Fibromyalgia Support Group
You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.
I'm curious what others think of this. Lady Gaga has talked about having chronic pain in the past but only now via her new documentary is saying she's been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She claims she's coming forward about it to raise awareness and I guess she thinks she can bring people with it together (as if we don't have support groups and sites like this already to bring us together). What worries me is we've all had people in our lives that do not get the concept of fibro and they don't understand why we can't do things we used to and they think we're just being overdramatic or that we're not as bad off as we claim and we're really just lazy or we don't actually want to get better, things like that. Well now, the people in our lives who other than knowing we have fibro are only aware of it through say, the regular airing of lyrica commericals, now those people will look at Gaga, who sings, dances, dangles from rafters, crowdsurfs, acts, tours around the world, et al, likely with very few recovery days blocked into her schedule - she's now saying she has the same thing we all do. And she's doing all that stuff still. Granted, she's got more money than any of us and likely has a better pool of doctors to chose from and can afford to try all sorts of treatments none of us will ever be able to consider, but try explaining that to the very people who already look at us like we're overexagerrating our illnesses to begin with.
On one hand, it's always a good thing when a chronic condition that isn't known about as much as it probably should be gets a little more recognition that it exists and more people learn about it and maybe gain some insight on what it's like for those of us with it... but on the other hand... I do worry about our new poster child for the illness being someone who does so much in spite of the illness, considering how many of us find it so difficult to do very basic things most days. How many fibro sufferers will have that much harder of a time trying to get people to understand just because Gaga still can do things doesn't mean everyone else with the illness can?
What do you all think?
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I'm alive, I'm sleeping like a rock, and for some reason I wanted cherry juice so that seems to be helping. (??? Weirdo that I am.)***Infamous therapies over history:1. The Attic. The madwoman in the attic is a motif in literature going waaaaaay back: the nutty female relative is locked in the attic. (See: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for a grotesquely racist version of it, and Charlotte Perkins...
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Welcome to the Perseid meteor showers, the "biggies" usually every year. (The Leonids beat 'em one year IMHO).AND today much of the northern hemisphere will see 5 to 99% solar eclipse. How cool is that? Your best bet is to be in the UK or norhtern Spain, where totality is excellent before sundown. Me, I'll get a super duper tiny itty bitty slice of it, so little that it won't be noticeable. New...
Lets see...Janeane Garofalo, Sinead O’Connor (who is now apparently dealing with some deep depression also), and Morgan Freeman just to name a few. I know there are more....I just can't remember.
But adding Lady Gaga to the mix I don't think will do very much good as in bringing awareness, I hope I'm wrong. But she will continue to work. Just like many of us do. She will continue to talk about it for a while, just like many of us do. And then this will just sorta slip away, just like the news of Morgan Freeman, Sinead O’Connor, and Janeane Garofalo did.
And while I applaud all who raise awareness of Fibro, and get days recognized, foundations established, or start therapy groups, I just think (and in a good way) that Fibro will no be a very recognizable disorder until a cause can be determined. And I say in a good way meaning that thankfully there isn't more people out there suffering with this disorder. I would never wish that upon anyone. Not even just to understand a bit.
Now do I hope Lady Gaga can raise money for fibro research, I sure do. I hope she can use her open spot light for the greater good. And I hope she does get the best treatments she can afford. I hope she finds the support she needs. I have the same hopes for her as I do everyone else here, and that is to get better. And if that is not obtainable, to at least have the fullest life she can living with it. But for now, I know she needs to decompress from it all, research like we all have and find what works for her. I'm glad she spoke up, in her line of work, I'm sure that must have been kinda hard. The world doesn't know how to react to fibro yet. And Hollywood sure hasn't done anything good to support fibro. (I hate it when I hear derogatory comments in movies about people faking having fibro all for a punchline -it's as bad as the pushed lies Lyrica commercials have).
As a woman with a very high profile she has the opportunity to help a lot of people. She is pretty generous. Give her a chance.
I hope she realizes we common folks with fibro dont get hospitalized for severe pain. In fact many of us get treated like dirt by Drs , ERs and such and just have to buck it up everyday. Most of us that would like to have pain meds on hand for the bad days cant get them from Drs and we are treated like drug addicts for even asking.
I also agree with your comments Tess. Sounds like fibro is kicking her a## right now,
I hope it does give fibro some positive attention.
to earn a bit of money?
So of course rich folks can publicly seem to handle chronic illness better than we do.
I don't doubt she's in pain, nor do I wish bad things on her. I actually have always liked what I've seen of her in interviews. But no one should doubt that being a rich celebrity makes living with a chronic illness easier.
The worst thing that could happen is that she could stop talking about and go back into her high energy routine. Most of us do not have the luxury of taking time off, being hospitalized etc....If I could take 2 weeks off, shave down my responsibilities I think that I would be a lot better. So, I honestly hope that she is in it for the long run and hope that some fibro support groups are in contact with her about how she could help
The facts are that Lady Ga Ga has canceled her tour due to severe Body wide pain from fibromyalgia.
An article about her states the following:
The pop star, who has the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia, pulls out of gig in Brazil saying ‘it’s not simply wear and tear’ from her world tour
Lady Gaga has been forced to cancel the Rio concert of her world tour, citing “severe pain” for which she had to be hospitalised.
She wrote on Twitter and Instagram: “It’s not simply hip pain or wear & tear from tour, I’m in severe pain. I’m in good hands [with] the very best doctors.”
The pop star has fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition which she has previously documented on social media; in November she posted a description of the ice baths, infrared saunas and emergency blankets she uses to manage her condition.
She has said that her forthcoming Netflix documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two, will document her experience of fibromyalgia, “to help raise awareness & connect people who have it”.
I think her canceling her tour due to fibromyalgia speaks volumes. She says it not just pain.....it's severe pain. Whether she will go on to be a spokesperson or not, we must continue to be advocates for ourselves.!
We must fire lazy, unscrupulous doctors who are too lazy to go back and educate themselves about fibromyalgia. We must continue to state that fibromyalgia has its own diagnostic code and is recognized by several top organizations. We must let the person that is trying to discredit us know these truths about fibromyalgia and look at them like they are crazy for not knowing. As we continue to educate others and demand respect, the naysayers will disappear. After all there were many illnesses that were once discredited such as: multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, epilepsy, ulcers, to name just a few.
Furthermore, we must be careful as to how we view one another with fibromyalgia. In 2012, I was practically bedridden and on FMLA with fibromyalgia. I had daily pain levels of 8-10. Today, my fibromyalgia is mostly mild and I can do so much more. I have had severe fibromyalgia, moderate fibromyalgia, and now it's mostly mild with periodic flare-ups. I have a multifaceted regimen that I must follow to the letter or I will relapse into severe fibromyalgia. To some, looking at me from the outside, they may question my disease because I have improved and can do so much more. Those people don't know how far I've come and don't see me when I have periodic flare-ups, or don't see me soaking in Epsom Salt every morning before I work. They don't see the struggle to ge up in the mornings due to unrefreshing sleep. They don't see the supplements, dietary changes, pacing, Aqua therapy, medically necessary massages, pain patches, essential oils, pain creams, etc. I said all of that to say, that people are going to judge no matter what. Just because Lady Ga Ga can do more than most with fibromyalgia doesn't mean she doesn't struggle. She has the financial means to have access to things that we may not have access to. I hope she does bring awareness and show the side of her that the public doesn't see! I think by her canceling her tour due to fibromyalgia, many naysayers may see Fibro in a different light. In the meantime, it's up to us to be advocates and educate whenever we can!
I believe she will exactly what Fibromyalgia needs....a spotlight in a positive way that will bring awareness, enlightenment and much needed help and understanding to us fibro warriors. Yes, the naysayers will say, "how could you have fibro when one day you're jumping around on stage and the next bedridden in a hospital canceling the biggest tour date?" I think this is exactly what we go through....so let the world see it too. For good or for bad ...and we all experience mostly negative, imo, why not let a "celebrated" person take the fall for us for a change? She has the voice, the power, the money for research.....yahooey I say!
Her twitter handle is: @ladygaga, but I think you have to use the: @xoxo,ladygaga for her real twitter account and not her fandom ones that are created.