May 12th is International Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. I have chronic pain for many reasons, but my first and oldest source of discomfort is Fibromyalgia. FM and I have been together now for 28 years. Not a lot was known about FM when I was diagnosed back in 1983, and the disease (that affects up to 5% of the population) continues to this day to elude effective treatment; research is still underfunded and many doctors are still in the dark when it comes to diagnosing this life-altering condition. People often suffer for years before even getting a diagnosis. More awareness is definitely needed.
Here is a brief description of Fibromyalgia from the BC Fibromyalgia Society:
Major complaints associated with FM are widespread pain, fatigue and non-restorative sleep. People with FM may have mild, moderate, or severe symptoms and these symptoms may fluctuate through all degrees of severity or stay constant.
Basically, you're in pain all over and feel like you have the flu all the time. Some people have milder symptoms and are able to work and be fairly active, while others have a tough time managing day-to-day tasks.
If you have Fibromyalgia or know someone who does, there are a lot of great resources on the net: you'll find support groups through Yahoo; information for getting a diagnosis; resources for managing pain; blogs covering the latest research; personal blogs by people who have FM and much more. When you're surfing, mind the claims for cure-alls and quick fixes: there aren't any.
Most people with FM experience cognitive difficulties often known as "Fibrofog." I have that big time today and writing this post is a real challenge, let me tell you. In fact, being at the computer today is a quite the challenge because I didn't sleep much last night and my pain is worse because of that. But I wanted to do a post today and do my bit to raise awareness.
I'll leave you with a video by Rachael, a 34 year old woman living with Fibromyalgia. She has another video contrasting her motorcycle riding and rock climbing days before FM and her slow life after. I can really relate to that one. This video describes the complex collection of symptoms that is Fibromyalgia:
7 comments:
hey, thanks for stopping by my blog and letting me know about this! I didn't know. Will try to drum up a post tomorrow (a day late and a dollar short)
Got one up:
http://iamnotwrong.blogspot.com/2008/05/fibromyalgia-awareness-day-day-late.html
Thanks again for letting me know. Now we'll see if I remmeber next year. Should probably go put a reminder in the calendar now while I'm thinking about it....
Great post, Katrin. Good idea to add the date to the calendar for next year. I need a bit more warning next time so I can get the post out early in the day and connect with people beforehand. A well. Here we are now... it's never too late!
Really well written post. Thanks for the link to add to our list as May 12th is/was Fibromyalgia Awareness Day as well as ME/CFS Awareness Day :O)
Maybe next year I should aim to have a list which aims to recruit bloggers with FM and CFS/ME.
Thanks!
Great post. We ME'ers and FM'ers have so much in common. One of my daughter's friend's Mums has FM and she struggles so badly, bless her.
Next year we should combine the rallying cry !
Thanks, Cusp and Rachel. I think it would be great to combine efforts and send out a rallying cry a few weeks ahead of the date. Great idea!
Thank You!
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