Please Help us Raise Awareness of Fibromyalgia in Men.

I've been busy designing banners (no better activity for a dull Sunday afternoon!!)  - for no other reason than to use in our never ending campaign of awareness raising - please help yourself and share far and wide!! I'll be sharing across our social media channels in the coming days

Searching Health? - Don't Let Google Scare You!

I once searched "Fibromyalgia Symptoms" in my favourite search engine and it returned over thirteen million links. The first page returned included no less than four paid-for ads - where businesses pay a fee to be placed higher in the list. 

What struck me more than anything was the lack of relevance to my requested search. I had wanted a simple list of the symptoms of fibromyalgia, what I got was page after page of my kind of stuff - sorry bloggers of the world - solitary blogs writing about one of their symptoms of fibromyalgia. They appeared in the list because they'd placed 'labels' in the key words of their post such as "Fibromyalgia" and/or "Symptoms" 

So, without typing "A List of the symptoms of fibromyalgia" in my initial search I got over 13 million returns. (BTW actually typing in "A list of the symptoms of fibromyalgia" reduced the returns to a little over three million - again it included four paid-for ads at the top of the list.) Obviously, my favourite search engine has become over-crowded with irrelevant twaddle!

I don't know about you, but with my chronic pain I find typing unbearably painful at times - (I've been writing this post for three days!) - having to be so specific when entering my search criteria in to a search engine, in order to get the results I want, is not the best thing for me to do. I want to be able to type "fibromyalgia" and get all the information I need in one click of the mouse.

That's when I came across MedNexus. MedNexus is a health search engine that does exactly what you would hope a health search engine would do - give you straight answers to straight questions - no sponsored advertising crowding out the facts, no scary, turn my world upside down results like "Your itchy skin could be skin cancer." Just type in "Fibromyalgia" and the results will be there before you've even finished typing. It's THAT SIMPLE.

Why waste hours trawling through page after page of irrelevant results from Google when you can type your health query into MedNexus and get everything from the basics to in-depth articles and reviews that are current and relevant. There's everything from Asthma to Xenophobia - uncluttered, concise and categorised - without the dross. 

This is what MedNexus tells you about Fibromyalgia.

Welcome to The Fibro Joint - The Case for Prescribed Cannabis

I've seen many articles as I trawl the interconnectedweb relating to the use of prescribed marijuana to treat chronic conditions such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's Disease. I've also seen some blogs which extoll the virtues of the drug in treating Fibromyalgia.

Although still illegal in the United Kingdom, there are growing calls for it to be legalised to treat chronic pain conditions.

Jason Duke

Today I am pleased to introduce you to our guest writer, Jason Duke - founder of MedicalMarijuanaHelp.com - a US based site providing information on the use of cannabis as a medicine - where it's legal, where it isn't and practical use guides on the many varieties of cannabis available.

Perhaps his article will inspire others to lift up the mantle and begin campaigning for a relaxation of the UK laws: (The article appears in full HERE, but here's a snippet to grab your attention!

Cannabis Is An Excellent Treatment For Fibromyalgia
Cannabis is helping Fibromyalgia in men in many different ways. In this article, we will discuss what fibromyalgia is, how it affects men differently than women, the traditional treatment options for fibromyalgia, how cannabis can help and much more.  There is a lot of controversy surrounding fibromyalgia, how it effects individuals, what causes it, is it real and much more.
Fibromyalgia in men is more common than many people realize. This disease is considered to be an invisible disease. To many people, including some healthcare professionals, Fibromyalgia is thought to be all in the patient's head. This however could not be farther from the truth. Fibromyalgia is a real condition, and it causes real, severe pain on a constant basis. This disease is commonly associated with female patients as the number of diagnoses in male patients are significantly less than in females.
It is scientifically proven that fibromyalgia is a neurochemical disease and that those individuals who suffer from fibromyalgia show a consistently larger amount of substance P than what is average in most people. Substance P is a neurotransmitter that signals pain in the body. These patients also showed significantly lower amounts of serotonin which is also a neurotransmitter. Serotonin on the other hand is a neurotransmitter that inhibits pain.
Under Diagnosed
Because men are so less frequently diagnosed with this disorder many of them are not taken seriously about their pain. Unfortunately, the drug epidemic in the United States as well as around the world has led many doctors to believe that those who complain about having pain are simply drug addicts in search of pain pills. This has a severe negative effect for those who legitimately suffer from severe and constant pain such as the many men who suffer from fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is not just pain. For many men it is a fearful condition that leads to anxiety about common lifestyle activities and moments. Men suffering with fibromyalgia are not able to do what many consider to be "man things" such as working on cars, mowing yards, fishing, throwing a baseball with their grandkids and other activities without suffering from severe pain. This can lead to stress, anxiety, depression and much more.
Traditionally fibromyalgia is treated with a regimen of pharmaceutical narcotics that are typically opiate based. These pharmaceutical medications are highly addictive and have a long list of adverse side effects associated with them. Often individuals who are prescribed these opiates become addicted to them and see a deterioration of their health due to the side effects and long term use. READ MORE

I Swear By My TENS Machine.(#)

I swear by my TENS machine. I bought it a year or so ago and it has been a constant companion when sitting and watching TV or reading. The machine works by stimulating the nerves thereby reducing pain - I'm no neurologist as you can see, all I know is that it works well for me.

The only drawback is that you have to keep it on to get any relief - as soon as I take mine off the pain resumes its normal intensity - so it's not a long term fix. 

What it is ideal for is (when used with batteries instead of the mains adapter) attending social occasions, meetings, and in my case work. The pack clips to your belt and no one can see - unless you set the stimulation level to high and then you're like jumping jack flash round the workplace!


Premier Plus TENS Machine for pain relief - Combined with Muscle & Neuromuscular Simulator with 24 clinically approved programmes 

 

My TENS machine was the best £59 I ever spent. It allows me to sit for much longer than I usually can - so I can see an entire film, right through to the end, without having to constantly move around in my chair to get comfortable - it's an absolute boon for me.

And one more thing - it can also be used for muscular stimulation - meaning you can tone your muscles too - without the inconvenience and pain of a workout.

Being Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed is a word I used to associate with joy - "I'm overwhelmed to meet you!", "Your beauty overwhelms me!" I've never thought of it in the context of being overwhelmed by an illness. But that's how I've been feeling for a while now.

My illness is overwhelming me. I feel like it's beginning to become me, to define who I am, and I don't like it one bit.

I'm determined to not let fibromyalgia become me. Like some creeping algae slowly enveloping me in its insidious green slime. So far it's taken over so many aspects of my life - work, social, family. 

There's so much of the life I once knew that is now stagnated by fibromyalgia. I'm no longer able to plan anything with any certainty, family outings have to be decided on the day and can end abruptly half way through an activity, work has been reduced to just 16 hours a week - and still I have to call in sick some days, and my social life ended about four years ago.

Accepting you have an illness and accepting the limitations that illness places upon you is one thing, but allowing the illness to define who you are is an entirely different kettle of fish, and it's something I don't want on my epitaph - "Here Lies That Guy with Fibro."

I suppose I'm going to have to get myself a new mindset to accomplish this feat. I definitely need a shot of positivity to begin with, so I'm throwing this out there to ask:

"How do you keep yourself from being overwhelmed by your illness?"

"How do you stop yourself from becoming your illness?

 Answers on a postcard to.... or you can just post a comment!

All suggestions will be considered seriously.

   

Doodling For Pain Relief.

I like to doodle. I've been a doodler all my life. As far back as I can remember, in times of stress, I'd doodle some nonsense creation or other. I got through school with doodles - I avoided the physical attention of the bullies by drawing weird looking characters to amuse them and they'd laugh instead of punching my lights out. If only they'd known that some of the doodles were of / about them!

In later life, through protracted meetings about targets and growth, I'd doodle obscene caricatures of the meeting attendees! It has kept me sane, or possibly insane, throughout my life.

These days I doodle to focus on something other than my pain. Writing in general tends to set off pains in my hands and fingers, but doodling needs a more relaxed hand to let the creativity flow so I can doodle for far longer than I can write.

I'm definitely no artist - though I do try, but sometimes what's intended to be a human eye turns into a slug, and most of what I doodle turns out cartoonified or bizarre. The thing is, it relaxes my mind. Helps me focus on something different and, for the breifest of times, takes my pain away.

Over the years I built up quite a collection of nonsense art - but most of it was accidentally thrown away last year - so I set up a web site to store my creations safely, for posterity and to allow others to share their ridiculous creations should they wish to do so - www.sillyart.co.uk is the site, if you'd care to take a look at some of what my odd mind churns out. (It's in development but will be updated soon with even more of my madness!) You might even want to share some of your doodles there.

Not all of my creations turn out to be doodles, some I'm actually quite pleased with, like this one: 

. But most turn out to be bizarre - like these:

How do you relieve the stress of being in constant pain?

If, like me, you find yourself doodling some mad creation, or even an actual, real, work of art, I'd love you to share it with me on the site - you can upload your art at www.sillyart.co.uk/contact.html .

Happy scribbling!

Changes.

FibroBlog is to merge with MyFibroBlog - you'll notice some differences already.

I've decided that maintaining two blogs is just not physically possible for me anymore!

Watch out for a migration of posts as I clear out the MyFibroBlog and transfer all of them to the Blogger platform. The domain name may also change - but I'll let you know if and when.

UPDATE: To enable a smooth transition to a new domain name we have reverted, temporarily, from fibroblog dot co dot uk to fibromenblog.blogspot.com


Thanks

Gary

Taking the Rough with The Rough.

I had a colleague come up to me at work the other day and say "You look rough!"

I was shocked. Struck dumb by the fact that someone had noticed I looked ill. Usually people tell me how well I look! I had no response to give her except my stock response of "Oh, I'm not so bad!" Nothing could be further from the truth. On top of my daily struggle with persistent lower back and hip pain, IBS and toe pain (yes, toe pain - new one on me!!) I seem to have contracted the dreaded influenza that has been doing the rounds for the past few weeks. Everyone at work has had it, my wife actually collapsed whilst serving a customer last week because of it, my daughter got it late last week and now it's found me.

When I get struck by flu (or even just a mild cold) it magnifies all of my other symptoms. My famously disreputable bowels become even more disreputable, my chronic pain - which is welded at six or seven, somehow unwelds itself and hikes it's way up to an eight or nine, add to that a sprinking of nasal congestion tasting like one of my bowel movements, shivers, being boiling hot and then freezing cold, sweating, headache, blocked nose, runny nose, sore throat and a raucous chesty cough and you have the perfect recipe for feeling really, really ill!!.

Being acutely ill whilst at the same time battling being chronically ill is what really makes a rough life rougher - but it has its benefits. Most notable of which is actually looking ill.