usual. For the first time since I was 16, I am no longer considered unhealthily underweight and there has been some improvement in the bone mass in my spine, so things are on the up. Exercise is recommended as a treatment for fibromyalgia and although many sufferers panic at the thought of the pain it will cause, I have adopted the opinion that I am in pain every day anyway so I'd rather be in pain and get stronger, than be in pain and let my muscle mass waste away (which it had already started to do). I won't lie it is bloody painful. After my first few sessions of physiotherapy, there were many tears and it caused a flare up so bad I was bed ridden again. Working out is painful and exhausting but I've never been one to give up though, being a single parent for most of my daughters 11 years means that I have no other choice but to push through it at some times when I possibly shouldn't but I'd rather fight back at it than let me beat me.

This essay wasn't intentional so well done if you've made it this far! I guess my priorities for living healthily have now changed from ensuring that I'm competitively fit to being able to live as normal a life as possible. It's heartbreaking when my daughter asks why I can't be like the other mums sometimes, running around, not being in pain and tired all time. I just want to make sure that this doesn't get worse! For me, the first step to getting healthy (or as healthy as I can) was realising that accepting my limitations didn't have to mean giving up and getting rid of the negativity. Of course we all have bad days where things seem to much whatever it is going on in our lives, but I'm trying to replace worrying about what I can't do with praising myself for the things I am showing that I can do.

What is your biggest motivation to stay fit and healthy? I'm looking forward to next week and sharing my daily healthy eating plan!

Amy-Louise
xx

Linking up with Katie