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Understanding Fibromyalgia
You can't understand fibromyalgia. Even if you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia by someone with fibromyalgia, each individual's experience with fibromyalgia is as unique and individual as the meat puppet that is experiencing it. It is caused and intensified by various factors, both external and internal. Like diabetes, the medical profession is aware of psychological factors that impact physiological factors in fibromyalgia. I am not here to tell you what FM is or how to resolve it.
This is more about understanding that our physical bodies, the way they react with the environment, is as individualized and the way our psyches react to the environment. We are not as simply unique as the length and breadth of our fingerprints, but more like snowflakes with multiple dimensions. Like snowflakes we may retain the individuality of the unique path of our experience and still be generalized to seem an invariable part of a massive whole. Rather it is wet snowman snow, or powdery ski snow, the generalization we make can give us useful knowledge; driving conditions are slightly different for different types of snow.
These generalizations of the physical human condition can also be useful. Through incidental observations and directed study, we can identify specific indicators for specific problems. Detecting Cancer, Diabetes and other diseases have unquestionably lead to longer life. When a new patient is diagnosed with Diabetes and is immediately handed a prescription that combines two drugs-each working in different ways, as well as new education, I have to wonder how many generalizations have caused more chemical problems than solutions.
I am not a scientist, but I know that a good experiment doesn't purposefully change multiple variables at once. This one doctor changed at least three. How does the patient know which is working and which is some useless chemical that the body will store to become something unexpected later. (For those few who have heard of fibromyalgia and do not know, the leading theory seems to be the chemicals released in our bodies during threatening situations are not processed properly, thus the adrenaline produced during the fight-or-flight response becomes pain.) In my personal experience, education and discipline are enough to make a difference in some individuals, with the "normal" doses of medication being almost lethal. The combination of flexible variables can do worse than just a lack of complete understanding.
There should be no surprise then, that each time I visit a medical professional, I am already defensive; not rude by any means, but definitely prepared to be told things that do not apply to my specific condition. Now that I have been diagnosed with FM, doctor's visits are even worse. Maybe it's because this is a newly studied disorder that causes doctors to focus on it. Maybe it's because it's not well understood, that makes doctors hesitant to move beyond FM. I am finding that I can no longer be treated for anything other than the FM that is not understood.
Fibromyalgia is a debilitating disease. It's not that it prevents the individual inflicted from living the kind of productive life they would like to live, but it prevents medical professionals from treating other illnesses. The research into FM has stunted the abilities of doctors in the line of battle. It is a battle, you know. Now we are not only battling our bodies that have betrayed us, we also have to war with a society that wants to perpetuate this feeling of helplessness. I have resolved my fibromyalgia issues, but I am helpless to get any aid for further health issues. My helplessness is not from this disorder, it is from a society that refuses to let me grow.
Fortunately I have a unique perspective on this existence: I do not have to understand in order to accept. Just because I accept something doesn't mean I'm not going to fight against it anyway. My psychology impacts my physicality. Conflict cause me to evolve. Fibromyalgia is just an incidental in my life that will lead me to greater possibilities. Now I just need to get the rest of the world to step up to a new level.