Monday, May 16, 2011

Do you even understand?? Maybe this will help

My post today is all about bringing awareness to everyone who reads this blog that doesn't understand or for those of you who are like me, sick......all the time and do understand but need help trying to get others to understand you.

FIBROMYALGIA - it's not the "catch all" diagnosis I've heard so many people say it is.....believe me, if you lived even one day with it, you would "GET IT" real quick! It's so very frustrating not being able to really talk to people who don't have it and trust that they understand......understand why you couldn't get out of bed today, understand why you couldn't do the dishes, laundry or clean your house....understand that you are not lazy....but that YOU ARE SICK......it's easy for anyone not living with it to say things like "oh just exercise more, you'll be fine" or "go to bed earlier and you won't be so tired".....and the list of "comments" you make to people who suffer with this disease goes on and on.....I've heard you, I know what you say and think about people like me....people who appear to be just fine on the outside - we are suffering on the inside.

I've compiled a few videos for you to help you possibly see inside the life of someone who suffers from Fibromyalgia and/or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome....if you love someone who has been given one or both of these chronic pain diagnoses - please take the time to watch these videos, take the time to try to understand what they are going through....take the time to know that when they say they hurt, they REALLY hurt........don't be another person in their life who just brushes them off as lazy or think they are faking it.......living with this is hard, frustrating and at times feels hopeless.....give us hope and just try to understand..........

Fibromyalgia Hurts

But you don't LOOK sick

Just offer some compassion and understanding

Anyone who doubts this condition should take this challenge. We will both go for a walk but first lets get on an even footing.

As you can't see or feel my daily aches and pains then I suggest we should wrap ourselves in barbed wire before we set off. Oh and have NO SLEEP the night before.

Then we walk today, tomorrow and every day thereafter until one of us gives up and takes the barbed wire off our bodies. I can tell you now that it won't be me because you see this barbed wire that I wear does not come off! It's called Fibromyalgia and I just have to learn how to deal with it, no matter what!

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, watch the videos and think differently about this condition that effects so many ......it's sad to know that there are still many Dr's out there who don't believe in this, many people out there who don't understand and many people that are close to people who suffer who just don't want to take the time to even TRY to understand what someone is going through.

Now let me remind you that I haven't always had to deal with this illness. I was only just diagnosed late last year after a bout of illness, after illness, after illness that finally landed me in a Dr's office and with this diagnosis after tests among tests among tests that came back NEGATIVE.........ask my family, I was SICK....I was in bed for 4 months SICK........now I have to deal with the after effects of that illness that started out as bronchitis, then pneumonia that turned into walking pneumonia......then a sudden onset of uncontrollable migraines, then constant dizziness to the point that I couldn't stand up and on and on...........it just was never ending until I ended up at the right Dr's office...........

I don't say these things to get your sympathy, but rather to encourage your compassion for anyone who has to deal with this day in and day out...for life. Fibromyalgia is triggered by various things, usually a tramatic incident or event.....mine was triggered by my prolonged sickness that landed me in the ER being tested for anything and everything to try to find out why I was so dizzy, with a migraine that couldn't be banished.

Please, feel free to share this blog with anyone who may benefit from reading my stories...that's why it's here!