Pain all over the body is the hallmark symptom of fibromyalgia but are so many different kinds of pain experienced by someone with fibro from allodynia to raynaud's... Find out more about them here.
Just click on the links below to be taken to the article of your choice.
Many fibro bloggers are sharing their articles here about their own personal experiences with pain and what has helped them.
Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects. ~ Arnold H. Glasgow
Laughter is a powerful antidote to pain. Time and time again it has been shown that the old adage Laughter is The Best Medicine really has a grounding in the truth. One possible explanation could be that humor activates the release of endorphins and relieves muscular tension. This means it has an effect on pain both a mentally and physically.
"...humor helps to reflect pain, thus helping both the patients as well as their carers to deal better with stress," said Professor Willibald Ruch, Zurich University. "Humor can be used specifically as a cognitive technique, for example in terms of a distraction to control the pain and increase pain tolerance."
The idea that laughter reduces pain is not new. Dr. James Walsh, an American
physician, noted in his 1928 book, Laughter and Health, that laughter appeared to reduce
the level of pain experienced following surgery.
More recently research has found that people who had recently experienced belly laughs were able to withstand up to 10% more pain than they had done before watching comedy videos.
Professor Robin Dunbar of Oxford University, who led the research, believes that uncontrollable laughter releases chemicals called endorphins into the body which, as well as generating mild euphoria, also dull pain.
The ability to have a really good belly laugh is unique to humans. Apes can laugh but only humans can guffaw.
"It's exactly what happens when we say 'I laughed until it hurt'. It seems to be extremely painful and it's that pain that produces the endorphin effect." Professor Robin Dunbar.
Now I'm not saying that the following jokes will send you into wild guffaws but maybe they are just a humorous distraction for a few minutes. Also I am collecting all the chronic illness/ fibromyalgia humor I can find on a Pinterest board called Fibro Funny. Don't forget to share your on Fibro humor on Twitterevery Monday with the hashtag #FunnyFibro to be shared to over 10,000 Fibromyalgia people.
As September is Pain Awareness Month and 100% of people with Fibromyalgia experience pain, I thought it was fitting to share quotes about pain and specifically chronic pain. Chronic pain is considered to be any pain that lasts for 3 months or longer and that is definitely the case in Fibro. Chronic pain is widely believed to represent disease itself. It can be made much worse by environmental and psychological factors. Chronic pain persists over a longer period of time than acute pain and is resistant to most medical treatments. It can—and often does—cause severe problems for patients. NINDS “Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes.” George Orwell, 1984
“I'm in pain all the time,' I said, 'and if I gave into it then I'd do nothing.” Bernard Cornwell, The Empty Throne
“If I only could explain How much I miss that precious moment when I was free from the shackles of chronic pain.” Jenni Johanna Toivonen
“The erosion of an effective patient-physician relationship has no place when dealing with chronic pain. Worst of all, dismissing the patient's pain is as devastating as crushing a patient's hope.” ― Melissa Cady, Paindemic: A Practical and Holistic Look at Chronic Pain
Please feel free to share these quotes and images.
The first time you get a fibro flare it can be scary. You are going along in your day to day life trying to cope with your fibro symptoms of fatigue, pain, brain fog, sleep problems etc etc and suddenly you feel like you have been run over by a bus. It's a flare! At first you wonder if it was something you did, or some extra stress or even an extra illness rearing it's ugly head... but you need to know that this shall pass.
Exactly what is a Fibro flare?
A fibro flare as a sudden increase in symptoms that hinders the ability to carry out daily.
In some people a flare can mean an intense increase in the regular symptons they experience and in others it can bring a sudden onset of completely new symptoms on top of their old ones. It is helpful to work out which kind of flare you get so that it helps for quick identification in the future. This can save lots of visits to the doctors office.
In the meantime here are some great articles from the fibro bloggers here at the directory all of whom have experienced fibro flares. These are articles that will give you more insight into flares and help you cope with a fibro flare:
"We can’t escape pain; we can’t escape the essential nature of our lives. But we do have a choice. We can give in and relent, or we can fight, persevere, and create a life worth living, a noble life. Pain is a fact; our evaluation of it is a choice.” ~ Jacob Held
Hopefully this quote may inspire your blogging whatever aspect of it resonates with you - choosing, giving in, the relentless dance with pain, the choices we all have, how you create a life for yourself with chronic illness and what it looks like now. These are all universal topics that will be of interest to a wider population and could open your blog up to a larger audience.
If you do write about this topic or use the image quote (please feel free to use it) let me know here in comments so we can all visit and read what you have written.
Best blogging wishes to you from Lee.
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.”
― James Baldwin (1924 - 1987) American writer.
What books have you read that have helped you with your pain?
In September you can join in with Fibro Bloggers Directory on promoting understanding of pain that people with fibromyalgia experience.
If you have a post about pain please share it here (in comments) so we can compile it into a resource for everyone to understand the types of fibro pain that exist.
On twitter you can share your tweets about pain under #fibropain or you can retweet our tweets.
On facebook, tumblr we have picture quotes that you can share and use in your posts.
Onpinterest we have fibro boards already and have started a new one called Pain Awareness. This is a community board which means you can post there. Please have a look.
We hope you are inspired to help others so they can get real stories about fibro pain from real people.
Daguerreotype of the poet Emily Dickinson, taken circa 1848.
I measure every grief I meet
With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
Or has an easier size.
I wonder if they bore it long,
Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
It feels so old a pain.
I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.
I wonder if when years have piled--
Some thousands--on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
Could give them any pause;
Or would they go on aching still
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.
Part of Emily Dickinson's poem.
In this poem Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) is exploring and measuring the nature of human suffering. She is presenting it to the world, and giving others comfort in being part of a community of affliction.
The poem reveals the strength that those people must possess in order to overcome the demanding nature of suffering whether it is grief, pain, depression, heartache, difficulty or disease.
We live with so many strong feelings when we have chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia. Writing poetry and pouring out our emotions onto the page can be very therapeutic. It also leaves something that other people can relate to and find connection and comfort in. We hope that you can find some solace here amongst the many pain-related poems.
Kim from I Tripped Over a Stone wrote this poem of strength to Fibromyalgia. Please visit her blog for more of her Fibro journey told from her heart.
Fighting Fibromyalgia shared the poem below about Fibromyalgia asking for understanding. Please visit her blog for uplifting quotes and to read the poem clearly.
Nikki at Brainless Blogger wrote 'It Took' about Fibromyalgia. (below) She has written other poems which you can read at her blog.
I look into the mirror and I wonder I remember who you used to be Are you still the same?
I look into the mirror and I wonder Do you still want the same things? Are you still the same?
I look into the mirror and I wonder Are you still motivated and ambitious? I remember that you used to be Are you still the same?
I look into the mirror and I wonder Is this the same person that walked a half marathon? I remember when you did that Are you still the same?
I look into the mirror and I know
The pain has changed you but… You are still the same You are still caring and loving You are still passionate and giving You are still ambitious and productive
I look into the mirror and I see you Not Fibromyalgia!
The loneliness of this disease
just claws within my soul
and makes my pain
so much to bear --
a mean and nasty foe.
But the wisdom of those
simple words
console me through tough times
and soar within my soul like
birds
with love and joy divine! Visit her site to read the whole beautiful poem.
And part of the poem that inspired this post:
Isn’t it strange, how nature makes you forget, That terrible pain you have and continually get. It comes in waves when you least expect it, And you think, please stop now and give me a rest for a bit. Read the rest at Back Pain Blog
Don't Tell Me that you understand, a poem by Joanetta Hendel
My bones are getting old and tired And worn out oh so fast I’m only 56 years old I thought these bones would last
But no, they’re breaking far too quick So what’s a girl to do But drink her milk and take B12 And other vitamins too
Instead of staying up all night I go to bed at nine No more a shot of whiskey Metamucil does just fine
I wheeze through my aerobics class I huff going up the stairs I worry about incontinence And wear Depends in pairs
It’s too late now, but I sure wish I’d purchased stock in Tums I’d think about how rich I’d be Each time the heartburn comes
I hear my doctor bought a boat From what he’s earned off me He named her Patient Pamela And took her out to sea
I hope these bones decide to last At least a few more years Although they snap and crackle and pop And leave me often in tears
There still so much I want to do So hang in there, bones of mine I’ll lie for you when people ask And say, I’m feeling fine
I’ll eat the veggies, drink the milk I’ll pop the B12 too Just to keep you bones around awhile For I’m rather fond of you! From Pamela Jessen of There Is Always Hope and originally shared on The Mighty.
A Spoonie Shower
A journey needs to be made
the need is undeniable but yet is put off able:
It’s such a long way to go and so many spoons to use
for what? Some temporary respite from the endless
spite of hyperhidrosis, must I? But I do.
Each pealed off layer of clothing
exposes new layers of exhaustion
and yes this very act of preparation
causes my pores to flow, ironic I know!
As I step into the flowing water
my eyes briefly close, a mistake
because my balance goes.
This jolt of reality triggers a reflex
my hand finds the railing where it grabs hold.
With my eyes open but unseeing
my mind departs and travels abroad.
The sensation of a rainforest transports me
tropically scented gel gives pleasure to the nasal cavities
as it travels to destinations within reach.
For a few fleeting moments,
I give in to the deluge.
The water washes away all doubt
why did I delay this for so long?
For the shortest minutes, I’ve vacated a Fibro life.
But then awareness prickles my joints
as the familiar ache resumes tenure
and the moment is passed.
I must leave the enclosure and
my life resume.
So begins the chores of swaddling,
futilely rubbing at the moisture
as the cleansing waters of verticle bathing depart
I do not recognise myself standing in the many shadows of you.
You, towering, all-consuming, ever present but hidden away, in plain sight. Yet I feel you in every part of me. Trying to become me.
Not all monsters lurk like you.
Once awakened, you thrive, clamour, steal, reverberate …through the length and breath of my mortal body, Silently leaving deadly, indelible traces of your mark, like on a cracked egg, ready to fall apart, any, anytime now, but still holding itself together as the lines spread and spread, Until I am finally broken.
Your crack lines emerge in places impossible. From earthen shell to the soul and heartland of me. Breaking, smashing, pillaging anything and everything, until I am nothing of my former self; nothing of possible Me(s).
But even broken things can be beautiful. With floods of tears and streams of blood I shall, I shall put me back together again. I emerge not the ‘Me’ that once was, was to be or had been imagined with dreams for the future. I rise as someone, something else entirely–Pained but persevering. Flawed but fluid. Broken but beautiful and believing that I shall conquer. I am and will be the ‘Me’ that never was imagined. I am the ‘Me’ that’s emerged from the ashes of pain. I will not fit your cardboard cutouts or your nicely stenciled stereotypes.
And I am not sorry.
To survive, I change. Constantly. As the monster morphs so will I – imperfect still, but ready to give bloody hell in all battles to come.
