Many people have never even heard of Fibromyalgia! Along with other chronic illnesses such as; Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease, to name just a few. Not only are these illnesses life changing and debilitating………….. they are invisible.
I personally suffer with FM, CFS and IBS , I also have problems with my hips, knees and back and lucky old me….depression too. So what is Fibromyalgia? It derives from new Latin, fibro-, meaning “fibrous tissues”, Greek myo-, meaning “muscle”, and Greek algos-, meaning “pain”; thus the term literally means muscle and fibrous tissue pain”. This however, does NOT describe how it “feels” to have FM.
I’m often asked what FM is like and I generally give a quick response something like; “Have you had proper, full on flu before? Remember the nagging pain all over your body -………….a banging headache; stiffness all over, painful joints, your skin is sooo sensitive to touch, like a very serious case of sunburn, you feel exhausted and want to hide away in your misery from the rest of the world???…………………………………………..This, all of this and then some, is how I feel pretty much every day.” (That is my attempt at a “quick” response……wait for the long one!)
Fibromyownpain 