This is my top six of books as Christmas gifts for people who are suffering from #fibromyalgia and/or chronic pain.
Taking Control of Fibromyalgia : Following Science on a natural path to health by Caroline Williams, available from Amazon and other good bookstores.
This book will help you navigate chronic pain and the condition called fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is characterised by fatigue, muscle aches, wandering chronic pains, depression and anxiety. It often develops slowly, usually over several years.
Being unwell can feel like being lost. To find your way back to health you will need two things: to know where you are right now, and a map to show you the way.
This book explores the landmark symptoms of fibromyalgia and why they occur. Synthesizing knowledge from fibromyalgia research, biochemistry, current pain research, neuroscience and pain psychology. The author presents a toolbox of practical treatments that you can use at home to change pain, all without using drugs.
Pain Tracking – Your Personal Guide to Living Well with Chronic Pain by Deborah Barrett Phd, available from Amazon and other good bookstores.
This book offers a hands-on approach to improving life with chronic pain, whatever the underlying cause. As a sociologist, psychotherapist, and someone with firsthand experience with chronic pain, the author understands the challenges that accompany pain and has devised realistic strategies to fare better.
Paintracking provides a systematic method that empowers individuals to navigate the otherwise overwhelming array of treatment options and incorporate the effective ones into their lives for continued, incremental progress. Its cornerstone is a self-study tool that enables readers to improve. Readers are instructed on how to track and interpret their experience, whether using a pen and paper or the online tool offered as a companion to the book. By cultivating awareness of how their body responds in different situations and to different therapies, readers will become capable self-advocates, able to make informed choices.
Written in clear, understandable prose and filled with sociological insights, therapeutic lessons, practical tips, and empathy, this book offers realistic hope to individuals who often feel hopeless in the face of confusing, debilitating pain.
The New Bible Cure for Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia by Don Colbert, available from Amazon as a book or audible and from other good bookstores. This book includes
· Steps that take you from feeling burned out to fired up
· Foods that harm and foods and supplements that restore energy and health
· Exercises that help relieve pain
· The emotional and spiritual roots of these debilitating disorders.
Living with Fibromyalgia New Edition by Christine Craggs-Hinton, her third revised edition of this great book on Living with #fibromyalgia available from Amazon and other good bookstores. In line with the latest thinking of fibromyalgia as a disorder of the CNS (central nervous system), this third edition looks at how an over-sensitised system may amplify pain messages and trigger the symptoms of fibromyalgia. It also looks at research into the link between poor sleep and the disorder. Other topics include: a physical cause? – the evidence for fine nerve damage in fibromyalgia sleep problems and manage the benefits of yoga and music therapy updated recommendations on diet and supplements the importance of posture and exercise pain and stress management complementary therapies.
Take Back Your Life: Find Hope and Freedom from Fibromyalgia Symptoms and Pain by Tami Stackelhouse and Ginevra Liptan, available from Amazon and other good bookstores. A #fibromyalgia patient herself, author and Fibromyalgia Coach, Tami Stackelhouse, has gone from disabled to thriving. In this book, you will learn how to Take Back Your Life using the techniques and strategies Tami has used to get well. More than just a lifestyle or self-management guide, this is a concise reference book woven with Tami’s own #fibromyalgia story.
This book is a page-by-page survival guide for the action-oriented #fibromyalgia patient who wants to feel better as quickly as possible. It’s written for the patient overwhelmed with a new #fibromyalgia diagnosis and for the fibro-veteran who is stuck and needing new ideas. It is also a great resource for the caring family members and support team of anyone suffering from #fibromyalgia.
To finish my list I have included two books that will just make you feel good when you read it. The Man I Think I Know: A feel-good, uplifting story of the most unlikely friendship by Mike Gayle, available from Amazon and other good bookstores. A powerful and bittersweet story of an unexpected male friendship and an unlikely love story, a thought-provoking storyline told, this uplifting tale reminds us of the simple courage at the heart of every human being.
Ever since The Incident, James DeWitt has stayed on the safe side. He likes to know what happens next. Danny Allen is not on the safe side. He is more past the point of no return.
The past is about to catch up with both of them in a way that which will change their lives forever, unexpectedly. But redemption can come in the most unlikely ways.
The Map of Us, The Most Uplifting Feel Good Fiction Book of 2018,by Jules Preston and available at Amazon and other good bookstores. A story of love and lost directions
Violet North is wonderfully inconvenient. Abandoned by her family and lost in an imagined world of moors and adventure, her life changes in the space of just 37 words exchanged with a stranger at her front door.
Decades later, Daniel Bearing has inherited his father’s multi-million pound business, and is utterly lost. He has no idea who he is or where his life is headed.
When Violet’s granddaughter’s marriage falls apart, Tilly, always adept with numbers, compiles a detailed statistical report to pinpoint why. But the Compatibility Index Tilly creates has unforeseen consequences for everyone in her world. Tilly and Daniel share a secret too. 10.37am, April 22nd. Soon, a complex web of secrets and lies is exposed and an adventure begins with a blue typewriter…
Fibromyalgia Diary: A Fibromyalgia Journal Book to Log Pain Symptoms, Food Intake, Medications also Level of Interferences of Pain on Your Daily Activities, Perfect as Fibromyalgia Gifts by Fibromyalgia Warrior, available from Amazon and other good bookstores. BETTER CONTROL IN PAIN MANAGEMENT: Through observation of your symptoms and triggers during the day, you can easily highlight trends and track the effectiveness of your current treatments. Sharing these details with your healthcare team can drastically improve your fibromyalgia pain management. Instead of needing to mentally recall how often you have felt pain or how severe it was, you can easily refer to your journal for a detailed record and description.
You’ll be able to track daily:
- The overall level of pain,
- Locations of pain,
- Interference of pain on your sleep,
- Weather& Temperature,
- Your fatigue during the day,
- Your mood,
- Exercise level,
- Water/Food Intake
- Medications and/or supplements.
You’ll also have a section for your notes so that you can add additional triggers, doctor appointments, or pain patterns that you’ve noticed as well as your body’s reactions to certain food groups. Each day consists of 2-pages of trackers. They are not pre-dated so that you can use whenever needed. You’ll have total of 120 tracking pages.
A THOUGHTFUL GIFT: This journal is a life changer for fibromyalgia sufferers, their doctors, caregivers, family and friends. Also would make a thoughtful gift to someone you love who is in need of this health tracker.