Mental Illness: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment Options

Two-thirds of those with fibromyalgia also have depression

New research was carried out by healthizes in order to better understand it’s fibromyalgia community members. The online poll sampled 671 people, all diagnosed with fibromyalgia and the results have provided a valuable insight into the connection between fibromyalgia, depression and anxiety. The healthizes survey revealed that the majority of fibromyalgia patients are also diagnosed with depression. Figures show that more than 63% of those surveyed stated they had been diagnosed with depression and 58%…

by chronicillness•12/09/202208/23/2025•0

Stress the Silent Killer in Fibromyalgia

Stress makes mess Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a super spectacular stress free holiday season. So sorry that I disappeared but it’s been a rather extended round of not quite major and not quite minor flares… hmm maybe I’ll call it a “round” of flares. No, I’ve got it! The spinning wheel of stress n’ pain; spin it while you sleep, and wake up in the morning to a stressful, painful SURPRISE. Click…

by chronicillness•12/08/202208/23/2025•0

Did your chronic illness insist that you spend your vacation in bed?

Before fibromyalgia, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and other chronic illness took over my body, I would return home from a vacation feeling relaxed or energized. At first, my illnesses would require a little more rest while away. Because I pushed through pain and fatigue in hopes of keeping up with my family, I always returned home feeling like death. It was not unusual for my body to need days, weeks, and a few times months to…

by chronicillness•12/06/202208/23/2025•0

Why I Fear Doctors, Hospitals, and Test Results

Some people have an irrational fear of doctors. While some of us have been victimized so severely, that we may never trust one again. Since my first chronic illness diagnosis in 2001, my life, has been nothing short of a nightmare. I know my body well. In fact, I know better than any test or doctor. Tweet Not to sound conceited. But not one test or scan has ever shown the destruction that has been…

by chronicillness•12/05/202208/23/2025•0

Invisible Disability Awareness

We have embodied beings. All of us. But what then is distinct about the lived experience of pain? What is it like to have your life and choices filtered by pain, limited by pain, and yet be invisible to others? I will tell you what it is like. It sucks. Yes, it sucks. There I said it. Like so many others with invisible disabilities I have danced, no, shuffled through life with this awesome mask…

by chronicillness•10/14/202208/23/2025•0

The Emotional Effects of Fibromyalgia

Living with fibromyalgia can affect you physically and emotionally. Fibromyalgia is stressful. The pain and stress of fibromyalgia raise your body’s level of cortisol, a stress hormone. Adjusting to the disease and finding treatments that work can be frustrating. This fits with the fact that about 20% of people with fibromyalgia report feeling anxious or depressed. Don’t let fibromyalgia bring you down. Instead, do what you can to reduce the psychic toll of the illness.…

by chronicillness•10/09/202208/23/2025•0

6 Tips for Coping With ‘Fibromyalgia Fog’

Managing Fibromyalgia’s Effects on the Brain Doctors often focus more on the physical symptoms of fibromyalgia, such as pain, fatigue, and stiffness. However, many people with the condition also have trouble focusing, concentrating, or thinking quickly in everyday situations. In a recent study, women with fibromyalgia ranked so-called ‘fibro fog’ among their five top complaints. Openly discussing these symptoms and how they affect you can help you and your doctor address them. Here are other…

by chronicillness•10/08/202208/23/2025•0

How to Face the Day During a Fibromyalgia Flare

When you wake up in a fibromyalgia flare—with that feeling that you can’t move, as if a 500-pound weight has been dropped on you in your sleep—you can’t help but wonder how you can possibly face the day. On mornings like this, the best thing you can do is limit your activity and rest. Still, even as your body takes the downtime it needs, feelings of guilt or other negative emotions can make days like…

by chronicillness•10/02/202208/23/2025•0

Cognitive Dysfunction and fibromyalgia

When we are talking about the poor cognitive function we have to be precise and not confuse it with just being absentminded but studies have shown there are real cognitive dysfunctions occurring with fibromyalgia. What is the cause of the cognitive dysfunction seen in the syndrome though? Is the brain aging faster? Is it due to depression or anxiety? Or is it correlated to pain or lack of sleep? There are many areas where people with fibromyalgia can point…

by chronicillness•09/30/202208/23/2025•0

Tips for when you are in the Fibro Flare

I am in a Fibro Flare. The pain arching through me right now is difficult to describe, to be honest. It is a deep, bone-deep, throbbing ache that is at around an 8 on the pain scale. It is extremely distracting. It is gnawing. Grating. And that is when I am not moving. Moving is another story altogether. In this particular case, it is from weather changes. We have been having hot weather and flash…

by chronicillness•09/26/202208/23/2025•0