The #1 Fibromyalgia Mistake That Makes Pain Worse

Breaking Free from the Boom-Bust Cycle

The solution is called pacing, and it requires a complete mindset shift. Instead of doing as much as possible on good days, you deliberately do less than you feel capable of. Instead of resting completely on bad days, you maintain some minimal level of activity.

What Pacing Actually Looks Like

Pacing means establishing a baseline of activity that you can sustain even on worse days, then sticking to it consistently—even when you feel good. This feels wrong at first. You'll have energy left over on better days and feel like you're wasting it. But you're actually building stability.

Start by honestly assessing what you can do on an average bad day. Maybe that's 20 minutes of light activity spread throughout the day. That becomes your baseline. On better days, you might increase slightly—say, to 30 minutes—but you don't suddenly jump to three hours of activity just because you feel capable.

The 50-80% Rule

A useful guideline is to operate at 50-80% of what you think you can do on any given day. If you think you can wash dishes for 20 minutes, stop at 15. If you think you can walk for 30 minutes, stick to 20. This buffer protects you from the delayed crash.

Yes, this means leaving tasks unfinished. It means accepting that you can't do everything, even on good days. It's frustrating and requires grieving the loss of your pre-fibromyalgia capabilities. But it's the path to fewer severe crashes and more consistent functioning over time.