The Table: Fibro Info

UPDATE:
My personal health journey has finally found a reason for my Fibromyalgia symptoms, and I wanted to share so others can learn about their own health. Please read my very important blog post about this and keep digging if you can relate to my story. Knowing what's going on in your body is very important! I hope this helps someone.

https://xsarenkax.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-finally-have-answers-if-you-have.html

EDS Info

ORIGINAL:
If you have Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS), you know it's a systemic disorder that is little understood and rather unpredictable. It causes a very wide variety of pain, fatigue, and many other symptoms that, to the untrained observer, seem like "everything". Its cause is still being researched and there is no currently cure for this condition.

Many FMS sufferers have been subjected to ridicule and accusations of hypochondria. It's a luxury to be one of these accusors, as anyone with FMS is certainly aware that it is very real, and is a physical (not mental) disorder that presents in a very wide variety of symptom combinations that can change minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. No two fibromyalgia suffers are the same at any given moment, though we tend to empathize with each other very effectively because we have had so many of the possible symptoms and coexisting conditions at one time or another.

It's almost impossible for a "normal" person to fully understand what it's like to live with FMS. Before I was diagnosed, I'd never heard of this condition. If someone would have told me about it before I found myself to be afflicted with it, I'm sure I would not have had much of an understanding of it beyond the words used to describe it. FMS is life-changing. When FMS gets triggered, the individual suffers such a personal blow to the experience of life that a non-sufferer would probably just not be able to understand.

Fibromyalgia robs a body of energy, sleep, mental acuity, physical strength, endurance, comfort, and the blessed feeling of not having any pain. Our chemicals amplify pain sensations to about three times of what is normal. Our body clocks don't work properly. Muscles are spastic.

Accepting that we no longer have the ability to do what we used to do is also devastating. We lose our identities quite a bit and struggle to maintain some sense of worth. Relationships have crumbled over this blasted syndrome and many of us remain angry and frustrated that we cannot return to our normal selves ever again. It is a lifelong condition and very unfair. We tend to look healthy and because of changing symptoms, outsiders can be confused about our disability. It is a very challenging condition to have.

Thank you for reading and doing what you can to learn about Fibromyalgia. With your help, we can help make society better aware of this condition and why it's not as easy to endure as it may look to those who aren't allowed to see all the invisible symptoms and private suffering we endure. Learn all you can.