Spoon theory

The spoon theory came about years ago by a woman called Christine who suffers from Lupus.  She started this theory to explain to a friend how it is like to deal with chronic illnesses on a daily basis. Christine grabbed a handful of spoons and used the spoons to represent our energy. She had grabbed 12 spoons for someone who has chronic illnesses. Anyone without any illnesses have plenty of spoons like hundreds and thousands of spoons. 

For every task we do every day requires energy so each task uses a spoon. So Christine explained to her friend what she done on an average day and took a spoon away. When all the spoons are gone the only way of requiring more spoons is resting and waiting to regenerate more spoons. Due to this anyone with chronic illnesses will ration their spoons throughout the day. Most people do not have time to rest in the middle of the day so we have to ration them throughout the day instead of using them all up in the morning as no spoons means no energy. On the other hand if someone without a chronic illness were to go hard in the morning they might be a bit tired or they might be fine. In most cases they are able to continue with the rest of their day because they have plenty of spoons to get through the day. They might need some extra coffee but life is still able to carry on. Like Christine I am careful with my spoons and try not to waste them as I have limited spoons some more than others as I have issues with sleeping.

Well this is the spoon theory a concept developed my Christine Misbranding and referenced to by many people who suffer from chronic or invisible illnesses. Many people living with conditions such fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, anxiety and depression. 

Living with chronic illnesses can be deceiving as we can appear “fine” as we often do not display easily spotted physical symptoms. It can be tough for everyone involved with that person like friends, family and colleagues to understand why they bail out on happy hour or cannot drive long distances for visiting or take a lot of sick days. 

I suffer from backache, joint pains and abdominal pain. They are triggered by several things like stress, weather changes, not taking a proper rest or an illness flaring up like my fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease or my IBS.

Many days I try to operate with minor pains in my back or joints and I have to take paracetamol or over the counter codeine and hope the pain goes away. Other days the pain is worse and the pain medication does not work so I have to hope lying down on the sofa or in bed works. 

As a full time mum and also working full time with no friends or family that lives on my doorstep to help out as it is just myself and Alisha now in the house it does disrupt life for both of us. The days I am in pain and need to go places we need to leave earlier as I cannot walk fast like I normally do. The housework gets threw on the back burner as I have no energy to do it myself. I might not be able to take Alisha places even if I make a promise to her that we are going somewhere like the cinema. The television ends up being our friend and that is where we stay unless I need to get up and make us food. There are days I will not be able to do much but lie on the sofa and rest. Because of this I must pace myself throughout the day. If I try to do too many things I run out of energy and I have to rest up. 

At home my work load piles up while I am sick. I get the basics done around the house. The laundry I hate with a passion so I literally get it washed and dried but it usually never gets folded unless I have visitors coming or ironed if I really need to get it ironed. 

I may not look sick but I do have varying levels of dishevelled at times because of a 3 year old, so it is nothing too out of ordinary there. To everyone, people who suffer with chronic and invisible illnesses can appear fine and it can be very hard to understand why we cancel plans or why they always complaining about being tired. The spoon theory which Christine put together to explain to her friend provides everyone a context to share with people in our lives so that they have a much clearer picture of what we have to deal with on a daily basis.

Crohn's disease and Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a result of a number of sensitivities throughout the body from head to toe.  Digestive issues are extremely common with those who suffer with fibromyalgia.  These include GERD or acid reflux issues, gluten intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).  Other digestive issues that are common with fibromyalgia are Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis which are the two most common inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs).  Over a period of time it can cause a lot of discomfort.  Why are they intertwined?

IBDs attack the bowels and make them so sensitive to different types of stimuli and to what we ingest.  With IBDs your whole gastrointestinal tract is inflamed to the point it is not functioning properly.  This inflammation can be extremely painful as well so it is good to keep track of what goes into your body so you know what causes the pain and can end up doing a lot of damage too.  Crohn’s disease however, does not just affect the gastrointestinal tract and symptoms can vary depending on your case.  In many cases the symptoms can be debilitating and make it very difficult for the person to eat and digest their food properly.

Some major symptoms of Crohn’s disease can clash with the symptoms of fibromyalgia symptoms.  These symptoms can include lower back pain, muscle pain, problems with the joints.  Other symptoms include swelling of certain areas of body, blood in stools, cramps, weight loss, dry skin, severe itching and poor general nutrition.

In the worst cases surgery is needed to be performed on patients and they have to create a stoma which is when a part of the intestinal tract is missing because it is unable to work properly so part of the intestine is put through the abdominal wall to create a stoma to attach a bag to collect the waste produced.  With the research done so far no one has found the cause or the cure for Crohn’s disease.  There are a wide range of theories out there like the presence of viruses and bacteria, from irritable bowel syndrome and genetics.  The only solid evidence found at present is that there is a particular gene that all people who suffer with Crohn’s disease seem to share but no one has been able to make the full link between it all at this point in the research.  At some point in the future they will hopefully be able to come up with the solid reason behind why it happens to certain people but not all of us.

There is no solid link between Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia.  This is mainly because researchers have still not been able to determine exactly what the causes are for each of the illnesses.  It is not common to find someone with both fibromyalgia and Crohn’s disease but it is not unknown of someone to have both illnesses (like myself as I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia on May 2^nd 2017 after years of suffering with pain, fatigue and headaches alongside my symptoms of Crohn’s disease).  Researchers are still trying to determine exactly why they seem to be connected to one another, but like with both of their causes there is only one huge link that many doctors ascribe to.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the disorder of the bowels that makes it hard to eat certain types of foods due to sensitivities to them.  Those who have diagnosed with fibromyalgia frequently have IBS as a symptom they are dealing with on a daily basis.  Due to many people who have fibromyalgia end up getting treated for IBS and looking at some of the theories behind why Crohn’s disease happens in certain people.  Both fibromyalgia and Crohn’s disease have something to do with IBS, there are some theories out there that people with IBS and fibromyalgia are more likely to end up with Crohn’s disease in the future.

What does that mean for treatment for those with Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia?

Those with Crohn’s may notice that you do not have to deal with the symptoms on a daily basis if the illness is in remission.  Other periods you may have to deal with the symptoms for an extended amount of time due to a flare up.  During flare ups you want to make sure that you are getting treatment to help reduce the amount of pain that you ate coping with.  These can include a variety of different things, from medications to control your symptoms, surgery to take out part of the intestine that is suffering from Crohn’s disease or a variety of other treatment plans agreed with your gastroenterologist.  Always keep your doctor in the loop about any symptoms you are suffering from as you may end up seeing that the Crohn’s disease or another illness has started to come up alongside your fibromyalgia symptoms.

It is very important to look after yourself because the other illnesses that can often occur with fibromyalgia can be mistaken as a worsening of the fibromyalgia or Crohn’s disease.  Be sure to keep an eye on all your symptoms and keep a journal and if there are any changes or something new has started then you can show the journal to your doctor when the changes started or how the severity has changed.