I took the article to my family doctor. He said he wasn’t really sure that fibromyalgia existed, but he would refer me to a rheumatologist. The rheumatologist told me that I was lucky because my fibromyalgia was so mild. He said most of his patients were either bed-ridden or confined to a wheelchair, and since I was ambulatory and able to hold down a job, I should be thankful. Then he went on to prescribe a powerful drug that had been in the news because of its potential danger to cause heart attacks. If my fibromyalgia was so mild, why did I need such a potentially dangerous drug? I left, threw the prescription away, and never went back to the rheumatologist.

Through the years, I have managed my pain with over-the-counter medications, and on the rare occasions when that didn’t control the pain well enough to keep me functional, I would get a short-term prescription for stronger pain relievers. I seldom mentioned that I had fibromyalgia because I know so many people with the syndrome have so much more difficulty than I did. I’ve never posted about fibromyalgia awareness before—perhaps I felt like my “mild” fibromyalgia didn’t qualify me to speak about the condition.

However, in the last couple of years, my symptoms have been getting much worse. I’m on several prescription medications from my family doctor (not my doctor from 30 years ago who has long since retired) and have now accepted a referral to another rheumatologist. I’m writing this post is at the very end of the calendar day on Fibromyalgia Awareness Day because I have been in bed with heat and massage and pain pills for most of the week. I guess now I’m qualified to talk about the condition.

According to the National Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Association:

Fibromyalgia (pronounced fy-bro-my-AL-ja) is a common and complex chronic pain disorder that affects people physically, mentally and socially. Fibromyalgia is a central nervous system illness and is also referred to as a syndrome rather than a disease. Unlike a disease, which is a medical condition with a specific cause or causes and recognizable signs and symptoms, a syndrome is a collection of signs, symptoms, and medical problems that tend to occur together but are not related to a specific, identifiable cause.

Fibromyalgia, which has also been referred to as fibromyalgia syndrome, fibromyositis and fibrositis, is characterized by chronic widespread pain, multiple tender points, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbances, fatigue and can be accompanied by psychological distress that comes with all chronic illnesses. For those with severe symptoms, fibromyalgia can be extremely debilitating and interfere with basic daily activities.

You can find more information on the association’s website.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia or suspects they have it, learn all you can and take appropriate action. Medication may be needed, but lifestyle changes, such as managing sleep, diet, and exercise, can also help.

Each individual needs to find what is most effective for him or her. My next step is to lose weight—being overweight doesn’t cause fibromyalgia, but I know from experience that I tend to have less pain when I weigh less. The severe pain I have been experiencing should be a good motivator to get serious about losing weight!

Do you have or do you know someone who has fibromyalgia? If so, do you have any tips about dealing with this condition to share in comments?

To learn what stroke is, risk factors, prevention, how to recognize when someone is having a stroke and what to do about it, and more, visit the National Stroke Association website and read some of my previous posts:

• May Is Stroke Awareness Month
• National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Beginning
• National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – The Next Three Days
• National Stroke Awareness Month: My Stroke – the Aftermath
• National Stroke Awareness Month: Stroke Risk Factors and Symptoms
• Stroke Awareness Month  2011

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and a major cause for long-term disability. If you don’t want to be a part of those statistics, educate yourself about stroke during Stroke Awareness Month.

A Tale of Two Missions with Juan Williams dramatically demonstrates that when it comes to education, freedom always works.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. ~ Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court chose death and made abortion legal in the United States.

Since that day, nearly 55 million children created by God in His image have been murdered before ever being given a chance at life.

This joyous story of a reunion of a birth mother with her daughter conceived in rape and given up for adoption is unlikely to happen today. Children conceived in rape are routinely aborted, as if the children should be punished for the crimes of their fathers.

Added 1/23/12: I learned about a pro-life advocate who herself was conceived in rape. Rebecca Kiessling has a dramatic story to tell that changes hearts and minds about exceptions to abortion.

Through the years, I have written a number of posts about abortion and the sanctity of life, especially on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that made the lives of unborn children less valuable under the law than the convenience of their mothers. Here are links to some of them:

• Absolute Truth vs Personal Opinion
• Abortion: Legalized Murder
• A Thirty-Six Year Tragedy
• The Most Basic Human Right: Life
• Slavery and Abortion – Moral Relatives
• The Case Against Abortion

O Lord Jesus Christ, who dost embrace children with the arms of thy mercy, and dost make them living members of thy Church; protect unborn children from being murdered in the womb; turn the hearts of lawmakers and people to end the evil abomination of abortion; and allow every child created by thee to fulfill thy plan for their life; through thy merits, O merciful Saviour, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen. (adapted from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer

photo credit: Caitlinator

Fortunately for slaves on Southern plantations, yes. Unfortunately for many other slaves around the world, no.

According to the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST):

There are more slaves in the world today than at any point in history. Slavery is more affordable, more wide-spread, and more entrenched in 2011 than it was in ancient Rome or the antebellum South of America. Modern-day slaves, also called human trafficking victims, can be male or female, from any country, or representing any ethnicity. They can be enslaved in any industry, although common industries include domestic servitude, agriculture, the commercial sex industry, factories, and the service industry. Human trafficking is truly a global crime.

Today, January 11th, is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Most of us believe that if we had lived during the days of slavery before the Civil War that we would have stood against it. Now there are more slaves than ever in history, and we all need to realize the magnitude of this problem and make our voices heard to bring an end to it.

Love 146, an organization to end sex slavery and exploitation, has posted quotes from the nineteenth century regarding slavery for the past several days. I recommend you begin with the first post and read them all. Then ask yourself if you feel compelled to help the cause of ending slavery of all kinds around the world.