Ever since the exam period started, people have constantly been telling me "how lucky" I am to have had the chance to drop out of Sixth form this year and to be getting the chance to restart in September "already knowing how hard the work is going to be". And yes, I suppose I agree with that to some extent. I do feel privileged to be able to restart my sixth form education with a little preparation ahead of me, but what really upsets me, is that these same people are completely disregarding the reason that I had to leave sixth form in the first place.
Earlier this year, after numerous visits to the doctors about my aching joints, muscle stiffness, cranky, irrotic Mood Swings and insomnia, I was finally referred to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is a long term condition which causes Pain all over the body.
After I got diagnosed, everything temporarily got better, but I think that it was down to me finally having an explanation for how I felt... It wasn't just me going mad, I had a real medical reason to be feeling so bad in my mind (something called fibro-fog) and in my body.
Ok, so I can deal with the pain, the fibro-fog, the fatigue, the insomnia, the aching muscles AND mood swings, there are exercises that you can do to ease all of that.
But I will tell you something for nothing... I can not deal with the ignorant people that believe that, just because fibromyalgia is a seemingly invisible disease, just because it isn't not life threatening, it does not affect me on a daily basis.
I'd just like to put it out there, for myself and for anyone who suffers from fibromyalgia (or any other chronic pain syndrome for that matter)...
- We hurt, we ache and are in discomfort about 60% of the time, and we are probably still Suffering the other 40% too, but we are probably either already used to that degree of pain, or our minds have completely tuned it out.
- It can sometimes be really hard for us to plan ahead... I genuinely don't know if in three Tuesday's time, I will feel up to going out with my friends for a big shopping trip... It can really make my social life tricky at times and unfortunately, in the past I have been too ashamed to just say "sorry guys, my invisible disease is really killing me today, I'm going to have to cancel", because I just don't want to have to explain the ins and outs of it all as sometimes I can find it a little embarrassing.
- It really upsets us when people insinuate that because we stayed in bed all day that we are a lazy malingerer... I really am no lazier than your average seventeen year old, I am probably just in a lot more pain.
Thank you for reading this post and I really hope it has given you an insight into the mind of someone suffering from fibromyalgia. As always, I am greatly appreciative of any comments regarding this subject and I would love to hear about any one elses experiences, feel free to email me at [email protected]
