skin sensitivity<\/a> (and any other sensitivity you may be experiencing) is to create an environment that is gentle on your central nervous system.<\/p>\nAn overactive central nervous system will cause everything to be heightened; lights will seem blindingly bright, noises will seem startlingly or painfully loud, and touch\u2014even the brush of clothing, at times\u2014may feel painful. A calm central nervous system will help lessen all of these symptoms.<\/p>\n
How do you go about calming your nervous system? A focus on peace and reduced stress levels is important. As much as possible, make your environment a sanctuary.<\/p>\n
Keep the lights low and keep loud sounds to a minimum. If noise reduction isn\u2019t possible, using ear plugs or noise-cancelling headphones are helpful.<\/p>\n
Try to keep your home free of products that have strong scents (in order to avoid overstimulation and headaches that can result). Wear clothing that is loose and comfortable.<\/p>\n
Reducing anxiety is also important to calm your central nervous system. Exercise can be helpful for this, as it releases endorphins that are natural stress- and anxiety-relievers.<\/p>\n
Some people find a regular meditation practice helpful; others have found help with cognitive-behavioral therapy.<\/p>\n
Doctors often prescribe antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to help reduce anxiety levels. This does NOT mean that your pain and sensitivity are in your head; it just means that there is a definite mind-body connection and that whatever goes on in your mind has a very real effect on what happens with your body.<\/p>\n
Lastly, be compassionate and patient with yourself. Understand that your symptoms are real and that they are very individual; what you experience may be entirely different from what another fibromyalgia patient experiences.<\/p>\n
Keep a diary of what triggers specific flare-ups and symptoms and try to work to avoid them as much as possible. Also make a record of what treatments seem to help (as well as those that don\u2019t).<\/p>\n
With time, you\u2019ll come to a better understanding of your symptoms and an effective treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When most people think about fibromyalgia, they think about pain. The disease is a chronic one that causes widespread pain and inflammation throughout the body\u2014particularly in the muscles and joints. The pain of fibromyalgia can differ from person to person, with some people experiencing a vague aching and others dealing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[58],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fibromyalgiacause.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}