The Pleasure List

  My fibro and insomnia has me feeling a little befuddled, so for my first post I'll talk about the pleasure list. This falls under self-care, which everybody, chronic pain or not,  needs a little more of, I think.

I went to a fibromyalgia seminar yesterday that was held at my college, where the speaker talked about GABA in the brain and fibro people. (I have to throw a little disclaimer at ya and say that I'm not medically trained, so I can't attest to how accurate this is. But a lot of you will kinda nod your heads and say, "Yeah, I get that. It makes sense.") GABA, which affects the nervous system, is activated by the experience of pleasure. So anything that you do that gives you pleasure, from petting your cat to eating a really good dinner, activates a shower of GABA in the brain. Doing this over time helps re-train the chronic pain brain. Our speaker advised us to picture the GABA showering our brain with pleasure when we do these things we love. Over time you can try just sitting quietly, breathing deeply, and thinking about the brain pleasure shower.  It helps to make a Pleasure List. Here's mine:

1. Yoga and stretching. I just lay my mat out and stretch whatever hurts. I don't worry about poses or how fast I'm moving. You could call it snail yoga.

2. Baths with lavender epsom salt. I have two bath pillows, and sometimes I take a packed bowl with me. Books and magazines are good too. I take a giant Instyle magazine (straight girly, they don't bullshit ya) and prop it on my belly. Someday, I will have a jacuzzi tub....

3. Touch. Petting the Synester Nynester, cuddling with my dude, going to a store that has really nice fabrics and stroking them all....I'm a touch junkie.

4. Self-massage. Another lady I met at the fibro seminar recommended the Merry Hempsters Hot Hemp Muscle Rub Balm, and I found it at my college bookstore. Feels and smells amazing! And made locally, always a plus.

5. Medical Green. I recently discovered Beeline Hemp Wick, and it really cuts down on the coughing and helps it taste better. Put some ice in your piece, set some nag champa burning, turn on some Ben Harper, and chill.

6. The distraction. I can set my watercolors out, prop my board in my lap, and lose an hour or two, just painting in broad strokes, which is easier when I'm hurting than drawing.  Yours might be video games or surfing tumblr. Sometimes you just need to jump off the hamster wheel in your head...

    ....Aaaaand that's it for my first post. Take care of yourself my loves. Whatever it is that rubs you wrong about yourself, try letting it just be, and have its space. Maybe the most important thing I learned from counseling is that its okay to feel whatever you feel. No need to judge. Depending on where you are, this can be incredibly freeing.

 Hugs to you all,
Rachel