Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia … a Miserable Combination!!!
Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia have a number of overlapping symptoms, and those who struggle with either or both understand how tough some days can be! Unfortunately, it is very challenging for someone who feels healthy to really comprehend the struggle, the pain, and the overall feeling of being totally drained of energy that we experience on a day to day basis.
The flu puts even the strongest of people in bed for days. Those of us who live with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue enjoy our best days feeling like we have a mild case of the flu. Our muscles ache, our joints throb, our energy is zapped, and we feel we have been run over by a truck, and that’s a good day! Add to that an asthma flare, the headache, an aggravated colon from all the holiday food, reynaud’s symptoms rearing their head due to the colder temperatures, low grade fever, and nerve pain, and you have “one of those days … or weeks!”
Do you ever sit back and ponder, “What does a healthy person feel like?” Have you ever imagined what it will be like when we are in heaven and experience complete health? Can you fathom the idea of a great night’s sleep, without the shoulder locking, the hands going numb, or your neck getting stiff? Isn’t the thought of a full day of activity without paying for it physically a really pleasant one?
There is blessing in the pain, though! If I have learned one thing over the past 13+ years of daily, sometimes debilitating pain, it is that with God’s strength, even the toughest days are bearable! I have learned to start talking to Him each morning before my feet even hit the ground! He fills our spirits with peace and hope.
I am often reminded of Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV).
Our physical pain cannot take our joy, cannot rob us of love, and cannot keep us from enjoying life! So, take time to relax this week, make simple meals, and if you are really ambitious … do some Christmas shopping – from the comfort of your home!
I don’t have fibromyalgia… but I will say that I was dx’ed with CFS about 10 years ago… and 95% of the symptoms disappeared when we found out five years ago that what I really have is celiac disease. Many of CD’s symptoms mimic CFS, and CFS is the #1 thing that celiac disease is misdiagnosed as. Even those who have heard of celiac disease are only aware of its digestive problems, when neuorologic symptoms are just as prevalent (because the same peptide that causes triggers an autoimmune response in the small intsestine also bonds to brain nerve cells and acts as an opiate.).
I still think I get more exhausted than your average person, but I don’t have near the mental fogginess and extreme fatigue that used to be debilitating.
I will definitly pray that God take the pain and the tiredness away!
God has A heart to heal you! Romans 8:28
Aaron
My wife was diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years ago and our lives were changed forever. I am developing an online community for people suffering from fibromyalgia. The online community, “You’re Not Alone” ( http://fibromyalgia.ning.com ), will allow members to participate in fibromyalgia-related discussions in the Forum, share their thoughts and ideas in their blog, and post their personal photos and videos. There is no cost to join. Members of the site follow a simple process to create their profile page, which they can later customize including a profile photo and additional details about themselves. I created the project while participating in a Landmark Education leadership program. Part of the coursework was to create a project that benefits the community. When I had the opportunity to create a project that would make a difference in the community, it was only natural that my wife’s illness would be the inspiration.
very interesting.
i’m adding in RSS Reader