It’s hard to avoid cooking, but I sure wish I could! I was OK with it before I had fibromyalgia, but now the very thought of it stresses me out.
If I’m doing something really simple and familiar, cooking’s not too bad. When I have to keep track of multiple things, or go through a multi-step process, I can forget what I’m doing and get overwhelmed. When your family is waiting for dinner and you find yourself lost in the brain fog and on the verge of ruining it all, it can definitely trigger your anxiety!
In my early fibro days, when I was still working full time, I’d pick up the kids from daycare (where there was unbearable noise), drive home in heavy traffic, then have to cook dinner while the kids were clamoring for my attention. I was already trying to deal with the stress, pain and fatigue caused by work, so dinner regularly pushed me over the edge. It was common for me to take Vicodin and collapse on the couch, twitching in pain, before I even got a chance to eat.
Things are a lot better now, but I’m still trying to shake off the emotions I learned to associate with cooking. For a long time, I relied heavily on microwavable entrees and eating out, but since I’ve had to go gluten free, I’ve had to be more consistent about actually cooking. I’ve found some things that help, and here they are for you:
At the end of that article, there’s a Readers Respond where you can learn from other people and leave ideas of your own. To share your cooking mishaps and how it makes you feel, leave a comment below!
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Cooking With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome originally appeared on About.com Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 06:00:44.
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