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Upcoming Events
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Every Thursday (Except for Apr 26th) 7-8 PM (PDT): "Chat" Night on Ning!
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Honoring Your Body: Practical Advice,
Part 1
In my healing journey, I've found lots of info on why I should honor my body and many ideas on ways to do it. Sadly, I haven't found as many day-to-day tips for how to live with fibromyalgia. Below are some of the things that have made life easier for me, things I wish I'd heard when I was first diagnosed.
We all need a pattern of activity and rest. I schedule my errands and appointments on Wednesdays. It's my "running around" day. Thursday, I don't schedule any appointments and leave it as a day for working in my office. This helps me feel less fatigue than if I had activities on both days.
Too often, I see my clients have activities spread throughout the entire week. It reminds me of what Bilbo said, "I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter, scraped over too much bread." By having a pattern of activity and rest, just like waking and sleeping, we have time for our bodies and spirits to recover; ultimately, we accomplish more. | |
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Fibromyalgia Awareness Day at The Frida Center Saturday, May 12th from 3-5 PM (doors open at 2 PM)
In honor of Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, The Frida Center for Fibromyalgia is delighted to present a panel discussion with the Portland Fibromyalgia Forum: Dr. Ginevra Liptan, Dr. Kip Kemple, and Dr. Jill Fancher. Our guests will discuss various aspects of modern fibromyalgia management, including the latest research trends. Audience members will be able to ask questions of the panelists as well as to meet instructors at The Studio, representatives of local support groups, and other members of The Frida Center community.
This is a FREE event, but space is limited: seating is first-come, first-served, with the doors opening at 2:00PM. However, the event will be filmed and subsequently made available online. |
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Our Sponsors
![](http://portlandfibrocfs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/WIP-Logo.jpg?width=300")
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The Thriving Fibromite
APRIL 2012 |
Greetings!
May brings warmer weather, fewer rains and Fibromyalgia Awareness Day! We think you will be excited about the events planned for this month. The Frida Center kicks things off with a special Forum on May 12th (see sidebar). We follow with our first women's only webinar on the 14th and then a "Retreat" for the Soul on the 19th that is guaranteed to recharge your body and spirit. Why not dedicate this month to honoring your body and truly caring for YOU?! We can't think of a better way to celebrate Fibromyalgia Awareness. PS... Think of one person with fibromyalgia or ME/CFS who has told you, "I wish there was some support for people like us!" and to him/her. |
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Pelvic Floor Dysfunction for Women With Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS
 Monday, May 14th 6:30-8 PM (PDT) Register here to attend!
Do you have incontinence, painful intercourse or other pelvic floor pain? What about abdominal pain, low back pain or even constipation?
These can all be signs of pelvic floor dysfunction!
At our May webinar for women only, Lynne Marshall-Brook, owner of Tigard Physical Therapy, Inc, will be discussing treatments and self care for these conditions.
We know this can be an uncomfortable subject to discuss and that is what makes a webinar the perfect media for the topic. You can dial-in or join us via web with total anonymity! You will even be able to ask questions by typing them in and WE will read them for YOU. It doesn't get any safer than that!
Lynne will also touch on body rolling. Body, or massage, rolling uses 6 to 10 inch balls to help stretch muscles in a technique similar to myofascial release massage. It improves flexibility and range of motion.
So, please join us for the chance to discuss these very important topics!
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May "Retreat" for the Soul: Self Care  Saturday, May 19th, 1-4:30 PM
Please join us as we celebrate Fibromyalgia Awareness by honoring our body and soul at our first-ever "May Retreat for the Soul." Our focus for the day will be self care.
The retreat brings together three energy enhancing activities that will help you replenish your supply of spoons and recharg your battery.
First, Maria Pfeiffer from "My Life Works Today" will facilitate our experiencing "Wellness Discovery: Storytelling Through Images" wherewe will utilize images in a brief collage exercise that will tap into our intuition, open up a dialogue to explore and free some wonderful insights that we can use to put some peace back into our hearts.
Our second activity will help us find the flexibility and balance we need so that we don't injure ourselves in a fall. Elisa Lochridge from "Your Fit Goal" is going to lead us through some very gentle exercises. Everything can be done from a chair if that is more comfortable for you.
The third and final self care activity will be gratitude journaling with Sheri Joi from "Find Your Kumu." Harness the power of gratitude to create the life you want. Explore taking your gratitude from ordinary to extraordinary!
There will be refreshments provided and plenty of break time between each event. Dress comfortably. Bring anything that would make you feel more comfortable -- pillow, blanket, favorite beverage.
This event begins promptly at 1PM and will NOT be video recorded.
Journals and pens will be provided.
This is going to be the event of the year. Hope you can make it!
To read presenters' bios, click here.
To RSVP on Facebook, click here.
To RSVP on Ning, click here.
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Receive Discounted Naturopathic Care at The NCNM Clinic in Portland
The NCNM (The National College of Naturopathic Medicine) Clinic is a thriving center for health care. Their staff of attending physicians includes naturopathic, Chinese medicine, chiropractic and medical doctors, some with over 35 years of experience in health care.
NCNM Clinic is open six days a week. You can see a team of providers and students on their teaching rotations or you can make an appointment with a private physician. For some insight into what it's like to be a patient at a teaching clinic, please click here.
Spring Special
Discounted rates for office visits during April, May and June 2012.*
$50 for new patients
$25 for returning patients
Call today for an appointment: 503.552.1551!
3025 SW Corbett Avenue
Portland, OR 97201
The NCNM is located at the west end of the Ross Island Bridge.
*Offer expires June 30, 2012. Does not include private shift appointments, IV therapy, colposcopy, minor surgery supplies, lab or medicinary.
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April Recordings Available
How To "Ask for What You Want" and "Be Heard" With an Invisible Illness Tami Stackelhouse kicked off this meeting with a fun activity where we "virtually" walked though our day and saw how easy it was to "lose spoons" doing the simplest of tasks. Dave Anderson followed with an audience engaging talk that helped us all understand how we can better communicate with one another both using our words and our body language. David believes that good communication is essential to a healthy and happy life -- but knows from personal experience how difficult that communication can be. He used handouts, examples and humor to help make his point. We had an excellent turnout for this meeting and it was gratifying to see how many members brought their spouses, partners or friends with them to this event. How to Ask for What You Want Video Recording Part 1 How to Ask for What You Want Video Recording Part 2 Webinar: How To Go from Taking One Vitamin a Day to Managing Twelve Prescriptions
Does the sheer number of supplements and prescriptions you are taking seem unmanageable? Do you have trouble remembering to take your meds? What about those times that you just aren't sure whether you took them or not and you have no idea what to do?
Many of us have gone almost overnight from taking not much more than aspirin to managing a plethora of vitamins, supplements and medications.
Mike Farley, a Pharmacist with Safeway, spoke at our April webinar and answered many of the questions that we had because of just this problem.
He gave us safety information on combining over-the-counter medications with prescription drugs (especially opioid painkillers) as well as whether it is safe to take another pill if the first doesn't work.
Mike provided resources for finding drug interaction information and told us when we should speak to our pharmacist about a medication question vs. when to speak to our doctor.
Be sure and listen to the lively Q & A session at the end.
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 Join our Private Web Group
The Portland Area Fibromyalgia - ME/CFS Group provides a support system and social network for those dealing with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and other chronic illness and pain conditions. Our primary purpose is to encourage each other in thriving despite our illnesses.
By joining our private group, you'll have access to:
- Videos of our monthly group meetings featuring knowledgable speakers on various aspects of coping with and healing from chronic illness.
- Audio recordings of our monthly webinars featuring authors, doctors, naturopaths and other experts on fibromyalgia and ME/CFS from around the country.
- A compassionate online community where we share our stories and offer one another support.
- A library of articles on fibromyalgia and ME/CFS.
There are no membership dues and it is free to join. We hope that you will find exactly what you need in our group and look forward to meeting you!
Join the Portland Fibromyalgia-ME/CFS Group...
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Thanks for reading our March 2012 issue! We'd love your feedback on what you thought.
It would really help us if you would:
To thriving, not just surviving,
 
Tamara Staples Tami Stackelhouse
tamara@portlandfibrocfs.com tami@myrestoredhealth.com
(503) 476-9520 (971) 832-9322
Group Leader Co-Leader
Portland Fibromyalgia-ME/CFS Group |
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