Fibromyalgia - Cutting Through the Fog Know as Fibrofog

Living with "fibrofog" is not easy. It can make a simple drive home from work an adventure as you make a wrong turn despite having driven this route a thousand times before. It can mean forgetting the milk, even though all you went to the store for is bread and milk! It can mean, despite having a perfectly good vocabulary, forgetting the word "groceries" when you get home from the store and are trying to tell your spouse about your day. It is one of the few symptoms among fibro sufferers that is universal, and the doctors don't know exactly what causes it. A recent study suggests that it is caused by the brain being so overwhelmed by all the pain information that it simply can't process other information. This seems logical to me, knowing how many aches and pains I have!

So, what can be done to overcome the fog?

For starters, lists!

I bought a dry erase board for my kitchen, and I keep a list of the day's chores and upcoming events for the month there. Every evening, I double check with my husband what needs to be done the following day. (As an example, tomorrow I need to clean the kitty litter boxes, do dishes, straighten the living room, and do my yoga stretches.) And I do write down everything I need to do, even if it's something I do every day, like the dishes and yoga. I stagger chores that require a lot of bending and stretching, or physical activity. Tomorrow, I do the kitty litter boxes. Saturday I'll do the vacuuming. Sunday I'll do the laundry. Those three chores require a lot of physical effort, so I don't do them all the same day, because it's just too difficult.

I digress.

To return to the lists, having the dry erase board in the kitchen is great for when you run out of something. You can simply jot the thing you are out of under "groceries" on the board, and there's your grocery list. This is particularly great for big things that you don't necessarily use a lot, like laundry detergent, glass cleaner, or garbage bags. Then, when you are ready to go to the grocery store, you just jot down that as the start of your list, go through your kitchen for the rest of the list, and head out to the store. Having a grocery list is definitely a must when heading to the store to avoid the dreaded "fibro fog forgetfulness." I have literally gone to the store for three things, and forgotten one by the time I was there.

The dry erase board is absolutely invaluable, but there's another thing equally as invaluable. I have a calendar program, called "Remind-Me," without which I would be completely lost. It's a calendar program into which you can enter events such as birthdays, doctor appointments, or even daily or weekly chores. It's how I keep track of everything. I don't necessarily put daily chores into it- while I love crossing them off my dry erase board, I don't want to clutter my calendar up with them- but I do put doctor's appointments into it, especially appointments that are months out, like dental check ups, or yearly woman's health visits. It's also very helpful for weekly chores like vacuuming and dusting. (I would forget otherwise some weeks!)

The calendar program is also good for keeping track of addresses- it's very useful to put someone's address right in with their birthday, so you can send the card right when the reminder for their birthday pops up.

Another resource, if you have one, is your spouse. Asking them to remind you of something that you need to do, get, or remember is a great way to keep them involved and to keep yourself from forgetting to send that email to your Mom before you go to bed. I've done that one more than once to my husband. I also carry a notebook around with me, and jot notes to myself, both for article ideas, and so I don't forget about that email I mentioned before.

The last thing I do to keep the fibrofog from killing me is play games. This might sound frivolous, but it's been proven that keeping your mind active with crossword puzzles, number games like "sudoku," and the like really does help to keep you from losing cognitive skills, and I know it has certainly helped me. I love sudoku, and I play it a lot when I'm not reading or working on articles or my novel. I think that it has definitely helped cut my issues with fibrofog, and I am hoping that I can keep working that "brain muscle" and keep it sharp, so that I can keep writing for years and years to come.

I hope these tips help you to cut your problems with the "fog," too!