Andrea feared being labeled a hypochondriac.
(ANDREA COOPER)
I Faced and Fought Fibro
The painful condition couldn't keep Caitlyn, or her family, down Read more
More about fibromyalgia
- Never knowing when you're going to fall apart or for how long.
- Feeling that people perceive you as unreliable because you cancel appointments or engagements at the last minute.
- Worrying that your husband considers you a burden or your kids question why you aren't like other moms.
- Feeling sexually undesirable and distracted by pain.
- Being so uncomfortable at work, in a theater, or in public that you feel like you could literally explode—and there's little you can do about it.
- Being afraid to talk to people (or even some doctors) about your pain and other symptoms because they will brand you as a complainer or a hypochondriac.
- Having to lie down on the floor in a department-store dressing room, hotel lobby, restaurant restroom, or on a park bench because you are in so much pain—I've done them all. Meanwhile, people stare and your kids are mortified.
- Being excited at the prospect of going out to dinner, a concert, or other event, but by the time you get ready and get there, you are too exhausted or in too much pain to enjoy yourself.
- Giving up so many things due to fear of causing more pain: planting flowers, playing the guitar, watching a movie comfortably, driving a car longer than a few minutes, surfing the Web, volunteering at my kids’ schools.
- Feeling as if I never finish anything: dinner half made, cake not frosted, songs never finished, art projects barely started in piles around the house. Also, always running late for appointments and constantly dropping the ball.
