It’s Fibromyalgia Awareness Day!

At the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association, this year's Fibromyalgia Awareness Day is themed CURE FM (Campaign for Understanding, Research & Education of Fibromyalgia), and many of our members are working to do just that. Beginning as early as January, our fibromyalgia members have worked together to order t-shirts, send letters to TV shows and spread the word about fibromyalgia through their online social networks. So what's fibromyalgia really like? The best way to find out is from patients directly. Since we opened our doors to fibromyalgia patients in November 2008, we've had 13,826 fibromyalgia patients join our community and share their real-world experiences with this chronic pain disorder, which is characterized by pain or aching in the muscles as well as multiple points of tenderness. Among other things, patients with fibromyalgia have reported that:

• The most prevalent symptoms include pain, fatigue and memory problems
• The most widely used prescription drugs are Duloxetine (Cymbalta), Pregabalin (Lyrica), (Ultram), Gabapentin and Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril)
• The most common lifestyle modifications are rest, physical activity and exercise as tolerated and hot showers

They also share practical tips for living with this debilitating condition in our forum every day. Some of the most popular topics in the fibromyalgia forum room include sleep issues, pain, research, coping and support. Here are some recent forum comments about the disease's effects:

• "Sometimes I wonder who I am. It is like all the pain and problems define me. The pain controls my life." -Fibromyalgia patient, age 50
• "Being sick has permeated so much of my life that it comes up in almost every conversation I have." -Fibromyalgia patient, age 33

To learn more about living with fibromyalgia, you can also explore individual patient profiles to see what people are saying about their symptoms, treatments and quality of life.  Get to know one of our fibromyalgia patients today.