For me, it's been trying a lot of different meds, a LOT of physical therapy, learning to pace myself, and making adjustments to my work space. I was lucky enough to be able to take medical leave when I first got sick, and then gradually return to work. I'm up to 25 hours per week right now, hoping to increase soon. So I work from home, which is a huge advantage, and with the help of my PT I've been able to make some adjustments to my home office so working causes me less pain. And I take frequent breaks to do quick PT exercises and adjust my position. When I'm not working, I also do a lot of PT, and probably most importantly, rest. I've always been really bad at that, but now I have no choice. I'm still exhausted all the time and still in a lot of pain, but I'm able to get through the day most of the time. It took a long time to figure out what worked for me though.

It’s difficult. There are days where I feel almost normal and then I do all the things, inevitably causing a flare the next day. It’s like I’m constantly trying to figure out the magical answer to the good days. What I’m trying right now is (I hate to say this because it’s so annoying and people say this to us all the time, but…) I take things a day at a time (ewwww…I know, but…) it helps me to stop looking back and stop looking forward, focusing on what I can do right now. Can I fold laundry in the next two hours? Can I take the dogs on a walk in 1 hour? Stuff like that. It really helps me, but then I get cocky and stop using my system and I get all sad because I look back at all I haven’t done and look forward and worry about all the things I won’t be able to do in the future! I don’t know if that helps, but I hope it does! 🤗 ❤️