Show your support by making this invisible illness visible
May 12th is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day
The one thing that makes fibromyalgia so hard to live with is the fact that you do not look sick. Fibromyalgia is also called the invisible disease, so even the people closest to you have a hard time to understand your situation. Someone who's suffering from fibromyalgia, try their best to give an appearance that nothing is wrong with them. They take extra care to look their best and when they meet people, they sound and look very cheerful, hiding the pain and exhaustion they really feel. However, masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting, so we often try to avoid socializing all together. This behavior usually after some time becomes a quality of life, where you get more and more isolated from family, friends, and finally the world.
Except for the physical torment, there is also the emotional pain of misunderstanding and/or lack of knowledge from family and friends. If someone in your family, a friend, co-worker or neighbor have fibromyalgia, you'll help them tremendously by taking the time to learn about this chronic, debilitating and invisible disease. It will help them not to feel so alone.
So for all of you who thinks fibro is just about pain, I just want to say, it is so much more. During the National day of Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, I hope that non-sufferers will take the opportunity to learn and understand better what it means to live with fibromyalgia, and how it affects our everyday lives. Only then you'll understand, there are painful tears behind that smile.
Please support research to find the causes of and a cure for fibromyalgia. Show you care by wearing purple today.
