Once Again, I Forget #Fibromyalgia Awareness Day (May 12)
After living with fibromyalgia for 30 years, my top coping strategy is conscious denial.
Yet another year during which I’ve spaced out about Fibromyalgia Awareness Day — one of the dubious joys of fibro fog but also, in my case, a busy life committed to…denial.
This morning I remembered, thanks to this piece on Medium by Kirsten Schultz: “Happy Fibromyalgia Day?” Excruciatingly accurate. Emphasis on excruciating. (OMFG, the Hair Hurting Thing!) Probably also forgot about this designated day because of my own recent flareup. And did I already mention denial?
Yes, denial! My preferred option for dealing with fibromyalgia for what is now a record-setting 30 years.
Yes, 30 years! Ever the trendsetter, I was diagnosed in 1986 when it was still called “fibrositis.” And haven’t I already written about this?
Yes, I’ve already written about this! I’ve written about consciously choosing denial, as well as my adventures with diagnosis and (no) treatment.
And so, from the archives (of my permanently-on-hiatus personal blog) this piece from the archives when I missed #Fibromyalgia Awareness Day in 2014.
From the Archives (May 14, 2014)
“Did I Miss #Fibromyalgia Awareness Day?”
At this age and stage of my life I have way too many “important” dates jammed into my skull mush. Combine that reality with a recent bout of hoisin sauce-induced brain fog and no surprise that I’d completely forget about Monday being Fibromyalgia Awareness Day.
Ironically, I discovered this lapse while searching for a post about my fibro mishegas that, as it turns out, I wrote and reposted for Fibromyalgia Awareness Day in 2011.
Three years ago. So much for time standing still in the presence of chronic pain and aggravation. Time and fibro have trudged on and on and on. Still, things have gotten (relatively) better over the decades; better being defined by me as reducing:
- pain levels by stripping gluten from my diet
- brain fog by eliminating aspartame from my diet
- sun-induced agitation by installing gray film on windows and staying indoors
- fluorescent lighting headaches by avoiding — wait for it — fluorescent lighting
But by far my most effective fibro pain management technique? Denial.
That’s right, I ignore all of the fibro-related crap until I am no longer ambulatory because deep fatigue and/or pain that forces me to get horizontal. In a dark room. With earplugs. Also sometimes with the cat as my nap companion. Nuts? Perhaps. Even so, after 28 years this approach seems to work well-ish enough for me.
And relying on denial does occasionally provide a hearty rueful laugh. Like the laugh I snorted out upon realizing I’d blanked out on Fibromyalgia Awareness Day 2014 because I was flattened and fogged by fibro. Or perhaps I was, in fact, “fully living into” fibromyalgia awareness.
Read: “My Fibromyalgia Story” from 2011.
Like my writing? Please share it by clicking that lovely little green heart.
