When you are suffering from fibromyalgia, it seems as if a part of you is leaving to never come back. Remember how you were before and that sometimes makes you fall into a well that it is quite difficult to leave. They can be diseases that are obvious in the eyes of others, or as in the case of Fibromyalgia, your interior may be destroyed little by little and that is not noticeable to the naked eye, taking this to a vacuum in which misunderstanding and your own limitations take hold of you day after day. Taking you to a state of total disability.
This May has celebrated the international day of Fibromyalgia, it is a chronic disease that mainly produces non-restorative sleep, extreme tiredness and diffuse musculoskeletal pain. Although really, fibromyalgia has more than one hundred symptoms.
Today it affects 5% of the population, mostly women.
It is not yet known exactly what produces it, there is no cure; What is clear is the level of disability that occurs in the lives of those affected, something that unfortunately, does not seem to be taken into account in the current times.
Activities such as making the bed are the most painful, something as necessary as having fun, whether dancing or just laughing, leads to extreme fatigue that produces tachycardias and shortness of breath. Playing with your children or running after them becomes impossible.
Your life changes completely, you stop being who you were to become someone unable to lead a normal life.
The lack of restful sleep affects your mind very negatively, producing gaps, lack of reflexes, thinking clearly and even lack of coordination. It has been shown that fibromyalgia sufferers do not maintain a linear REM phase while they sleep, but that there are altered peaks that prevent them from being able to have a deep sleep. It is as if you did not sleep.
The phrase ” everything hurts ” is repeated daily in the life of the fibromyalgia patient .
The fight begins when you get out of bed every morning, with extreme fatigue , the stiffness takes over your body, your first minute of the day is already really exhausting. Once you overcome it, it is possible that the energy lasts only a couple of hours, and after this, you are again exhausted, as if you finished an intensive day with guard included.
The pain threshold is so low, that a simple caress or hug makes your skin burn, making physical contact especially complicated.
Everything hurts , sometimes even nails or hair. The pains only seem to be reduced at rest, but you cannot afford to be in bed all day, so you prefer to fight against it and live as normal a life as possible, although this negatively impacts your health by creating new outbreaks due to your high demand. .
You feel tired, you feel sore, incapable, useless.
All this leads to a deep depression from which antidepressants do not help you out, the only way to overcome it would be to stop thinking about it, but unfortunately it is impossible, you have to work to eat, to pay your house and to keep your children, and every effort, however minimal, reminds you of your limitations.
People don’t understand you, you have an invisible disease, you can’t see it, but you carry it inside. And the worst is not the lack of understanding, the worst is that they doubt what you feel. After spending a few years from doctor to doctor until you are finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia , you have to face that they do not believe you, that they call you lazy, that they tell you that you become the victim; Not only do they not help you, but they sink you deeper into the mud.
The medication does not help much, they only get stunned more, and that if you are lucky not to be affected by side effects. They recommend physical exercise, within your limitations, of course. You may be able to stretch for five minutes, and then not be able to get up from the couch for two days.
You cannot work, or take care of your home, or your family. But neither can you have an acceptable quality of life, since although fibromyalgia is a chronic disease that causes disability , it is not really recognized when requesting a disability. Yes, it is, it is a real disease, but apparently for some it is not, something that is somewhat humiliating.
Few people have managed to be heard, but not before being obliged to present their case before a judge exhausting all their savings in lawyers and forensics, and then obtain a minimum pension. But if fibromyalgia affects you when you are young, cutting off your life, you have nothing to do, because you have not quoted enough.
And it does not matter if all this complicates your existence, if apart from everything previously mentioned, it drastically reduces the chances of owning your own life.
Many young people see something as simple as forming a family impossible, not only because of fears about their physical problems, but because personal or family relationships do not usually come to fruition. Not everyone accepts it, much less learn to live with a patient.
The failures of a couple, work, family … or just feeling unsuccessful as a person for not being able to do what the body asks you or what your heart sends you, not only cause depressions, but all this leads to feeling destroyed and many people have decided to put an end to his suffering.
These people deserve to be treated with the same rights as any person, because they are people, and only because of this they have the right to have a decent life, they have the right to smile, to enjoy life and their family, to be understood and accepted, To feel valued and respected. To feel support from doctors and public institutions. They have the right to feed and live under a roof that can afford.
They have the right to live a dignified life They have the right not to depend on the pain caused by fibromyalgia in order to survive.
Reference; http://your.healthycare247.com/fibromyalgia-pain-and-disability/
