How I Keep House Despite Chronic Pain

I never know how I am going to feel when I wake up in the morning. This is one of the really fun (note my sarcasm) parts of fibromyalgia and chronic migraines.

I wake up some mornings and feel like I am on top of the world. On those days I tend to rush through the day. I check things off my to-do list left and right, working at a frantic pace to get the most out of my ‘good’ day. Usually, after a day like this, I wake up the next day and I’m exhausted. I’m in so much pain it’s hard to get from my bed to a sitting position on my couch. This can last for a day or go on for a whole week or more.

I repeat this cycle over and over again and it’s very frustrating. It sends me into what I call a pain spiral. I was constantly in survival mode which leads to even more pain for both my health conditions.

Getting out of the cycle

The inability to be consistently productive was leading to another side effect: Depression. I had to figure out a way to thrive despite my pain.

So how did I get out of this cycle?

I decided enough was enough. I had to come up with a plan that didn’t exacerbate my conditions but still supported my goal of a more consistent daily routine. I never imagined I would miss work as much as I did. I didn’t recognize the sense of purpose and happiness my job provided me with until it was taken away. I had to find a way past this.

Zone it out

The first thing I did was sit down with a pen and paper and I began to visualize the layout of my house. Then, I organized my home into zones.

Create tasks

Next, I imagined each individual room and broke down a task list that I could do in that room to help keep it clean. I broke the big tasks down to the tiniest tasks.

My living room list looks like this:

What — A pain level chart

The two main health conditions I struggle with are Fibromyalgia and Migraines. Both conditions cause extreme fatigue, muscle pain, and spasms, brain fog, headache, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, and the list goes on.

So I needed to create a pain chart of my daily symptoms. To create this chart I needed to really pay attention to my body, logging how I felt at the beginning and at the end of each day. I kept the pain log for several months. Each morning and evening I would log my pain level and symptoms.

You can use a journal or try using an app on your phone. I use an app called Journey and I love it. I might not always have a pen and paper near me but I always have my phone. So Journey worked best for me.

Below is the pain level chart that I came up with.

Keeping all of this in mind I looked at the breakdown of each zone and assigned pain levels to each task. I will use my living room zone for the example below of how my pain level chart and zone list work together.

Below is a breakdown of my living room chores with pain level assignments:

Putting it all together

Now that I had a better understanding of my daily pain levels and had mapped out each zone of my home, it was time to put my plan into action.

I created a master chore chart for every room in my home and assigned pain levels to each of my smaller tasks. I keep this on my computer so I have easy access to it each morning. Another great option would be to map it out in the back of your day planner or journal.

Do whatever is easiest for you!

When I wake up I adjust my morning routine to include updating my pain level status in my Journey app. Then I pull up my master chore chart on my computer and choose a zone of my house that needs to be cleaned. I match the tasks with my pain level for the day and add those to my to-do list.

I like to create a daily to-do list in my day planner each morning. If for some reason I’m unable to complete a task on my list I move it over to the next day. I use the Ultimate Planner from Bloom. It’s a perfect companion to my pain calendar. If you use my affiliate link you can get 10% off your order.

I hope this post is helpful and remember:

🌺 You CAN be productive and achieve your goals despite your physical condition.

🌺 Break down your home by zones and make a master chore chart, assigning tasks by pain level.

🌺 A few great tools to help you accomplish your goals like Journey and a daily planner like the one I use from Bloom

🌺 Create an action plan for each day that will help you maintain your home and find a new sense of daily purpose.

As I write this, I’m at pain level 4, so no house cleaning happening today. But, I did manage to get this article posted. I will count that as a win!

I have more migraine life hack articles coming soon. Stay tuned!