One million Canadians have Fibromyalgia.

Taken from the Times & Transcript's Life & Times Section: (with my own notes added)

May 12 was Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. Just to show how little is known about this terrible affliction, my spell check just picked it up as being an incorrectly spelled word. Even the computer doesn't know what it is.

"Every day is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day for my daughter. She lives in chronic, often severe, pain every day, 24 hours per day.
Today is a good time to encourage fibromyalgia awareness, as springtime is one of the worst seasons for the sufferers of this disease. Like other forms of arthritis, changes in seasons bring on even more excruciating pain and "flare ups" are common. Though not really labeled as an arthritic condition, it is believed to be part of that disease group, but it also mimics many characteristics of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and MS. Continuous nerve supersensitivity is my simplified definition.
This disease affects not only the sufferer, but her/his family and friends as well.
As a mother, it tears at your heart, because your child is in pain and there is nothing you can do. The first time I recognized that my daughter was having extraordinary trouble with pain was when she was 19-years-old.
She would be in tears begging me to rub the pain out of her hands, but no matter how long I massaged, the pain wouldn't go away. Then one day, she asked me not to unbutton her blouses when I washed them because her fingers "wouldn't work" to fasten them up again.
She would go out dancing for an evening, and wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day. Nineteen-year-olds should be dancing, they should be enjoying life --
but if you do anything physical when you have fibromyalgia, you know you will suffer even more.
Doctors either don't believe in it, don't understand it, or, like their patients, get too frustrated when they can't do anything. This has to change.
People must become aware of this tortuous affliction. It has to become a part of disease research and drug research. There has to be understanding and compassion.
This pain is so severe, over the counter drugs do very little, and drugs like Lyrica just barely make an impact.
When the pain is unbearable, drugs like Demerol can help, but it is often very difficult to get physicians to administer this drug, even in the emergency room. And so they suffer, in silence when they can, and crying out when they can't bear it any longer.
It is a vicious circle, the body can't heal itself without sleep, and sleep is elusive at best when you are in continuous pain.
So please, today, or any other day for that matter, take the time to learn what fibromyalgia is; research it and become familiar with it, because besides financial support for research, understanding is the only comfort you can give these chronic sufferers."

Oh, and as much as they need a hug, please don't -- it just hurts too much!

If you would like more information on this forum you can call The Arthritis Society's toll free number in Fredericton to register: 1-800-321-1433. There is material on fibromyalgia (brochures, magazines, etc.) that they can send you and you can be added to the email list for information relating to fibromyalgia.

**My mom has lived with Fibromyalgia since I was young - long before they even gave it a 'true' name. **