If you’re a fibromyalgia sufferer, you know that it can be hard to get comfortable. Choosing the right clothes and bedding by keeping your fibro symptoms in mind when you shop can help maximize your comfort during the day and night.
Buy Clothing to Fit Your Fibromyalgia
Sufferers of fibromyalgia often find that their bodies tend to swell over the course of the day. Keep this in mind when buying clothing, and don’t buy clothes that are too tight fitting. Instead, opt for clothes that are looser or have some stretch in the fabric. This will ensure that your clothes continue to fit comfortably from morning to night.
Fibro Fabrics
When you buy clothes and bedding, make sure to buy natural materials and breathable fabrics rather than synthetics. Natural fibers breathe with your skin to keep you warm but let perspiration escape so that you don’t feel clammy. This also lowers you chances of getting any type of skin irritation.
Opt for cotton, silk, finely brushed wool, cashmere, and alpaca since these fibers are natural and soft. Avoid anything that scratches. For your bed down is the best option providing you don’t have an allergy because it adjusts to your body’s temperature. Buy down in a baffled of square pattern so it doesn’t shift. A cashmere throw is also a soft, comfy option.
Layering: Easy Temperature Control
Fibro sufferers also tend to get hot and cold throughout the day, and their internal thermostats don’t necessarily mirror everyone else’s. This may cause you to shiver when others are peeling off their sweaters, or you may feel stifled by heat when others are reaching for their cardigans. Not only this, but you never know how often your body temperature will feel as if it’s hitting extremes throughout the day.
Keep this in mind when you dress yourself in the morning by layering. Start with a light weight t-shirt or tank top followed by a heavier shirt or a blouse, and make sure you have a cardigan or sweater-jacket on hand to layer over that. Peel off or put on layers accordingly throughout the day.
Nighttime Comfort: Pajamas
If you suffer from fibro, you know that you get hot and cold during the day as well as at night. You can keep your sleep less disturbed by bodily temperature changes if you go to be prepared. Even if you are cold when you go to bed, avoid wearing heavy pajamas at night.
Instead, opt for mid-weight or light, breathable pajamas throughout the year and make sure that you have plenty of blankets of varying warmth that you can layer on your bed instead. It’s much easier to toss off or pull up a blanket and fall back asleep than to wake up to take off, put on, or change pajamas in the middle of the night.
Take That Weight Off Your Shoulders
Though it may be tempting to bring everything you could ever need with you in a purse, try to get used to traveling light. A heavy purse on your shoulder can cause neck and muscle cramps and throw of your balance and posture. Choose a lightweight purse and bring only what you need with you.
If you really can’t part with the security of having everything with you, opt for a lightweight tote that you can put fit purse in. Keep your essentials in your purse and everything else in the tote. This way, you can carry everything, including your purse, in the tote for a short trip to your car, and then you can leave the tote in the car and use the purse when you will be active. You can go back to the car for anything else you may need at any time.
Shoes: Support From the Ground Up
Having good quality, supportive shoes is very important. Your feet carry your weight throughout the day and they need to be supported properly if they are to support the rest of you. Additionally, problems in the feet can lead to bad posture and aches throughout the rest of your body. Buy the best quality shoes you can afford and have them properly fitted.
When looking for a style of shoes, opt for slip-ons rather than lace-ups when you can, since this eliminates the need for awkward bending to do them up if you are in pain.