When Your Nervous System Never Switches Off

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 My Nervous System With Fibromyalgia


Living with fibromyalgia means my nervous system is always “on.”


There is no off switch. No quiet mode. Just constant signals firing even when nothing around me is actually dangerous.


When my body gets stressed for too long, everything changes.


Sleep becomes impossible.


My body is exhausted, but my nervous system refuses to rest. My muscles are tired, my mind is tired, yet I lie there feeling wired, alert, uncomfortable. Rest doesn’t feel like resting anymore. It feels like waiting.


My appetite disappears.


Not because I don’t want food, but because stress shuts my body down. When the nervous system is overwhelmed, it focuses on survival, not hunger. Eating becomes hard. Even thinking about food can feel like too much.


Emotionally, I become overwhelmed.


Small things feel big. Sounds are louder. Feelings hit deeper. I can cry easily, get irritated quickly, or feel completely numb. None of this is a choice. It’s my body reacting to being overloaded for too long.


This is the part people don’t always see.

Fibromyalgia isn’t just pain.

It’s a nervous system that has learned to stay in fight-or-flight.

It’s a body that reacts as if danger is everywhere, even in moments that should feel calm.


I’m still human.

I still feel emotions. I still get tired. I still want comfort, understanding, and peace. Having a chronic illness doesn’t make me stronger all the time—it makes me need gentleness.

Some days, rest doesn’t heal me the way it should.

Some days, my body doesn’t cooperate.

And some days, just existing feels like work.


This isn’t weakness.

This is what happens when a nervous system has been pushed beyond its limits for too long.

If you live with fibromyalgia too, you’re not imagining it.

Your body is doing its best to protect you—even when it doesn’t feel helpful.


And if today all you can do is breathe and get through the day, that is enough.

https://x.com/FlareflourishF 

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