An illness like fibromyalgia permeates every aspect of your life – it forever alters the trajectory of your story. For this year’s Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, I wanted to reflect on how my diagnosis changed my…
Fibromyalgia Diagnosis
Learn how Fibromyalgia is diagnosed, including key symptoms, diagnostic criteria, and the tests used to rule out other conditions.
What to Do About Those Lumps, Bumps and Swellings!
In twenty-four years working clinically with fibromyalgia patients I have yet to meet one that does not have some lumps, bumps, and/or water-filled swellings also known as lesions just below the skin. What are these…
About Fibromyalgia Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know
Fibromyalgia, meaning muscle and connective tissue pain (also referred to as FM or FMS), is a disorder classified by the presence of chronic widespread pain and a heightened and painful response to gentle touch (tactile…
I have Fibromyalgia again
I have had Fibromyalgia since mid-2006, acquired during a long bout with a viral infection in my central nervous system. I used Neurontin, Percocet, Cymbalta, and Lyrica in the following 4 years to manage my…
Fibromyalgia and Living in a Chaotic World
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear”, Mark Twain All of us with fibromyalgia suffer from repressed emotions and are coping with overstimulation and sensory processing sensitivity. Never has it been…
The many faces of fibromyalgia
“What’s in a name?”, Shakespeare The nomenclature of Fibromyalgia can be known as: “Central Sensitization”, “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”, “Cycles of Over-Exertion-Relapse”, and “Chronic Fatigue Disorder”, and now a new term: “Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disorder”-…
Hypnosis for Fibromyalgia
“With hypnosis, we can help people modulate perceptions in ways that are therapeutically helpful”, David Spiegel For those of us with chronic pain and/or a myriad of other distressing physical and psychological conditions the practice…
Is the cause of fibromyalgia both a nature/nurture conundrum?
” There are many other (besides testosterone) behavior-eliciting hormones fundamental for human well-being, including estrogen and progesterone in females”, Carl Sagan The question arises about why fibromyalgia is more prevalent in highly sensitive women and…
“Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps”: struggling with fibromyalgia
” Early in life, I was visited by the bluebird of anxiety”, Woody Allen Anxiety is the root cause of fibromyalgia, particularly at an early age, or even in the womb. So, how is one…
Sara Corning: A Brave Humanitarian Nurse
“She learned to Serve Others”, the headstone of Sara Corning My dear Readers: Now it has been 11 years of writing almost monthly blogs about fibromyalgia and attending to the stories about people who are…