Fibromyalgia is a "pain condition" or "nerve disorder" where you feel pain in certain areas all over your body. The pain will decrease and increase but it will not go away. Most of my flare ups come when it is going to rain or when I am stressed. Not so stressed today, so I bet that by tomorrow morning we will have ourselves a storm. Along with Fibromyalgia comes what we lovingly (yeah right) call Fibro Fog. It is like walking around in a daze all day with your mind all foggy and you won't remember mostly anything that you do unless you write it down... so if I repeat stuff in this blog please bare with me.
When I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, it was a new condition that most doctors did not believe existed. If I went to the doctor he would tell me that it was all in my head and that there was no way he would give me any pain killers. Not once did I go into the doctor's office looking for meds... just alternate ways to make it so I could play with, bathe, and take care of my kids better. It broke my heart every time I was hurting too much to give Josh or Chloe a bath and to hear them laughing and playing in the water with Jared when it should have been with me. As I said before, flare-ups are especially horrible when it rains and because of that I can predict the weather pretty well now. Jared is amazed by it. When the weather channel predicts rain, Jared asks me if it is true. About 90% of the time I'm right!
Now there are so many people diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and so many resources that it is amazing. We sure have come a long way from when I first was told that I had it. There are actual FDA approved medications for Fibromyalgia now.
There is no set way on how to get Fibromyalgia or to really pin point where and when you came down with it. It doesn't ever go away either. It's just one of those things that you learn to live with and are grateful for the good days. I do have my theories on how I came to have Fibro though...
Actually, sometimes I think that God was looking down and saw that I was lacking in the sense of humor department. To force me to fix this, he sent me my son and Fibromyalgia on the same day. It worked. And that is one thing that I am actually glad about from the whole Fibro situation. If you can find a way to laugh about it, it becomes a lot more tolerable. For example: When my fingers and hands finally do get stuck in weird positions we all take turns guessing what they look like... or we turn off the lights, get out the flashlights and everyone makes weird shapes with their hands to see how the shadows turn out so funny. It is a family event - we pop popcorn and everything! It is my coping mechanism... and it works.
My saving grace is that Jared can make me laugh about it. No matter how bad things get with the Fibro and how upset I get that I can't play with the kids the way I want to, he can always make me see it in a funny way and giggle sometimes too. He is my support system, my shoulder to cry on, and my best friend all in one. And he is pretty darn funny too.
If you have Fibromyalgia or know someone who does, find ways to make jokes about it or to use the Fibro to find other ways of doing normal things. It is amazing how it will make you think out of the box. If you want to do something badly enough, the Fibromyalgia won't stop you from doing it. Just find another way of getting it done.
If you would like to learn more of the facts and find some support networks, here is the link to start with: http://www.fmaware.org/site/PageServer?pagename=fibromyalgia.
Also, since there are so many other places to look for information, I will share with you the holy grail of all Fibromyalgia books. It's called Fibromyalgia for Dummies. Sounds silly but I promise, it is the book I brought with me to all my doctor appointments to educate the doctors.
Good luck and feel well!
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