FIBROMYALGIA - MY SILENT ILLNESS

Ever since I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2010, the previous 5 years of my life started to make alot of sense.  The sleepless nights, the fatigue, the joint and muscle pain, and the depression because I always felt like crap.  Alot of people do not understand and have told me I need to move more and it will be better.....this is NOT true.  I have also been told oh maybe if you lost some weight you won't hurt as much....this also is NOT true...just ask all of the people who are thin who have fibromyalgia.  I have also been told, go to bed early and get a good night of sleep....this would be nice if I could sleep through the pain that I'm in some nights.  Or what about when someone tells me just take some Tylenol, Advil, Aleve or Excedrin for the pain.....that would be great if Tylenol worked, Advil and Aleve didn't upset my stomach and Excedrin didn't have caffeine in it.  


I know you are probably thinking I have an "excuse" for everything but don't judge if you haven't walked a mile in my shoes.  I could never explain to someone how I feel sometimes so if you don't know what Fibromyalgia is, here is some information from this website http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/fibromyalgia-the-silent-disease-2008793.html below:

There have been numerous theories and to the cause of FM varying from viral illness to leaky gut syndrome to food intolerances and even to suggesting that it is an affliction of a particular personality type but, to date, no theory has been proven. The difficulty with diagnosis and treatment is that the diagnosis is one of exclusion; that is to say that the diagnosis is made when all other possible causes of the symptoms have been out-ruled. The other difficulty is that no two FM sufferers have the exact same array of symptoms. This makes treatment extremely difficult as an individually tailored approach is necessary for each patient. 

The typical onset is in females aged 30- 50 years, female sufferers outnumber male by 10 -1. Usually the person has lead a very healthy active life prior to onset of symptoms. The primary symptom is pain in the upper and lower quadrants of the body with numerous "tender points" at specific areas in the body- in particular in the neck, shoulders and lower back. What happens with symptoms as the illness progresses is quite baffling and remains a mystery to the medical profession. Numerous other symptoms arise which cannot be directly associated with the main symptom of pain. These symptoms are as disturbing as the pain itself and can make life almost unbearable for the sufferer. In addition, friends and family cannot understand the difficulty associated with having the illness and this adds additional stress to an already over stressed sufferer. These symptoms vary from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, constant headaches, developing allergies and sensitive to allergens which previously posed no problem to the sufferer, a feeling of being "drunk" and a bit " out of it", this is referred to as Fibro fog by the FM community. Fibro fog can be an especially difficult symptom to deal with as it also causes extreme forgetfulness and the sufferer appears absent minded. Sleep disturbance is another key feature. It is purported that people with FM fail to reach the state of deep sleep which is necessary for rebuilding and repair of all cells. Following on from this, the FM sufferer is very prone to every bug on the go- their bodies just don't have the resilience to fight off the common or garden bugs that we are all exposed to on a daily basis. This leads to multiple courses of antibiotics which upsets the natural flora and fauna of the digestive tract and irritates an already irritable bowel. Candidiasis takes hold which throws the patient back into the doctors surgery and so the negative spiral goes on and on.

It goes without saying that patients with FM are prone to episodes of depression but one thing about the incidence of depression is quite clear; FM patients do not have a higher incidence of depression that any other patient group who suffer from a chronic illness. FM sufferers are depressed because of their illness, the depression comes after the symptoms and it is not the other way around.   Doctors who may mean well by suggesting that the sufferer is merely depressed insult both the patient and their profession. FM has been recognised as a disease by the World Health Organisation for many years now and to doubt its' validity is just downright ignorant. Thankfully, this attitude is dying off now but there is still the occasional doctor/physician who doesn't believe the disease exists. Doctors base their decisions on scientific  evidence, well the evidence that the disease exists is more than abundant- just because orthodox medicine cannot find the root cause and therefore cure the illness does not invalidate the diseases existence and it merits the same attention and patience as any chronic debilitating disease.

One other particularly difficult issue for FM sufferers is that the patient may look relatively well, indeed they may look really well and so family and friends find it difficult to understand a disease where the symptom seem invisible. FM is known as a silent illness and generally the patient has but a few friends and family who truly know and appreciate what the sufferer goes through on a daily basis

So the next time you know someone who has this illness, give them a break because you really DON'T know what they are going through.  And because people don't take this illness seriously most of us suffer in silence just so we don't have to listen to what we should be or shouldn't be doing.

Well until next time....