I was extremely lucky to recover from Long Covid at the start of 2023, but certain symptoms never went away. By the time I was formally diagnosed with fibromyalgia/ fibro in late 2023, neither myself nor my doctor were surprised. The awesome news was that I had the kind of chronic illness where some level of exercise is often possible, and it won’t wreck me; if I do it right. The not-so-good news was that I couldn’t seem to live for even two months without encountering ongoing pain, fatigue and, I later realised; brain fog. Figuring out how to balance work, rest and have energy left for life, let alone regain a good level of stamina and minimise pain, fatigue and brain fog, has been A JOURNEY. I’m well into that journey, so its time to reflect and recap.
Floored
The first signs I had a second chronic illness were when my brain fog eased and my ADHD brain again forgot how to sleep at night, yet pain and fatigue persisted. Resting hard (bingeing Netflix and lying down for three hours after hanging out washing), and walking boosted my energy levels in summer 2022, after long covid. I returned to school to teach with plenty of energy, for around 5 weeks. Then I got tireder, and my daily walks (which before long covid were 5-6 days a week running), became a dawdle, from week 6 onward.
It wasn’t until I resigned and took the first teaching term off 2024 off that I confirmed what was going on; I was no longer able bodied enough to teach full time. Teaching five days a week, week after week, made me cumulatively more fatigued. A single night’s sleep did nothing to make me feel rested, even if I slept for 12 hours. Twelve hour’s sleep multiple nights in a row also wasn’t enough. I could even feel MORE fatigued in the morning, than I had before going to bed.
A whole weekend of doing no more than necessary house work like one load of washing and my weekly shopping each came after multiple hours of rest, and had to be followed by multiple hours of rest. I didn’t have the energy or focus to sit up and write my novels. Not after 6 or more weeks of teaching. Any writing I did in that time was done in bed, lying down. I set my novel aside from months, aware that my brain wasn’t functioning at a high enough level to world build, develop plots and characters, or even remember anything I’d written so far.
My Old Life Was Too Much
Teaching involves lots of standing and bending/ squatting down to my young, shorter student’s heights, so I don’t tower over them. Then there’s all the walking around the room, checking in and giving feedback. Not to mention remaining calm, and patient with twenty something children, and supporting them to regulate their emotions. The toll all that took on my body was far more than an evening’s rest, or a whole weekend of rest was sufficient for my chronically ill, low stamina body to recover from. For all of 2023, all I did was teach, rest and essential housework. I had no time or energy to have a life beyond that.
Even in the earlier weeks of term, I also struggled with exercise. Before long covid I’d been running at least 4 kilometers, at least four times a week. Long Covid had me moving like a zombie whose body wanted to be in their grave but whose ADHD brain refused to let it. I’d pulled back to 2km walks, but was desperate for 3km- 4km walks. To walk up and down hills (which was much harder now) and to walk in the mountains.
Judging the distance I could walk without feeling like I needed to lie down and rest to make it home, or how far I could go before my back near crippled me with pain, was very difficult.
Teaching & Writing SFF Were Too Much
About the only thing easy to accept was that I wasn’t up to working on my novels. I recognised that because my first two years of full time teaching had involved SO MUCH learning, that they’d worn me out too much to write as well. The now frequent typos in my social media, regardless of how good or bad my energy levels felt, told me my brain was NOT working properly.
Teaching was a struggle too. I’m an experienced teacher, but I simply didn’t have the energy to pull up, correct and insist that students who frequently wore me down with boundary pushing behaviours stepped up and behaved. It became a marathon, as the term dragged on, until certain students stepped up, and shared the load of managing their behaviour with me.
How Do You Stay Within Limits that Keep Changing?!
The hardest part about knowing how far I could walk, for how long, on flat ground or slopes, was that it changed. Constantly. And it didn’t just get worse as the teaching term went on, it could get better and worse within the term. Every time I thought I’d figured out what I was physically capable of, the bar moved, and I was no longer sure.
It was clear I needed to rest for hours when I got home from work, before a half hour dawdle around the block. And that I needed to sit down for 2-3 hours between each housework task. But distances, how much time, and level of physical energy required to complete activities continued to vary, and became difficult to predict. I often got it wrong, and I frequently overdid it.
Part Time Teaching Was Better
Spending the first term at home in 2024 was a game changer. I went from doubtful of whether I could walk for an hour, to, in late February, hiking one hike of 15 kms in a single day. I went to bed when I got back to my accommodation, had take away for dinner and slept from 10pm till 1pm the next day. But for the first time in a year and a half, I was confident I had the stamina to travel, and went for a 3 week road trip in New Zealand, solo.
I did casual teaching from May onwards. Not tracking twenty something students personal and social skill development, and their learning across 16 different curriculum areas made a huge difference. It meant I could leave work at work, come home and switch off. Not needing to get to work till 8.15am, and often leaving at 3.30pm also helped, as did and never having to go to meetings from 3.30-4.30pm.
For the second half of the year I taught 3 days a week, but I only for one day, then a planning day with colleagues -much gentler on my body. Then two days off, one day teaching, another two days off.
FINALLY I had the energy to work on my novels, and to read fiction (instead of just watching it.) I even got to visit family and occasionally go out for dinner with friends, after a 1 to 1.5 years of not having the stamina to be social.
Part Time Teaching & Physical Sustainability
The biggest game changer was switching from classroom teacher to specialist teacher, in 2025. I no longer had to set and update 2-4 individual learning goals for nine-ish students, 4x a year. I no longer had to assess students on 16 different curriculum subjects.
I taught only ONE curriculum/ subject. And I got to teach the exactly same lesson to four different classes, on the same day. I also got an hour to plan.
The difference the above made was a massive reduction in my cognitive load. And with less cognitive strain, my body relaxed, and less tension and strain meant less pain and fatigue. (Stress is a major enemy of fibro.)
Starting with a single day a week also let me rest until lingering brain fog throughout 2023 FINALLY cleared. I got my brain back and started to FEEL like myself again. My energy/ stamina returning was a big part of that.
Work/ Rest/ Life Balance
2025 and 2026 have been the best so far. I increased my teaching days to two days -in a row- this year. It’s usually manageable, with a restful evening. Cooking is a day off only activity, and I rest a few hours after teaching, before walking.
I now walk 7 days a week. It makes a huge difference to my stamina and overall energy levels. I’m much better at judging how far I can walk, and let my body auto pilot the route when I’m unsure, which also works.
I’m also studying one (likely two this coming semester) days a week. That’s still leaving enough time to rest that I can work on my novels, and visit family and friends periodically. In other words; I’ve got my life back. The only thing I can’t do long term is attend as many protests as I’d like, because marching at a slow pace is as bad for my stamina as standing still for long periods. (Twenty minutes standing is too long, and standing for an hour would impact me similarly to climbing too many stairs in a row.)
Home Set Up To Reduce Strain
I moved house in 2024 (which destroyed me physically for around two weeks). But the fresh start was great for setting up my house to support my body and reduce physical strain on it. I’m talking simple things like purchasing and placing additional chairs throughout my home.
Just inside my front door is a telephone table. It has a seat to sit on while I put my shoes on or off, and a drawer I can sit shopping/ work bags on. The latter saves me from having to bend to reach the floor, which can take a lot of effort, and be very painful when I get back pain, my most persistent type of pain.
I also have a (padded) chair in the bathroom and my bedroom. These mean I can sit down while dressing on a low energy day, or sit to pull socks on or off, on a good energy level day. (On a great day I’ll remove or put on socks while standing up.)
My favourite and main form of washing is a bath. Sitting, even lying down to wash reduces A LOT of strain. With bad back pain, I can’t really reach or scrub my feet in the shower, because the bending is too painful, and nothing supports my back while it strains to hold me upright.
I also sit with a cushion on the couch. Lower back support is crucial to minimising strain and pain when I’m fatigued/ in pain, and still helps the rest of the time.
Pain Awareness
This was a big adjustment. Until becoming chronically ill, I tended to only take pain killers when I accidentally bashed my head; virtually never. Unfortunately, with long covid, I got used to over the counter pain killers doing virtually nothing. To being in high, constant levels of pain, for days, even weeks on end.
Yes, I’m speaking as severe as stabbing pains in my chest. I would sit rubbing my chest on breaks at work. With teaching, between being autistically unaware of my body’s needs, ADHD distracted, and with both predisposing me to become hyper focused/ more oblivious to my body; I only noticed excruciating pain with kids in front of me.
The above was the main problem with full time teaching. I couldn’t drop everything to sit down and rest at any point in my teaching day. So my pain and fatigue got worse throughout the day, for five days in a row.
And being unaware of how much pain I was in, I was often equally unaware of what made my pain worse. Then there’s the fact that with fibro, if you sit down too long; your body hurts. (In my case, usually my lower back.) And if you stand too long, or walk too far, or do too much physical activity; your body hurts. So knowing whether you need to sit down or to be more active is challenging!
Pain Types, Medication & Management
Luckily, the GP I found when seeking a long covid diagnosis is well informed, and not prejudiced/ ignorant or skeptical of chronic illnesses like fibro. He knew which prescription pain killer is commonly used to treat it. Its the strong kind that has to be taken the night before. After long, painful trial and error, I’ve learnt to take it before every teaching day, and seven night’s a week for the last 2, if not 3 weeks of term. That does a good job of preventing my lower back pain, which reduces strain in my back, which also reduces my fatigue levels.
Epsom Salts
I had no idea epsom salts could be such a huge pain relief. The first epsom salt bath I had with long covid, and intense aches and pain, pretty much all over, was HEAVEN. I no longer felt like someone had beaten the living shit out of me. It helped my muscles to relax, reducing strain, pain and fatigue.
Inflammatory Pain
While my fibro typically involves nerve pain, I’m very prone to inflammatory pain. In the past two years I’ve had inflammatory pain multiple times, in my; throat, lungs, ribs, the cartilage between my ribs, my lower back and my hips. Again, trial and error has shown; always take Panadol, as lower back pain could be inflammatory or nerve.
Putting My Back Out
With fibro, it seems easy to put my back out. I need only stumble on the footpath when my back is sore, bend the wrong way, or strain to reach for something, especially sideways. I’ve learnt to either sit on the floor, or a chair, when reaching for things, like loading or unloading the washing machine, or putting clothes in drawers. I always stand with my body close to whatever I’m reaching for, if I have to remain standing. And I try to avoid reaching far with a rake/ broom, as that too can put my back out.
All of the above helps reduce chiropractor visits, which aren’t cheap!
Brain Fog
ADHD and brain fog together are BAD. On my New Zealand road trip, I got in the car one day, ‘followed’ my gps, and at various points was on all 5 different routes it suggested, having intended to take ONE. ADHD and brain fog together can also result in terrible typos. I’m talking ‘to the to shops.’ The frequency and severity of my typos on social media is a great indicator of how bad my brain fog is, on any given day.
(Luckily, I rarely feel impacted by brain fog, and when I do its usually not too bad. But that’s now I teach part time, and spend as much time resting as parents who are 20-30 years older than I am.)
Another good indicator is when talking to other people. If a word I don’t use very often, like names of places/ institutions or other specific vocabulary is a blank space in my mind; I’m brain fogged. If I can only speak using simple vocab -luckily that’s all I need to teach young kids!- then my brain fog is getting bad.
But if I’m not having a long conversation in person, or posting lots on social media; there’s a chance I don’t even realise I’m brain fogged. I point that out because like autism and ADHD, fibro can be a perfectly invisible to other people, WHILE anywhere from mildly to severely cognitively impact people with fibro.
Parting Words
If you’ve got fibro; I hope you’ve found your best ways to minimise pain, strain and fatigue! Also; hugs!
If you don’t; when a chronically ill, or anyway cognitively impaired person tells you they can’t do something, even if they don’t look or sound disabled; BELIEVE THEM. If I’m cognitively impaired; I don’t have the energy to explain how and why my brain is currently fucked. If I don’t have the energy to even stand up; likewise, I don’t have the energy to ask for a seat on the train!
Please be aware that not all physical, or all cognitive impairments are visible to you, a third party. LISTEN to people when they tell you what is happening to their own body/ brain. ESPECIALLY if you are any sort of medical professional or carer!
Thanks for reading!
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