Galupnorth and all who have answered,
The pain I have gone through trying to get people to understand my obsticales in life has left me feeling its often not worth the effort unless someone genuinely wants to listen.
I also suffer PTSD and a Dissociative dissorder due to my abusive past, both these conditions often provoke a similar attitude form people as with the fibro, It took years for those diagnosis and then years again for the Fibro diagnosis, all the while I lost family and friends due to denial.
I must say Galupnorth
The idea of haveing a story written ready is something I have had to do with Disassociative disorder, I use cirtain help centres and have had to give them an indication of what to look out for if I disassociate while in there care, It has helped in this way,
it condenses your story to facts,
it dosent leave you hunting for words or getting tounge tied or feeling, have got to say all this again,
if kept breif the people can read over it again and digest it better,
I found at times trying to explain things over and over made me say it in a dead pan unenthusiastic way as I was fed up with repeating it, which didnt do a great deal to convince someone,
so now I hand them that letter and thats it. They often then come back and ask more questions which means at least you have there genuine attention.
I have been told my fibro came about because of my abusive past so thank you Galupnorth
NOW I will add a section about the fibro, .... I didnt even think of doing it although I had done it before......fibro fog? :-)

Unfortunately this is still widespread. Invisible disabilities are dismissed. You are seen as lazy, ditzy, unmotivated, drug seeking. Most poeple simply cannot fathom how a task as simple as taking a shower can leave you exhausted. I recently had to describe in detail to my dad how sometimes the water from the shower hurts my skin. It gets tiring always having to explain things, like you've done something wrong instead of having a chronic illness.

@A MyFibroTeam Member I am so sorry to hear about your abusive past. Personally, I think there is more to that and it's possibly playing some part in many fibromyalgia patient's past than has been researched. But, that is just something I have in the back of my mind.

I didn't write my story to have it to read to them or anyone else, but just wrote it for here when it had a place for my story. My thoughts were that putting it out here raw and honest might help someone who is newly diagnosed learn more about what it is like and what to expect, etc.

That said, my immediate thought when I heard the statement about people thinking "that most people who say they have fibromyalgia, don't actually HAVE fibromyalgia" was to wonder, why is she saying that to me. Then, I figured that she is trying to tell me that she doesn't think I actually have fibromyalgia. Instead of getting angry, I just brought out my story and read it to her so that she could hear first hand some of my personal hell I went through when I was first diagnosed. Perhaps that might educate her.

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A MyFibro...

I haven't heard that, but I wouldn't be surprised. the rheumaotlogist who diagnosed me two different times did the "trigger points" test - sensitivity in all 4 quadrants of the body when pressure applied even lightly to certain trigger points. If you have fibro, you will respond in a no-question-about-it way that you have been correctly diagnosed. I had this confirmed in a PT session on Thursday, when the therapist did a massage on me - she said she tried to be gentle, but I could feel sharp pain every time certain areas were touched.

How about:

Does someone you know have Fibromyalgia?

Are you helping or hurting them?