Fibromyalgia is a manageable condition. Many people are doing it every day. Managing your life after your diagnosis will even change over time as well. One of the frustrating things is that many times my fibromyalgia changes from day to day. I can get up in the morning and feel one way, within two hours I can feel much better or much worse.
It is confusing and frustrating to wake up feeling good and believing that today will be a good, to be sitting at work and realizing I am in terrible pain. This very process happens to most if not all of the people who have Fibromyalgia.
Different chemicals in their bodies and hormones make a difference. If you exercise and what and how much you have eaten can make a difference. Because of this the plan for you may be different than the plan for me.
Developing this plan takes a lot of time, your time, your family’s time, and your doctors’ time. When you have Fibromyalgia or any other chronic illness people can treat you differently. The of course there are the many people who still do not believe Fibromyalgia is real.
The shame of this viewpoint is that it keeps people from getting the medical care they need. People have trouble with the health care professionals and insurance companies who do not agree about various aspects of Fibromyalgia. Some medical professionals believe it is about how pain is processed. Other professionals believe Fibromyalgia is about the muscles, bones, or even mind.
It feels like someone messed with the dial for pain in our bodies. Not only are we not on the right channel but the sound is messed up. Then the on/off button takes much longer to work. Instead of an instant off, we get a very slow fade out. But the difficulty is trying to put that into terms medical professionals can use to help us.
Then there is the fibrofog. At times we cannot think clearly. It is like someone turned off all of the lights and moved things. Then with the light still off we are supposed to live there. The fact that we become overwhelmed should not be a surprise to anyone.
Fibromyalgia is also complicated by the fact symptoms we experience may or not be part of the disorder. Then there are the trigger points. Should trigger points be treated first or should the muscle pain be treated first? Different professionals believe different way. Most people with Fibromyalgia just want the pain to stop.
The answers may be dramatically different from one medical team to another and one person to another. If a team believes trigger points are the centers of pain then they might be treated first. Another medical team may have another plan. The treatment for Fibromyalgia may be long and tedious to figure out. Then because our bodies change the treatment can change over time.