OT Fwd: good description of illness

[Guest guest]

This is about Fibromyalgia but some can apply to those of us with RA and

some have this also.

Heidi in Mass.

____________________________________

Hi....My Name is Fibromyalgia, and I'm an Invisible Chronic Illness.

I am now velcroed to you for life.

Others around you can't 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 its place, gave

you Brain Fog.

I can make you tremble internally or make you feel cold or hot when everyone

else feels normal. Oh, yeah, 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 doctor 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 a 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 as seriously as you

feel when you cry to the doctor how debilitating life is every day.

Your family, friends and coworkers will all listen to you until they just

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 use to do 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 are losing your dignity trying to make them understand, especially when

you are in the middle of a conversation with a " Normal " person, and can't

remember what you were going to say next!

In closing, (I was hoping that I kept this part a secret), but I guess you

already found out...

The ONLY place you will get any support and understanding in dealing with me

is with Other People With Fibromyalgia.

_____

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