NOW BELLY DANCING HELPS FIBROMYALGIA?

A beautiful and graceful tribute to the belly dance.

This wouldn't be me.

Is there anything else they can find that will help Fibromyalgia? Now, belly dancing will help us??  First, let me say that the thought of me belly dancing sends me into fits of hysterics. Let's just say learning dance steps isn't my forte and grace isn't my middle name.

Heaven help me.

I guess a study in Brazil put women in dance groups and belly dancers were helped. 

When our muscles are immobile, let's say like after a night's sleep (what is that?) they are stiff and sore. After that,  ANY movement will help reduce the pain. The more immobile the muscles are the more they will hurt. 

It's kind of like the Tin Man and the oil can.

I've always said that exercise doesn't help my pain. I think I need to rephrase that. It helps but it doesn't take it away. The pain ALWAYS comes back. The movement does help my muscles move and it helps the muscle spasms, but,  it doesn't "cure what ails me."

I don't think we need more management help. 

We need causal and curative help.

That's why Tai Chi, yoga, Pilate's or, yes, even belly dancing helps with pain. It's a slow, rhythmic movement of the muscles. We all get that. I don't know anyone with Fibromyalgia who can't recite a litany of things that help them with pain. We've gone through tons of trial and error to find ANYTHING that will get us through another day. 

People can only take so much pain. We are tired of happy, smiling faces telling us that if we just take this magic pill or do this lovely little exercise all of our problems will be solved. No wonder we get to the point where we'd like to scratch that smile off of their face. You're probably just depressed. GEE, YA THINK?????? What is it about chronic pain? Don't they get it? Do they think it's just wincing slightly and rubbing a little shoulder muscle and then we can keep our mouths shut and go on about our day? Or how about sitting us in a rocking chair and keep us drugged enough to shut us up?

We smile through the pain enough. We are the masters of invisibility. We HATE the fact that this lovely thing called Fibromyalgia has the power to render us immobile. Living like this isn't our first choice.

Why can't they find out?

Why can't we get past the stigma of this "imaginary" disease and find out what causes it?

Nope.

We're back to belly dancing.

Trust me.

That's a visual you wouldn't want.