Fibromyalgia

Okay, so I want to warn you in advance that this is a pretty long post, but I want to let you know as much as possible about the things that I am going through. 

So as you know from my last post, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, I had an idea that this was the illness I had, but getting a final diagnosis was a good and a bad thing. 

So let me start by saying, Fibromyalgia is an invisable illness, I have no symptoms that you can see, and most probably if you see me, you will think that I am fine, but really on the inside I am crumbling apart. 

Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a chronic pain disorder, and it is a long term health condition that causes pain all over the body, this is the biggest symptom people with FMS suffer. The other symptoms people could notice are:

• Fatigue
• Muscle stiffness
• Sleep Problems
• Problems with mental processes (fibro-fog)- things like problems with memory or concentration
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• There are other symptoms, but these are the most common

First I want to say, If you notice you have any of these symptoms, please see your GP and they will be able to advise you what to do next.

Not every FMS sufferer will have all of these symptoms. So I thought I will tell you about the things that I suffer with on a day to day basis. 

• I have pain in my back, neck, arms and legs. This ranges from a dull ache (still very painful) to massive stabbing and shocking pain. There is never a moment where I am not in pain.
• I get a lot of chronic headaches. Most days I will have a headache, again they will range from an ache behind my eyes and around my temples and neck. To a massive migrane which makes me feel like my eyeballs are going to explode, and I will have to lay down in a dark cool room and try and sleep. Sometimes these headaches can last for 3-4 days.
• I have chronic fatigue, and I don't mean tired. I mean absolutley exshasted! I will have 8 hours sleep, and when I wake up I am more tired than when I fell asleep. I think this is because I don't go into a deep sleep. And then during the day, I find that I cannot do much without my energy draining completly and I will have to lay down and rest.
• To contradict this, I have trouble sleeping at night. So when I lay down to go to sleep. I will not be able to shut off. On a good day it will take me an hour or so to be able to sleep, and then I will wake up a few times in the night, and then the process starts again. Some days I won't go to sleep until about 3am (and if you know me, this is not normal) and then I will wake up in agony and have to get up and move around.
• I have Bladder problems (Too Much Information) I find that I need to go for a wee all the time, I am not even joking. I will go roughly every 30 minutes, and I don't even really drink too much. I will wake up a lot in the night to go to the toilet, and also it will stop me from falling asleep at night.
• I get moments of Fibro-Fog. Mine is mainly I will start a sentance, and then forget what I was talking about, or I will not be able to think of a word, and I will need to try and think of another word to match it. Also I will forget things, for example I will put something down, go and get a drink and then forget where I put it. It's so irritating.

These things happen every day. I never get a day off, and what I wouldn't give to be pain free, even for a day. If you know of any ways to help live with FMS, please leave a comment, and I will write some more about my Fibro journey soon. Thankyou so much for reading