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I would like to address this letter to the medical community about fibromyalgia. This “disease” affects so many people yet still goes unrecognized by the medical community. To the people who have it, it is a very real problem.
I was diagnosed in 2004 and my life has changed dramatically. Imagine yourself in constant 24-hour pain, no sleep, so tired you can’t even do the simplest things, so depressed you don’t even want to get out of bed. To look at me you would not know there is anything wrong, but inside my body lurks a monster. I would like to ask the doctors to please listen to your patients and try to understand this strange illness.
There are so many factors that go with it: depression, decreased mental function, sleep disturbance and a number of other maladies. Just take the time to listen to your patients and don’t pass this off as “in their head.”
It isn’t. It is very painful and it is life-altering. Do some research on this disease and be alert for its symptoms. Hopefully someone will pay attention and there will be help for those of us who suffer with this “thing.”
Kathy Ledford
Gainesville