Coping with Isolation

Often one of the worst aspects of having a chronic pain condition is the abject loneliness of it all. Old friends seem to drift away - unsure of how to deal with you anymore, or you've pushed them away because you fear having to explain what's wrong with you, again and again, doctors and other medical professional seem to wash their hands of you, having treated you (unsuccessfully) so many times, even family has difficulty seeing you in so much pain all of the time.

I know, from my own experiences how hard it is to come to terms with living in absolute agony all the time - that would be bad enough on its own, but to then be isolated because of it adds salt to the wounds. It's no wonder so many of us develop severe depression.

I've tried so many times to meet other people with similar / same conditions just to have someone to talk to about everything we have to contend with but, apart from making many 'friends' on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, I've not yet met anyone from my local area of North Yorkshire. I know there are people with the condition in my area as my GP has told me he's seen many people with it, so where are they, and why aren't they forming a local support group or just meeting for a coffee and a mutual moan every so often???

Wouldn't it be lovely if there was a site where I could type my home city, town or county and be provided with a list of people in that locality who I could make friends with and meet up with occasionally, who I could ask for advice or support and discuss treatments / medications with, face to face, over a coffee? Well, unfortunately, there isn't any such site.

This is why I have decided to create one! FibroMates is my attempt to get as many people as possible to build a profile which can be used to inform visitors who you are, what you suffer from, how you deal with it and, more importantly, can be searched for by others in a similar situation and who live locally to you. FibroMates will endeavour to bring people together who can, if they wish, meet for a chat or talk on the phone. It's all designed to enable chronic pain survivors to feel less isolated in their conditions and to give them a local 'friend', outside of family or existing friend circles, who will understand what they're going through, without judging.

It's early days, but since I started asking my social media friends to start building profiles on the site we've generated a lot of interest - not only in the UK but everywhere from Arizona to the Netherlands. Everything about the site will be free - just create a profile. The more profiles built the bigger and better the site will be at bringing people together.