Fibro Fridays LIVE! with Brandi & Tim {Recap for January 13, 2017}

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Welcome to Fibro Fridays LIVE! with Brandi & Tim! Each Friday we will have a live video feed on our Facebook page (click here) to address questions, comments, concerns and suggestions that we receive each week. Topics include parenting, treatments, books, products, and more about fibromyalgia. This post will include the video and links to expand on those topics. I also included links to where these products can be purchased, Facebook groups, Pinterest pages, and other website links.

Tackling all questions about #fibromyalgia - parenting, eating, coping, and more! #FibroFridaysLive Click To Tweet

This post contains affiliate links which means, at NO extra costs to you, I earn a commission from any purchases made. For further details, please read my full disclosure policy.

Summary of our week

We overslept on Monday morning and you would NOT believe what our kids did while we were sleeping! Watch the video here.
After the long days of Monday and Tuesday, I slept for 14 hours Tuesday night and woke up in a flare on Wednesday. Read more about flares.
Kids did great on their report cards and are receiving awards for it!
I had a meeting with Melissa from Support Fibro Thursday and we have a lot in store for the fibromyalgia community!!
We played an unique game called Festivus (from the Seinfeld TV series) – Check out our top 5 unique family board games.

My Weekly Reading

The FibroManual by Dr. Ginevra Liptan (There is a group discussion about this book on Facebook. Join the discussion.)
Chronic Resilience by Danea Horn
Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (a link to my review and the reason I gave it 3 out of 5 stars)

Meal planning with fibro

Many of us hit a wall at a certain time of day. For me, I hit the wall around 2 pm well before dinner time. Getting dinner on the table can be a huge task and drains all energy we have left – IF there is any left. Here are some ideas for meal planning with fibro:

Slow cooker meals (follow my slow cooker board on Pinterest for some ideas)
Asking what spouse/caregiver can cook
Making dinner at lunch time and lunch at dinner time due to cleaning and keeping it easy (This works for our house right now while Tim works crazy hours.)
Freezer meals can work well with slow cooker meals or alone (here are some ideas for freezer meals)

Support System

Having a support system in place while thriving fibromyalgia is essential in healing. Having others to call on when you need re-enforcements can help with flare days and other overwhelming times. But what happens when you don’t have a support system?

Some do not have support and rely on support of online groups

Reach out to your community for local support groups or meetups with fibromyalgia
Join an online support group or Facebook groups
Tell someone, don’t keep it in
Even if you have to be anonymous, that’s a way of getting support in an online forum

My husband’s story as a caregiver: Click here.

Is Fibromyalgia Real?

Some think that we are faking our illness or doing it for attention. Yes, fibromyalgia is real, but that alone is not enough. The way we can start to break the stigma is by spreading awareness and asking those people to do something with the knowledge. Ways to take action include:

helping someone with fibromyalgia
learn about the illness
donate to a place that does research for it

Read Raising Awareness is Not Enough to Make a Change.

Men with Fibromyalgia

Norma founded Men with Fibromyalgia as a vlog that turned into a blog. He helps men living with fibromyalgia by letting them know they are not alone and it’s okay to struggle with fibromyalgia.

Click here to visit Norman’s site.
Join his men’s only fibromyalgia group.

Blogs and Sites Mentioned

Tami Stackelhouse (Fibro Life Coach): https://myrestoredhealth.com/
A Life Well Red: www.alifewellred.com
A Life Well Red Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alifewellred/
Fed Up with Fatigue: www.fedupwithfatigue.com
The Fibromyalgia Magazine: https://ukfibromyalgia.com/magazine.php

Fibro Fridays LIVE! with Brandi & Tim #FibroFridays #beingfibromom — *stock image from Adobe Stock by © Pirotehnik and modified by Brandi, Being Fibro Mom*

Fibromyalgia resources

Being Fibro Mom resource page

Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN) resources

LDN is a safe prescribed drug that is used for fibromyalgia by boosting levels of endorphins which are used for lessening pain. For more information, please visit: