Sims, Dims and Lessons Learnt

In this post, I just wanted to share with you in a bit more detail about my journey with Prestons Health. I have mentioned previously that I went to see physiotherapists at the beginning of my journey but I wanted to give you all some more information on what I learnt during these sessions because I think it was so poignant in my journey with Fibromyalgia.

So on 3rd December, I popped along to my first physiotherapy session with my husband, Pete, and I can honestly say that making an appointment with them has changed my life for the better. Following this, I did 8 more sessions, some were in the gym, some were sessions where we talked and I even did a hydrotherapy session too!

But what was so poignant about seeing a physio? How has seeing a physio affected me, both physically and mentally?

Well, it was in these sessions that I learnt some truly invaluable life lessons. I learned about the work of Lorimer Moseley and how you can manage your pain using knowledge without the use of any pain killers. I have never taken pain killers for fibro and I never intend to now that I know all about the idea of what Lorimer refers to as  the 'Protectometer.'

If you're into reading then go check out his book: 'The Explain Pain Handbook Protectometer' I've been recommended to read it but haven't had the chance to get hold of it yet. The other resource that is linked to this is the Protectometer App for iPad which I LOVE! It has helped me to learn a lot about my pain and even to control it better now!

And now you're probably wondering 'What on earth does the word 'protectometer' mean?!' and all will be revealed in the two videos that I've put down below. It is a talk by Lorimer Moseley which I have watched more than once and would recommend to anyone who feels persistent pain of any sort!

The Sims and The Dims
One thing that completely changed my life when it comes to persistent pain is learning about the sims and the dims. Lorimer explains pain as a protector when the body thinks that it is in danger so it would make sense that if the body feels safe, it wouldn't feel as much pain. He explains that pain doesn't always necessarily equal tissue damage which was a revelation in pain science when it was discovered and the pain in a part of your body may have no correlation to any type of damage in that particular area of the body!

Sim (Safety In Me) - Something that you do, think, smell, taste, hear, see, touch or someone you know that make you feel safe and content.

Dim (Danger In Me) - Something that you do, think, smell, taste, hear, see, touch or someone you know that makes you feel in danger and unsafe.

The main goal with these is to:

1. Figure out what your DIMs are and eliminate as many as possible
2. Figure out what your SIMs are and incorporate as many as possible

I will leave below a sample list of some of my DIMs and SIMs to help you build a list of your own. They are personal to each individual so yours may be different than mine and one mans SIMs may be another mans DIMs!!

SIMs

• Listening to music
• Eating fruit
• Telling people that I will recover
• Going to the beach
• Warmth
• Work (I'm a bit of a workaholic!!)
• Laughter
• Baths
• Swimming
• Helping people
• To do lists
• The thought that I may recover

DIMs

• Unexpected noises
• Saying 'I'm stupid'
• Health professionals who don't understand my condition
• Having no control
• Worrying that this pain could last forever
• Not being able to do things because of pain and fatigue
• Brain fog