My name is Fibromyalgia, And I'm an invisible Chronic Illness.
I am now velcroed to you for life. Others around you can not see me
or hear me, but YOUR body feels me. I can attack you anywhere and
anyhow I please. I can cause severe pain or if I'm in a good mood, I
can just cause you to ache all over. Remember when you and Energy
ran around together and had fun. I took Energy from you, and gave
you Exhaustion. try to have fun now! I also took Good Sleep from you
and, in it's place I gave you Brain Fog, I can make you feel
anxious or depressed, too. If you have something planned, or are
looking forward to a great day, I can take that away, too. YOU didn't
ask for me. I CHOSE you for various reasons: That virus you had that
you never recovered from, or that car accident, or maybe it was the
years of abuse and trauma. WELL, anyway, I'm here to stay!
I hear you're going to see a dotor who can get rid of me. I'm
rolling on the floor, laughing, JUST TRY!. You will have to go to
many, many doctors until you find one who can help you effectively.
You will be put on pain pills, sleeping pills, energy pills, told
you are suffering from anxiety or depression, given TENs unit, get
massaged, told if you just sleep and exercise properly I will go
away, told to think positively, poked, prodded, and MOST OF ALL,
not taken seriously as you feel when you cry to the doctor how
debilitating life really is.
Your family, friends, and co-workers will all listen to you until
they get tired of hearing about how I make you feel, and that I'm a
debilitating disease. Some of them will say things like, "Oh, you
are just having a bad day" or "Well remember you can't do the
things you did 20 years ago", not hearing that you said 20 days ago.
Some will just start talking behind your back, while you slowly feel
that you're losing your dignity trying to make them understand,
especially when In the middle of a conversation with "Normal"
person, and can't remember what you were going to say next!
In Closing, (I was hoping to keep this part a secret), but I
guess you already found out... the ONLY place you will get support
and understanding in dealing with me is with Other People With
Fibromyalgia... Except the minority of us, who like me, have
support from their husband and their immediate family.