Fibromyalgia & Me Day

Let me start off by saying, if you suffer from fibromyalgia you have no or very little control over your life. Some of you may differ in opinion, but like the title says, I am talking about “Fibromyalgia & Me. Fibromyalgia disrespects every one differently and the level of disrespect I receive may be better or worst than your level of disrespect. Although many of us in the fibromyalgia community share similar symptoms, our pain and suffering may be completely different.

Today is a Fibromyalgia and me day. It hurts to move, its hurts to be touched, and if feels like I have been hit by a semi-truck. It hurts to walk, it hurts to sit, you name it, it hurts! As I have suffered with fibromyalgia for many years, you never know when your good days will run out and you start a cycle of bad days. You also have no idea how long a fibromyalgia flare will last, the flares are unpredictable. I guess you can compare it to a tornado… the conditions may be right for a perfect storm.

The humidity is high, the clouds have darkened the sky, and rotation of the clouds begins. A funnel begins to form and drop from the sky, ever so gracefully. Will the funnel touch down and quickly resolve, or will the funnel touch down and ride the ground for miles, tearing up the terrain leaving a path of destruction… We never know the outcome because of the unpredictability and the lack of stability associated with fibromyalgia. Our only defense is to hunker down (I hate that expression), and ride out the storm with the supplies (medications & coping mechanisms) we have on hand.

Once the storm ends, no matter how extreme or how mild, we begin to pick up the pieces of our lives rebuilding to gain some semblance of normality. Fibromyalgia is destructive and misunderstood. Awareness is key and I can not stress this enough. The sky may look harmless, beautiful in fact. What we can not see are the conditions changing in the atmosphere. My perfect storm is raging and I patiently wait for the aftermath.