Tag: #Fibromyalgia

Uncategorized

Fibromyalgia Isn’t Just Pain: Why the Fatigue Hits So Hard

JoLeave a comment

When people hear “fibromyalgia,” they usually think of pain — aching joints, sore muscles, that constant feeling like you overdid it yesterday even when you didn’t.
Pain is part of it, yes. But for many people with fibromyalgia, fatigue is the symptom that quietly dismantles daily life.

This isn’t the kind of tired that goes away with a good night’s sleep or a strong cup of coffee. Fibromyalgia fatigue is persistent, physical, and rooted in how the nervous system functions.

Common Fibromyalgia Symptoms (Beyond Pain)

Fibromyalgia is a multisystem condition, not a single-symptom diagnosis. Common symptoms include:

  • Chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain
  • Ongoing fatigue
  • Non-restorative sleep (waking up unrefreshed)
  • Cognitive difficulties (“fibro fog”)
  • Sensitivity to light, sound, temperature, or touch
  • Headaches or migraines
  • Gastrointestinal issues (often overlapping with IBS)
  • Muscle stiffness, especially in the morning
  • Mood changes linked to nervous system stress

Not everyone experiences every symptom, and severity can fluctuate — sometimes daily, sometimes hourly.

What Makes Fibromyalgia Fatigue Different?

Fibromyalgia fatigue isn’t simply being tired from doing too much. It’s tied to central sensitization, a process in which the brain and spinal cord become overly reactive.

In simple terms:

  • The nervous system stays partially “on alert”
  • Pain signals are amplified
  • The body burns energy just maintaining baseline function

Even rest can require effort when the system responsible for regulating stress, pain, and recovery isn’t working efficiently.

Think of it like running multiple background apps you can’t close. The battery drains faster — even on low activity.

Mayo Clinic explains that people with fibromyalgia commonly experience fatigue and disrupted sleep, noting that individuals often wake up tired even after sleeping for a long time, as pain and related sleep disorders can interfere with rest. Mayo Clinic

Why Sleep Doesn’t Fix Fibromyalgia Fatigue

One of the most frustrating aspects of fibromyalgia is that sleep doesn’t reliably restore energy.

Research shows that people with fibromyalgia often experience:

  • Disrupted sleep architecture
  • Reduced time in deep, restorative sleep stages
  • Alpha-wave intrusion during sleep, keeping the brain partially alert
  • Frequent micro-arousals caused by pain or nervous system activity

This means someone can be unconscious for eight hours and still wake up feeling unrefreshed, stiff, and exhausted.

Sleep happens — but rest doesn’t fully occur.

Sleep research indicates that people with fibromyalgia often experience abnormal sleep patterns, such as reduced deep sleep and brain activity resembling wakefulness during sleep stages, which helps explain why rest does not always feel restorative. Sleep Foundation

The Role of the Nervous System

Fibromyalgia is increasingly understood as a disorder of nervous system regulation, not muscle damage or inflammation alone.

When the nervous system struggles to downshift:

  • Muscles remain tense
  • Pain signals remain elevated
  • Stress hormones like cortisol can become dysregulated
  • Energy recovery is impaired

This is why fatigue in fibromyalgia often feels disproportionate to activity levels — and why pushing through it usually backfires.

Why “Just Rest More” Misses the Point

Well-meaning advice like “get more sleep” or “listen to your body” often falls short because it assumes the system responsible for rest is functioning normally.

In fibromyalgia:

  • Rest helps, but it’s not a cure
  • Sleep matters, but it’s not always restorative
  • Energy management requires strategy, not willpower

Understanding this difference matters — medically, socially, and personally.

The Bottom Line

Fibromyalgia fatigue is not laziness, lack of motivation, or deconditioning.
It’s a nervous system issue that affects how the body processes pain, stress, sleep, and recovery.

Recognizing fatigue as a core symptom — not a side effect — is essential to understanding what living with fibromyalgia actually looks like.

Because when the system itself is misfiring, exhaustion isn’t a failure.
It’s feedback.
Til next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other!

Uncategorized

Why Sleep Is So Complicated When You’re Living With ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Fibromyalgia

JoLeave a comment

Sleep isn’t just about closing your eyes and drifting off. For some of us, it’s like trying to land a plane in a thunderstorm with three different copilots all fighting over the controls. ADHD, bipolar disorder, and fibromyalgia each mess with sleep in their own ways—and when they show up together, it’s no wonder rest feels more like a negotiation than a guarantee.

ADHD: A Brain That Won’t Clock Out

With ADHD, the brain doesn’t exactly come with an off-switch. Racing thoughts, late-night hyperfocus, or the dreaded “second wind” make it easy to miss sleep windows. Research shows people with ADHD often experience delayed sleep phase syndrome—meaning their internal clock is naturally shifted later.

What helps:

  • Keep a consistent bedtime routine (same order, every night, like brushing teeth → skincare → reading).
  • Use a “wind-down timer” alarm to remind you when to step away from screens.
  • Try body-doubling for bedtime (texting a friend “logging off now” helps hold you accountable).

Bipolar Disorder: Sleep as a Mood Swing Marker

Sleep disruption isn’t just a symptom of bipolar disorder—it’s also a warning sign. During manic episodes, people may need little to no sleep and still feel wired. In depressive episodes, hypersomnia (sleeping too much) or insomnia are both common. Clinicians even track sleep patterns as a way to gauge where someone is on the bipolar spectrum, because sleep disturbance is that central to the condition.

What helps:

  • Stick to a strict sleep/wake schedule—even on weekends.
  • Limit caffeine, alcohol, and late-night stimulation, since they can trigger swings.
  • Track sleep with an app or journal to catch changes early (your future self and your doctor will thank you).

Fibromyalgia: The Non-Restorative Sleep Thief

Fibro brings its own brand of sleep sabotage. Studies point to “alpha wave intrusion,” where the brain doesn’t stay in deep, restorative stages of sleep. Combine that with pain flare-ups and restless legs, and even if you technically sleep for eight hours, you wake up feeling like you pulled an all-nighter.

What helps:

  • Prioritize pain management before bed—stretching, warm baths, or heat pads can calm flare-ups.
  • Create a cozy sleep space: blackout curtains, white noise, supportive mattress.
  • Try gentle sleep hygiene aids, like calming teas or magnesium (if your doctor approves).

The Triple-Whammy Effect

Now imagine all three at once: ADHD pushing bedtime later, bipolar flipping the switch between insomnia and oversleeping, and fibromyalgia making whatever sleep you do get feel useless. No wonder mornings feel brutal and exhaustion never really leaves.

Why It Matters

Poor sleep isn’t just a nuisance—it worsens mood swings, flares up pain, and makes executive function even harder. But knowing the “why” behind your exhaustion is powerful. It means you can stop blaming yourself and start stacking small, realistic strategies that give you a fighting chance at rest. Til next time gang, take care of yourselves and each other.

Research Toolbox:
Sources

The National Fibromyalgia Association — Sleep Disturbances & Fibromyalgia
(information on fibro and sleep disturbances)

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders – Sleep and Circadian Rhythms in Bipolar Disorder
(research on bipolar disorder and sleep)

PubMed — ADHD and Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders
(research on ADHD and circadian rhythm)

Uncategorized

How Chronic Illness Turned Me Into a Crafty Witch with a 3D Printer

JoLeave a comment

When pain, boredom, and executive dysfunction unite—you get resin, rage, and a whole lot of accidental glitter.

I didn’t set out to become a craft goblin. I wasn’t summoned under a full moon or handed a glue gun by a mysterious old crone—though honestly, that would’ve been cooler. What actually happened? Chronic illness, ADHD, and mental health issues tag-teamed me into a corner, and I crawled out with glitter in my hair, UV resin on my shirt, and a 3D printer whirring in the background like some kind of mechanical emotional support animal.

🧠 Brain fog + body pain = weird creativity cocktail

Being chronically ill is basically like living in hard mode with no save points. There are days where just getting out of bed feels like climbing Everest. And when your body taps out, but your brain still insists on doing something, you get creative—weirdly creative.

One day I woke up and thought, “What if I poured sparkly goo into molds to feel better?” Then, “What if I started designing stuff to go in the goo?”
Next thing I know, I’m elbows deep in fidget toy sketches and debating the opacity of rose gold filament.

Not because I’m trying to get rich. Not because I want to be Etsy famous.
Because it helps me feel like a person again.

🧙‍♀️ Crafting is my magic—just with more swearing

There’s something weirdly powerful about turning pain into something tangible. Making trays and fidgets and little resin reminders isn’t just “cute” or “fun.” It’s my therapy when therapy isn’t enough. It’s my way of saying “I’m still here” even when my body’s out of spoons and my brain’s rerouting itself through a foggy mess of dopamine starvation.

And yes, sometimes I cry while sanding something or curse at my printer like it personally betrayed me. That’s part of the ritual.

🛠️ My cauldron just happens to be full of UV resin and PLA

There’s a stereotype that chronically ill folks just sit around watching Netflix and napping. (Okay, sometimes we do that too—rest is radical, y’all.) But a lot of us are brimming with creativity, we just needed the right outlet—and in my case, that outlet prints in layers and smells faintly of molten plastic.

Now I blend 3D printing and resin pouring into something like art, something like therapy, something like survival. I make trays that say things like “Grounded Spirit” and “Wildflower” because those are the things I need to remember. I make fidgets that spin and snap and soothe because my nervous system is a feral toddler with no nap schedule.

And when people actually buy those things? When they tell me it helped them feel a little more seen, a little more held? That’s the part that feels like real magic.

🧷 Not an ad, but here’s the cauldron shop if you want to peek

If you’re curious about what resilience looks like in resin, I’ve got a little Etsy shop full of snark, softness, and sensory-friendly goodies. I call them my “Spoonie Shenanigans,” and no two are ever quite alike—kind of like us. https://joknowscreations.etsy.com Til next time gang take care of yourselves, and each other.