Fibro - what????

Have you ever felt like this: You get out of bed and hope someone got the number of the Mack truck that hit you...you feel feverish and achy...you have no energy at all...and yet there's nothing visibly wrong with you? Has anyone told you that you might have fibromyalgia (FMS)? Have you wondered what on earth that might be??
Fibromyalgia (from fibro = muscles and myalgia = pain) is a condition that is only now just beginning to be understood. Although it is often lumped in with arthritic conditions, it does not attack the joints, as arthritis does. It seems to be more a central nervous disorder, causing pain processing to be more amplified. There may also be some problems with the immune system, digestive system, skin irritations...the list goes on and on. The problem is that these symptoms are also part of other diseases or disorders. How do you know if you have FMS?
The gold standard for diagnosing FMS is the prescence of "tender points" on the body. As the diagram above shows, there are certain points in the body that, when pressed on with a certain amount of pressure, will cause intense pain for FMS sufferers but not others. If you suspect you may have FMS, you should ask your doctor to do the tender point test. This will pretty quickly establish whether you do or not.
If you do have FMS, there are many things you can do to improve your outlook. The first is to be pro-active. Don't wait for someone to help you. Go out and do research. Get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy, balanced diet, and take care of yourself. Make sure you search out the best treatments for you - what works for one person may not work for you. Above all, make sure youstay involved in life! It's easy, when you have a chronic condition, to feel sorry for yourself and withdraw. That is the worst thing you can do, though. Enjoy life! No, it's not going to be the same. When is life ever the same, though? It's always changing! There are things you can still do, and you may even find that you can find some ways to enjoy your life regardless of your circumstances. So go out and defy FMS to limit you!