How Do You Classify Pain?
Pain. How do you classify it? Burning, aching, dull, shooting, tingling, constant, in the background ALL the time. If you go to the ER the nurses and doctors want to to rate your pain from 1 to 10. Okay, I can do that. It is all of the above. It all fits me and it never stops. When I say never, I mean never. On my best, mild pain days, it is always there in the background reminding me that I am no longer well. It hurts when I stand, when I sit, when I walk, or when I try to sleep. Pain dictates how I live my life. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. Every action/movement I make could result in severe, debilitating pain putting me in bed for days at a time. So, I have to be careful what I do and how I do it.
What Ails You?
According to the many doctors I've seen, I have fibromyalgia. The Mayo Clinic defines fibromyalgia is a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in your muscles, ligaments, and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points - places on your body where slight pressure causes pain. In reading that definition, it doesn't really sound that bad. If you've seen the commercials for certain medications for fibromyalgia, they don't make it look that bad either. Just take our medicine and life will be all sunshine and rainbows. Coming from someone who is actually living with fibromyalgia...are you freaking kidding me. There are no rainbows over here. I think they're just trying to blow sunshine up my...well, you know where I mean. There is no one medicine, vitamin, exercise or treatment for fibromyalgia. Anyone who tells you differently probably wants your money. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what's going to work the best for you. I've been at it two years and still haven't figured it out.
