Fibro..what?

So your friend has fibromyalgia. She acts like a wimp, you think, and is always complaining about something seemingly insignificant. She doesn't want to go anywhere and couldn't make a decision to save her life. She blames in on fibro.  What is UP with fibro thing, you're thinking. I hope this post can clear up some of the questions and offer a little insight.

First, facts show the 2% of people in the US suffer from fibro. That number seems fairly low, right? WRONG. That's 5 million people! That's a lot of pain out there, folks. And not just pain. We get all sorts of weird symptoms that plague us just because--well, we might be bored otherwise, I suppose.

Here is a list of a few:

Not everybody has the same symptoms or even all of the symptoms in the illustration above. We each have our own special blend. Here's my buffet: 

• Pain. All. The. Time. It's like somebody is clawing at my muscles and torching them. 
• Headaches. Just because.
• Itching. Oh, the itching. Once it starts, I will scratch until it bleeds. (But to be honest, that's also a symptoms of my liver disease, so who knows what the culprit is on that. Nothing like looking like a baboon scratching. That's attractive.)
• My hair hurts. What? I know, right? Where it grows from my scalp. Some days if it's moved via combing or even the wind, it hurts. Dumbest thing ever.
• Trigger point pain. Oh, and did I mention they move around? Seems I never know what's going to hurt when someone barely touches me. Makes you look like a real drama queen. 
• Depression. I've had it for years and don't know which came first, the chicken (depression) or the egg (fibro). Doesn't much matter, I suppose. I've been on meds for years and will be for the rest of my life. I tried to get off them once. That did not go well. At all. 
• Anxiety/Aggravation. Like having your nerves tighter than a drum and you're sometimes not sure why. All you know is you'd like to hammer the next person that comes along. 
• Restless legs/Twitching/Kicking. Ask my husband how many bruises he has. 'Nuff said. 
• IBS. I can tell you where every bathroom in the county is. 
• Joint pain. Self-explanatory. 
• Shoulder and Neck pain. Could be from typing all day but also a symptom of fibro. Refer to previous chicken/egg statement. 
• Sensitivity to noise. Man, some days my own voice sends me into a fit. I'm constantly having to ask friends to lower their voice. My husband strains to hear the TV because I'm always telling him to turn it down. (Then there's the days where I'm not so sensitive where I say, "How can you even hear that? Turn it up already!") And it's not just voices. It's loud cars and motorcycles. Lawnmowers and weed whackers. 
• Brain fog. Trying to bring up simple words to complete a sentence is a joke. I'm almost afraid to open my mouth anymore. Thing-a-ma-jig, what's-his-name, and whatchu-callit are now staples of my vocabulary along with face palms and wild gesturing trying to make the word come out. And making a decision is sometimes impossible. I just can't. It's too much. 
• Exhaustion/Fatigue. I don't mean the kind of "oh, I'm tired," exhaustion. You know how you feel when you get the flu and you can't move? Yep. That's the one. You CANNOT power through it. It doesn't work. The kind where you have to choose what you do for the day. No, I'm sorry, I can't go to the mall. I have to do laundry and there's no enough energy for both. No, I can't go to lunch. I have to get dressed and that will take all my energy.  I have not felt rested in years. I get up as tired as I did when I went to bed. In my book, this is probably the worst of the symptoms. To get a better idea of it, read here.
• Insomnia. As long as we're talking about exhaustion, let's hit this point. I've tried Ambien, lavender spray/balm, Kava tea, wine, hot baths, dull reading material, dull features on Netflix...nothing, and I mean nothing, knocks me out. So I listen to the husband snoring. And did you know cats snore?
• Sore throat. Like the kind you get with a cold. And sometimes, matching swollen glands. You don't go to dinner at your friends house because you don't know if it's fibro or contagious.  

So as not to bore you with more details, I'll stop here. You can find out tons of info on the web by just googling it. These sites have simple explanations:
A Simple Explanation

AFSA

Healthline

So what do you do with this friend? Stop being there for her? Please don't!  We need friends just as much as the next guy. Maybe even more. Simply try to put yourself in her shoes. Wonder what to say? Here's what NOT to say. And yes, we've all had these things said to us. Stop it.  

Photo credit: 

 Stated plainly, Fibro STINKS! How's that for a summary, lol.

For those of you with chronic invisible illnesses, don't keep people around who don't understand. It's draining on you and so not worth it.
I have an amazing husband who puts up with the worst of it. And still stays.  I have amazing friends who stand by me and put up with me. Here's an example that touched me: This particular friend asked me if I wanted to go to the mall. Boy, did I! But then I realized I had to iron my husband's shirts and I wouldn't have the energy for both. Instead of saying, "Gee, that's too bad, maybe next time," she simply grabbed my iron and did the ironing for me. And then took me to the mall. As a chronic illness sufferer, I'd venture to say that our friends mean more to us than to the average person. So to those awesome friends out there, thank you!