As previously mentioned, your unmanaged pain will cause your anxiety to rise, as well as depression.
Unmanaged pain causes depression because of the amount of pain with no solutions to relieve it which in turn causes anxiety because there is unmanaged pain with no solution to relieve it and the depression from not being able to relieve it. Anxiety and depression "go hand in hand", from what my doctor has told me. And because we can't get the relief we need, we tend to have a never ending circle of pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia…repeat, repeat, repeat…
The "key" to Fibromyalgia is controlling your anxiety, depression, and sleep (I'm obviously failing, lol). If we can control these things it's supposed to be the "key" to pain management.

I've yet to accomplish this and find a way to "control the cycle" instead of it controlling me…
Best of luck!

Pain generates anxiety - anxiety generates pain for someone with fibromyalgia. One is fuel for the other!! The more pain we experience daily the more anxious we get about never feeling well. When our anxiety is heightened, we are more likely to experience pain because our nervous system will transmit more pain signals to the brain when in an anxious state. Avoiding situations that are stressful is a must if you want to keep pain level to a minimum, but life gets in the way and we are always having to cope with anxiety in some form. It's a challenge to stay cheerful when life is like this, but we try.🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

I just find other people taxing on my energy levels. Like it just drains me. I have a very taxing job, lots of people, high energy environment, and by the end of each day i just want to shut the world out. I think I suffer from sensory overload from everything my job entails. Weekends are my time to turn back into a hermit to regenerate. And because my
job allows me to work from home, in finding it harder to get the courage to leave the house every day to go to those places that drain me!
I used to call myself a people person. Not anymore..... :-/

When i read your comment it was like i was reading about myself.
I never really think to much about how i feel and how it impacts so much on how i interact with others.
I really experience this at my workplace ...for example when i go for abreak i have become less patient and very intolerant of being chatty or joining in a gossip session. I just want to sit and be in my own head and just zone out.
Just joined the group and am so glad i did.

I definitely agree with starting with sleep. If you are not sleeping or getting restful sleep, it won't matter what other great things you are doing for yourself, because your body cannot repair itself at the end of each day.
I have been putting a lot of focus on improving sleep in the last 12 months, it has taken me a long time to find what works, but I can say I am sleeping most nights now, whereas before I was a full blown insomniac and a mess as a result! As a side note, what really DIDN'T work for me were meds. I was given several different ones to try; some didn't work at all, others worked but made me very sick in other ways. The prescribing doctor was very informative but obviously the only tool in his shed was to use chemicals, and my body doesn't respond well to that. Now I am being treated by a naturopath and we have almost completely solved the sleep issue! Albeit I may have to take these supplements for a long time, but there have been no negative side effects so far. Other issues that were becoming more and more upsetting (pain, Fibro fog etc) are starting to slowly improve, so yes, sleep is the linchpin I think!!