Celebrate the resilience of Fibromyalgia warriors, sharing stories of strength, tips for managing symptoms, and resources for support and empowerment.
Causes of FM/CFS: Scientific Basis for the Gupta Program The premise of the Gupta program is that fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) are caused by abnormalities in the functioning of brain structures that process physical and emotional threats to the body. However, connections in the brain are not fixed and can be rewired. Neuroscientists call this process “neuroplasticity”. The program was created by Ashok Gupta, who suffered from ME/CFS himself, but has since…
Part I: From Onset to Diagnosis For Fibromyalgia Awareness Month, I wanted to share my illness journey here on the blog. My story starts eight years ago. It wasn’t a climactic beginning. It was just achy low back pain that got worse the longer I sat writing my M.A. thesis. It seemed like a common enough problem to have, except for the fact that I was 23. The nurse told me to take ibuprofen 24/7 and…
Like an ‘invisible illness, Fibromyalgia is difficult to diagnose. The symptoms of Fibromyalgia overlap with many other chronic pain conditions, which is why receiving an official diagnosis is often problematic. If you have Fibromyalgia, you will experience widespread pain. This may be felt throughout the entire body or could be worse in certain areas, such as the back or neck. The pain is likely to be prolonged and unpredictable; there will be times when it…
Dear Alexa I was involved in a road traffic accident following which I initially suffered from a whiplash injury with pain to my neck and back. It has now been 9 months since the accident and the pain has spread so that I have pain all over my body. I am convinced that I am suffering from fibromyalgia as I seem to suffer from the majority of symptoms in addition to the widespread pain including…
Fibromyalgia and celiac disease are two debilitating conditions that prove to be extremely difficult to live with. Some symptoms of both conditions overlap and are very similar. In this blog, we look at the connections between the two conditions and how they may be related to one another. Fibromyalgia is a complex, long-term chronic condition with a multitude of different symptoms, including widespread pain all over the body, and without a single known cause.Many people…
Osteoarthritis is known to occur in those suffering with fibromyalgia, but why? Find out in this blog. Not to be confused with osteoporosis, osteoarthritis affects the cartilage in your joints and wears them down over time, causing the bones to rub together. As a condition, osteoarthritis can make it extremely hard for you to move around, leaving you feeling uncomfortable, particularly for those of you who are looking to be active in any way. Symptoms…
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 path, both in negative and positive ways. I have written about my story before, but here I want to talk about the impact my diagnosis had. Initially, all I could see afterward was a loss in every direction, as if…
When is the last time scheduled a rest day? I am not talking about spending the day in bed because your chronic illness flared and made leaving it impossible. What I am asking is, when did you last choose a day to relax, give your body a break, and allow yourself to chill out in front of the television for no reason other than you wanted to? I don’t need a rest day The problem…
Meditation is a way to practice being present. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer in the field of meditation and medicine, meditation is a practice of cultivating mindfulness, which means “paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” For this post, I wanted to look at some recent research on mindfulness meditation programs involving participants with chronic pain. The purpose of these studies was to assess whether mindfulness can lower pain, reduce depression, and improve…
Recently published research stated that those patients with Rheumatoid arthritis had higher pain levels if they also were diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. “Fibromyalgia is associated with worsening function in rheumatoid arthritis patients”.”The researchers noted that Fibromyalgia is a debilitating syndrome characterized by widespread, non-articular pain. The condition is more common in RA patients, with a prevalence of about 20% compared with 2.5% in the general population.” A few additional facts from the study included a psychosocial…