Fibromyalgia

One of the hardest aspects for me is one of my comorbidities, which is depression and anxiety. I actually have a couple different anxiety disorders and depression conditions as well. It's really hard to have my brain manifest these feelings and thoughts seemingly out of nowhere. That can happen at any time and have happened at any time, including make conversation with somebody. If you're going through that, you're not alone. And it can be very hard. And sometimes it feels like it gets darker before it gets lighter. And sometimes it gets lighter really quickly, which is nice. I would say that if medication is right for you, having that medication is helpful. And also having a therapist has been incredibly helpful for me. So I do both. I talk and I take meds.

Hardest aspect of fibromyalgia is not being the person you used to be. Not being able to do the simplest thing as cook a meal, walk to the shop, walk your dog, dress yourself. It's hard. I think it's hard work to adjust to a new life, it's a new lifestyle. It's a learning curve for all your family, your relationships. People don't understand what fibromyalgia is. You have to keep explaining. It's just so hard to deal with everyday life.

The hardest aspect of fibromyalgia was probably having a doctor tell me that I needed to take exactly her regimen or else. And my question was, or else what? Okay, at that one point, I just marched right out of that doctor's office and I found a new doctor. At that one some point, I had to get a rheumatologist that was going to be willing to help me along my journey. And that is what I've been doing ever since. I've been on my journey for greater than seven years almost now. I will tell you, there are many, many hard aspects of this condition. And you've got to find the brighter day within it. So no matter what, everything has a hard aspect. The greatest thing of this is that there is something bright at the end. We can get there.

The hardest aspect for me is the fact that I'm among two small children and I am such an imaginative and excitable bubbly person normally and I've had to spend most of their time growing up telling them that mummy can't play and mummy's too sore a lot of the time. That screws me up because I know that I know that I could be better as a mother had I not have what's wrong with me right now and that's the only thing I want to be good at being a mum.

I think for me one of the hardest aspects of having fibromyalgia is never knowing whether I'm going to be able to actually follow through on a commitment. If I have plans with friends and I'm having a flare, sometimes I just can't and that makes it hard. Having a career, having to be at the job, makes it hard. And having a family that counts on you to do the laundry and cook the meals and clean the house and make sure that everybody is doing what they're supposed to be doing when you barely feel like existing is hard.

The hardest part for me is being a single mom of two teenage boys. One who has issues of his own and more times than not having to rely on them to help me. It makes me feel horrible that I can't be the mom that I'm supposed to be. I know it puts a lot of stress on both my kids. Honestly, the best advice I can give anyone in a situation like mine, being a single parent, whether they have issues or not, family therapy. Make sure you're on it, make sure you do it. It's the only thing for communication to work.

The hardest aspects for me are probably the mood issues and the fatigue. Some days the pain is very bad too. The fatigue leads me not to be as productive as I would like to be and then that makes me feel really bad about myself. I have self-esteem issues that have come about since I've gotten fibromyalgia. Some days I'm not motivated or focused. Some days my brain is just so foggy that I can't pinpoint what to even do first as far as being productive and being less productive means less money also so that's difficult.

The biggest obstacle with me with fibromyalgia is the pain in my back and my legs. I don't get to shop like I used to. I do everything online. I make it a point to get to occasions. We just had our 50th anniversary three years ago, and I had a wonderful time, and was able to get through it without much pain. I'd love to be able to go to the mall again, but again, I think it's a combination of the fibromyalgia and my age that is just the biggest obstacle. In my brain, I'm really only 40.

The hardest aspects for me is I used to be very athletic. I swam competitively for 10 years as a kid, had gotten back in the pool, was swimming again, was running. Now I can't do stuff with my grandchildren. That has been the most devastating thing. I want to be the Be-Ma that I know I could be. I keep trying, but they don't ever stop. I want to go on hikes with them. I want to go on vacation with them. I know my limitations, and that's where I'm the saddest.

I suppose the hardest aspects are you're still grieving for the person that you were because you're no longer the person that you used to be. You're not the life and soul of the party anymore because all the things that you used to be able to do you haven't got the energy for. Some days you've got energy and you tend to forget and then you overdo it and then you could either cause a flare-up or you pay for it the next day. Also, you know, you feel like you want to go out and be with your friends but, you know, when it comes to that day and you've booked that date in your appointment book, you're maybe not well enough to go and then you're letting them down. So, those are the hardest things I think that, you know, and also, you know, you don't want to tell people that why you're letting them down.

I've had fibromyalgia for almost 20 years and the hardest aspects for me have been the utter fatigue and the pain, especially nerve pain.

One of the hardest aspects of having fibro is you can't see it. And I have intelligent friends who don't believe it's real. And I think every, all of us have that. It's just something nobody can, the doctors can't answer. Believe me, I have fibro. I hurt. My joints hurt. My, my neck. Oh, it's one of my worst. That's the hardest aspect is it's, you can't see it. So people just think, oh, it's not that big of a deal. It is. And we all know that.

One of the hardest aspects for me, particularly when I have a fibromyalgia flare-up, is my own inner voice, which is incredibly critical of me, and there's a whole big of history with that, but it's this voice that tells me that even though my body is really, really hurting, that I am not being a good partner, a good teacher, a good daughter, a good pet mother, that even though I'm in pain and I physically can't do some of the things that I need to do, that I am a bad person because I can't do that, and that is, it's incredibly hard for me to admit to myself, but also I'm finding difficult to communicate with my partner often about because I feel bad, and I find that to be one of the most difficult because I'm beating myself up over out of it, and so, and I know that this doesn't ask for advice for the hardest aspect, but I feel like positive affirmations for me are really important so that I don't do that to myself.