Fibromyalgia flare-ups can be a source of stress. Ironically, stress is also a known stimulator of fibromyalgia attacks and can cause you to have more fibromyalgia symptoms. The best thing you can do is learn to manage your stress, so it doesn't provoke a flare-up. Here are some tips about stress and how to best handle it in the long term.

You may not know what type of stress will provoke your symptoms, but it's important that you find out. Fibromyalgia triggers related to stress include large events or everyday happenings; physical or emotional factors, and positive or negative moments.

Explaining the Connection Between Stress and Fibromyalgia

Stress is a major trigger for fibromyalgia. It can make your symptoms worse, and it may be difficult to address the issue if you do not know how to manage your stress levels. Stress can be caused by many things, including:

• Work
• Family relationships
• Relationships with friends or loved ones (including those who live far away from you)
• Health issues that affect your mobility and quality of life such as heart disease, arthritis, or diabetes
• Money problems like an unexpected expense or car repair

As a result of these stresses in life, you may feel overwhelmed and unable to cope with them effectively. You might begin to think about how much worse things could get if something else happens that puts even more pressure on you.

To better understand why stress provokes flare-ups in people with fibromyalgia, let's look at how stress affects the immune system. When stressed out or anxious, our bodies produce higher levels of cortisol—a hormone linked to inflammation and oxidative damage (which can cause pain). Cortisol also inhibits T-cell production and interferes with the body’s ability to repair itself after injury or trauma. This makes sense since when we feel tense and worried about things going wrong around us—being late for work or forgetting an appointment—our bodies release more cortisol than usual!

Identify the Kind of Stress Causing Your Flare-ups

When you're in the midst of a flare-up, it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what's causing your symptoms. It may feel like there's an external force working against you and making things worse—but this isn't always true!

In fact, many people experience stress that manifests as physical discomfort without having any obvious triggers at all. The main point here is that whatever type of stressor is affecting your body now could also contribute to flare-ups later on down the road.

Stress can cause fibromyalgia to flare up in different ways. Stress-related fibromyalgia triggers fall under physical, mental, and emotional categories.

Physical stress

This type includes the body's response to pain or injury. For example, having an injury that causes pain can make you feel more fatigued and increase your risk of developing fibromyalgia symptoms. Other examples include carrying extra weight around your abdomen (belly fat), being unable to sleep well because you’ve got too much going on at work or school, or being exposed to loud noises like construction sites during the day when it's quiet inside your home at night time.

Mental and emotional stress

Stressful life events like divorce and the death of family members caused by illnesses like cancer or severe injuries are examples of mental/emotional stressors that may trigger symptoms for individuals who already have FM.

Cope with Stress and Prevent Fibromyalgia Flare-up

Stress can be a truly difficult thing to deal with. It's not just the stress you're feeling but also all the things that come with constant pain. The more time you spend worrying about what's happening around you, the less time and energy are left over for yourself—and this is how fibromyalgia flares up. 

Be self-aware.

So what can we do? Well, first of all, it helps if we know exactly why our bodies become so reactive when faced with stressors like these. When we lack self-awareness about how our emotions affect our bodies and vice versa, our physical symptoms are amplified unnoticed. That is because they don't seem like anything out of place at first glance.

However, once those emotions begin flowing over into other parts of life like relationships or friendships, then things begin getting worse before they get better again...and yes, there will always be some sort of relief involved when those feelings finally start fading away again after enough time has passed since their initial onset; though sometimes those feelings never completely disappear completely.

Have a strong support system.

One of the most effective ways is to find a support system. You can start by talking to a medical professional about how you're feeling and seeing if there's anything he or she can recommend. If that isn't possible, consider finding a therapist who specializes in treating fibromyalgia patients or connecting with someone through social media who has experience dealing with similar issues.

If all else fails, consider getting professional help from an acupuncturist, massage therapist, or better, a chiropractor for fibromyalgia! They may be able to provide relief from symptoms while they work on other parts of your body that are causing pain as well!

Other Fibromyalgia Triggers Other than Stress

There are many other fibromyalgia triggers out there. Other flare-up activators include:

• Physical illness or injury (including a cold, flu, or other respiratory infection)
• Food allergies
• Environmental factors
• Imbalanced diet (overeating sugar or processed foods)
• Lack of sleep

If there's no way to avoid certain fibromyalgia triggers, learn about stress reduction techniques that work for you. There are many ways to manage it — meditation and deep breathing are two of the most effective ones. Exercise and good nutrition can also help reduce stress hormones, which can help ease the physical symptoms associated with fibromyalgia flare-ups. But at the top of all the available natural fibromyalgia pain relief options is the holistic Upper Cervical Chiropractic.

Manage Your Fibromyalgia with Upper Cervical Chiropractic

Upper Cervical Chiropractic is an effective method of handling fibromyalgia. It can help you manage your fibromyalgia symptoms, including pain and fatigue, as well as your stress level. Chiropractors practicing Upper Cervical Care are trained to help you feel better by fixing your neck misalignment.

If you want to try this holistic approach to managing and relieving fibromyalgia pain but do not know where to start looking for trusted chiropractors in your area, visit the Upper Cervical Awareness website and take advantage of its comprehensive directory of Upper Cervical chiropractors and clinics in America.

to schedule a consultation today.