I don’t think, until and unless people have had chronic, unrelenting, severe pain for months or years on end, they can really understand what it’s like. People try and compare different acute pains to chronic. Good try…but it’s not the same thing. Chronic severe pain sucks the life-force right out of you. If I believed in the soul, I’d say it sucks that out too.
Unpredictably, your entire plans for the day can be rearranged in a millisecond depending on the maniacal whims of the pain in your body that you have absolutely no control over. You learn to be flexible. I used to get really annoyed at having to not do this or that at a moment’s notice. Now I know to have a number of variegated contingency plans ready in case either of us crashes.
I’ve heard people attempt to compare having fibromyalgia to having the flu. My husband has fibromyalgia. I don’t (I have cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus – the conditions that cause my pain). I’ve had the flu.
Influenza usually lasts a week or so.
Fibromyalgia has the following symptoms:
-chronic, widespread pain
-allodynia (a heightened and painful response to pressure)
-debilitating fatigue
-sleep disturbance
-joint pain
-brainfog
Some patients experience varying degrees of these symptoms. Not all patients have all symptoms, but most patients have the pain, allodynia and fatigue.
Unlike the flu, these symptoms do not go away, although the patient may have good days where symptoms are less troublesome. There is almost always some level of pain present.
Historically, fibromyalgia was considered to be a neuropsychiatric disorder (i.e. “it’s all in your head”). Since doctors couldn’t see anything wrong with the patient, and tests couldn; pinpoint the problem, they gave up and assumed the patient was malingering.
Male patients seeking pain management treatment have a harder time getting proper treatment. Unlike females, they are socialized to “man up”, “bear their pain like a man”, and other such silly and unhelpful trite suggestions. It’s bollocks.
Why is this post ending so abruptly, you might wonder?
Because I forgot what the next bit was going to be about.
Brain fog!!!!!
