I found a terrific website that neatly summarized all of the issues and coping strategies that fibromyalgia sufferers can use.  One  of the best suggestions was record keeping on your symptoms and progress. Taking the time to record your coping strategies if you have this difficult to manage disease helps you remember what works for you.  You’ll gradually accumulate ways to manage pain and mood better.

Coping with fibromyalgia is particularly difficult because the symptoms are invisible and chronic. A person can’t simply “get over” fibromyalgia with the passage of time or wishful thinking. Lifestyle modifications may help you conserve energy and minimize pain.  Some commonly endorsed strategies are:

1.)  LIFESTYLE FACTORS. Note what lifestyle factors aggravate your symptoms and avoid them, if possible.

2.)  SOAK. Sit in a hot tub or shower to ease muscle pain and stiffness.

3.)  SLEEP. Good sleep is a must! Maintain a regular sleep schedule, and try to get eight hours of sleep per night.  Taking a hot tub soak 2-3 hours before bedtime has been shown to improve sleep.

4.) EXERCISE. Think “moderate” exercise. Our hot tub exercises are a great way to get you started.

5.) UNDERSTAND YOUR LIMITATIONS and choose activities you can do and enjoy doing.

6.) START SLOWLY in short increments of activity and build up slowly.  Stretch properly before activity. Stretching in the hot tub is easy and safe if you go slowly at your own pace.  The most important thing is to keep moving. Check out our hot tub exercise chart for some easy isometric exercises to do in the hot tub.

A number of Olympic Hot Tub customers suffer from fibromyalgia. We haven’t done any controlled, scientific studies, but we can report what our customers have told us after purchasing a Hot Spring Spa. Their lives have changed significantly for the better, They report better sleep, less pain and mood improvement.  Their world doesn’t look as bleak as it did before the hot tub purchase and daily use.

If you know someone with fibromyalgia, please share this natural form of pain relief with them.  If you suffer with it yourself and are a regular hot tubber, please share your experience. If we can lessen someone’s pain, even for a short time, it’s a good thing, don’t you think?

SANUM PER AQUA. Latin for Health through Water.