Question:
I remind myself of what life used to be like every time I clap my hands. Odd? One of the more frustrating things I remember from when I had the full FM knockout pain and everything else was that my hands hurt too much to clap even at a great concert or play. (I used to nod my head vigorously, instead.) Now, when working out in an aerobics class, I clap frequently and each clap becomes a reminder that life has gotten better. See if you can find some constant reminder of your own. Don't know for sure, but I'll bet that it helps to keep such reminders going.

Answer: I have yet to not get at least one tip from a book, even if it wasn't the one I was looking for. I also have had no ill effects from books, like nausea, diarrhea or vomiting. If the gal who posted wants to try a book, more power to her!!!

I also have an opinion on my own fibromyalgia, one that you won't shake very easily. My fibro-specialist agrees with me as well. I believe it is in my brain or at least started there, so I guess it was kinda all in my head, only not the way most people define "all in your head". I have worked very hard to maintain a reasonable gait and muscle tone over the 10+ years I've had fibromyalgia, mostly on my own with GPs who were empathetic, but not really schooled toward fibromyalgia. It has not been easy and it has taken a lot of different medicines (a lot of which sucked, but you know how the "try this, try that" thing goes). I also force myself up to go to work, which is difficult most days, but I figure as long as I'm able to do so, I'm going to do so. If at some point, I can't, I'm fortunate that some folks here have already went down the path of disability and the like and will start asking those questions as necessary. I don't fault them and I don't think anybody else should until they walk in their shoes. Nor do I think you ought to be shooting me down unless you've walked in mine.

A review of the posts would show that I was not certain I'd be a good mind-body candidate because of my brain injury (near-death beating) in 1990. Alex said that wasn't the case because I still had a mind (or rather he asked if I still had a mind). I'm still not certain I'd be a good candidate right now... I have my own little regimen going with finally getting adequate sleep (with Oxycontin and Zanaflex, neither of which are probably advocated in mind-body). I take my Effexor and my Celebrex as well as my post-complete hysterectomy (1991) hormones. I should also note that the hysterectomy was a lost battle after 10 additional abdominal surgeries to save my reproductive organs. For a long portion of my life, I have been in pain. Now, I believe my brain just doesn't know what else to do but read everything as pain. Again, my fibro-specialist agrees. I do have problems with stiffness/spascity, hence the Zanaflex. At some point in my treatment, I reached clinical depression, hence the Effexor.

A side note is that once brain cells are dead, they are simply dead. If other areas/cells don't take over and re-route information, there's a gap. I have those cognitively. I do not know that this is from fibro, though, as I dropped cognitively as soon as I woke up under the catscan (which by the way looks like a halo) after the beating. To illustrate, I used to be able to speedread 1000 wpm with 100% recall (no kidding). Immediately after the head-injury, the best I could do was 750 and I would be willing to bet that age and stress has probably dragged me down to 500. Perhaps, as you mentioned, the fibro has done it. I don't know and probably won't really ever know. The brain injury throws a wrench into measuring what fibro has done to me cognitively.