The Diagnosis

I have been struggling for years with painful feet, burning muscles, sore joints. Then other things started to add themselves in. I dropped things unexpectedly, I fell, I  was permanently exhausted. I was sent from rheumatology to orthopaedics, to podiatry, back to rheumatology, back to orthopaedics, to podiatry, to physiotherapy, to neurology, to pain management clinic. And finally, after going through all my symptoms, Dr L announced " I am sure you have Fibromyalgia". I was handed an NHS leaflet on the subject, told I would be referred to the Pain Management Psychologist and would be sent an appointment. An that was that.


Everyone has an opinion about Fibromyalgia. I have even been told that "oh, that's the fashionable illness to have right now. Doctors just say it to fob patients off when they don't think anything other than a few aches and pains is all the person has"! Or the" oh yes, I ache a lot too, especially at my age".


I know it is not a fatal illness but the 'fibre fog' scares me. And I see my physical fitness declining rapidly. A flight up the stairs and I have to stop half way, a short walk exhausts me, the depression pulls me down into a dark place I can't seem to get out of. I am a ballet dancer who can no longer dance and I have lost who I am as a result of this.


Exercise gently, it may take a year before I get a slight improvement. But I need to exercise to do my job. Nobody can tell me how do I cope with that?


Fibromyalgia has become my enemy. It is an enemy who hides because it isn't visible to the human eye. They say " Know thy Enemy" so I I shall try to do that.