Living With Chronic Pain That Even Doctors Don’t Believe - This Is Fibromyalgia

People with fibromyalgia feel widespread pain - but their medical tests come back normal. Not only does this baffle doctors, patients also question if their constant muscle aches, joint pain, and tiredness were simply imagined.

Fibromyalgia has no known cause or cure, and its symptoms - such as chronic fatigue, depression and brain fog - can be mistaken for other conditions like arthritic or autoimmune diseases. Four people share what it’s like to live with it, and the challenges of getting a diagnosis.

00:00 Intro
00:59 What is fibromyalgia?
02:23 Why fibromyalgia is hard to diagnose
03:50 Is it cancer? Is it lupus or arthritis?
05:01 Why fibromyalgia is often misdiagnosed
05:18 How I got my fibromyalgia diagnosis
06:55 Managing my chronic pain
08:55 Dealing with the stigma of invisible illness
09:42 Support groups for chronic pain

Watch More:
I’m A Young Adult With Autoimmune Disease. Here’s What Folks Don’t Get About Chronic Pain

Women With ADHD: How A Diagnosis Changed Our Lives

Mum's Love Transcends Pain Of Her Rare Disease | On The Red Dot | CNA Insider

#CNAInsider #CNAInsight #invisibleillness #chronicpain #fibromyalgia #fibro #fibroawareness

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[JustAndreaEdna]

This is growing in America as well. It's taken over my life.

[davebarlow]

I've had fibromyalgia and M/E for 14 yrs now. On really bad days I often go to bed hoping that I won't wake up in the morning, the pain and feeling of illness can be unbearable, it sucks all the joy out of living until you have nothing left.

[misskathleen]

This aggravates me how they tend to imply that something like chronic pain is always somehow related to past traumas. WTF? It is a medical condition. Like cancer. They do this to make you feel you are responsible to get therapy and perhaps they wont have to hear you complain

[IamFallingFeathers]

Thank You to the Team at CNA for sharing our Story <3 Hope this will create awareness and help many more people ◡̈

[ziddib]

I have been suffering from FIBROMYALGIA since 2004. The pain is 24/7. However, sleep is the only good thing for me, as that is the only time, I don't feel the pain. I LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME.

[XSemperIdem]

Being able to outwardly portray that you're okay when you're actually in so much pain is something I've found only others with chronic pain understand. In my case it's chronic joint pain, not fibromyalgia, but a lot of what was shared as personal experiences with chronic pain in this video applies to my experiences too. It's so important for videos like this to be made and shared. Thank you to everyone who chose to speak about their experiences and to the medical professionals who acknowledge how real and how much chronic pain impacts every aspect of our lives.

[notrinaong]

Hello! It's Rina here. Thanks everyone for the kind support for this video. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to producers, Zhi Xin, Jinee and the CNA team for featuring all of our stories! I hope by sharing our stories, it will educate everyone on what it is like to live with chronic pain and how to support those affected. 

If you are struggling with chronic pain, please know that you are never alone and thank you for being strong. You are important in this world. <3

[DavidHarrison-jsji]

Hi, I have lived with the most chronic pain ever for 30 plus years as the result of a work injury. I am so drained and worn out, pain is all I can think about, everything is shut out . I am coming to the end . I cannot live this way and always said I would not put others through what I experience . Anyone else come to this point in their life so I don't feel alone .

[kcgrant]

I’m so so sorry that you are experiencing this awful illness. I’m sorry that you are suffering. And I’m even more sorry that no one seems to believe nor understand you. I’m 47 yrs old and in 2011 I was diagnosed with the rare disease Avascular Necrosis. In short my bones, mainly at the joints are decaying and dying. I’m a critical asthmatic and the high dose steroids prevent the blood from flowing to the bone essentially, killing the bone. My disease is extremely rare. There is no treatment. There is no cure. It is disabling both physically and mentally. Currently the necrosis is in both knee, both hips, and 3 other areas. The pain is excruciating!!! Like described here a sharp pain from a knife over and over at times. But it mostly feels like a bone is broken, again, again and again. Even today I sit in my bed screaming and crying for two straight hours. I would not wish this disease on anyone. Being that I am a critical asthmatic, I often need the steroids to keep me alive while at the same time killing my bones. I have been told to learn to deal with it because it will only get worse. I hate that I can relate with you, because I don’t want you to suffer either, but I can understand.

[SabBliss]

I wish a speedy and easy recovery to everyone featured in the video and to those who commented here expressing that they are facing pain. ❤

[nate]

I've had bladder pain for over 10 years without an actual diagnosis because US doctors would do like 1 test, see nothing wrong, and then shrug and give up. The problem was the test WOULD show something wrong and they either weren't trained well enough to see it OR they didn't care to tell me because having me coming in for surgeries and pain medication made them more money. My whole family thought I was a drug addict because all I could do was take pain meds just to make life bearable.

I finally got my diagnosis last year and it's been really wonderful going to physical therapy and being more productive and reducing my pain meds. Nobody wants to sit at home all day missing out on life. If someone says they are in pain all the time, believe them.

[UniversalConnection]

🙏💜Thank you for sharing. This is validation.
A silent killer is not something I wish for anyone.
I was diagnosed Fibro and Lupus in 2005. It took years to discover. The chronic pain feels like bruising on my bones with numbing and pins.
This video says it all. I always wished my results showed something so that at least I can take something.
The worst feeling is not knowing but living with it while others can't see it. Of course this led to depression, anxiety, suicide, basically my mental health was broken.
I had to leave an abusive relationship for obvious reasons and was left with no insurance. Having this chronic illness makes it difficult to get approved for insurance or even disability. So, I've been living without it since 2014. I've learned to embrace what is, manage my pain as best as I can as I continue to learn more the holistic approach and surround myself with only those that support me and not gaslight me.
I pray for all those that are suffering. Much love and light to you. 🙏💜
You are not alone.

[PinkiL]

it took me years of testing and various doctor visits before I was diagnosed with fibro and then concurred by another doctor. Im constantly tired, sore, etc and flare ups are horrendous. Healthy people do not understand and only think we are lazy.

[Fizzypopization]

I had fibromyalgia young and it wasn't until i was 37 and finally put on pain management with proper pain killers that I started to be able to live my life again.

[fairyXXmystery]

this is the most relatable video I've ever seen and it pains me I can say that 😶

[BRB]

I've had this for over three decades, after all these years, I have just become extremely grateful. The pain is just a cruel amount of sadness I have to pray away for the future.

[muncibedduSicilia]

Thank you so much for this video and spreading awareness. What hurts me, besides physical pain, is the excessive interest of the medical world in long covid. The symptoms are exactly the same as fibromyalgia. They have even done studies on how the cell nucleus of their muscles show extreme activity even while doing little or nothing. This has been proven for fibro patiënts years ago but nobody seems to care. The brainfog, the not being able to sleep, the tiredness. Say you had covid and everyone feels for you. Tell people you have fibromyalgia and they 'forget', don't care or even tell you to get over it because it must be between your ears. For everyone interested: a pain management course really helps! It gives you a lot of insight in your behaviour and teaches you to better listen to your body which, if implemented correctly (that takes time!) can help you prevent in being in more pain than necessary. Love from the Netherlands ❤

[jwsuicides]

I went decades without help. I have been laughed at by medical professionals, had others write terrible things in my medical notes - such as that I might be a drug addict.

I know there are others worse than me but I have no memory of having any cell of my body being without pain - apart from when I was put on morphine patches and the bottom of my feet were without pain for a few hours.

Mental health interventions haven't made any difference at all. I have tried everything, taken part in experiments, paid what I can for any treatment imaginable. Every single breath is agony to take...the movement to do that is hell.

[johneslick]

Half of people diagnosed with Fibromyalgia they have found have small fibre neuropathy. So people should get a small fibre neuropathy skin biopsy. It gives you a cause for your pain and other symptoms.

[anneeli]

Fibromyalgia is an umbrella term for unexplained chronic pain - just like irritable bowel syndrome, the dr can only come to this diagnosis after excluding all the other possible conditions. Whilst waiting for the test results to come back, make adjustments to your lifestyle such as exercising outdoors, eating an anti inflammatory diet, eliminating processed foods and sugar, take probiotics and probiotics.

My friend who had fibromyalgia eventually sought psychiatric help, got diagnosed with bipolar and after taking medications, his fibromyalgia symptoms went away and his bipolar came under control. I’m not suggesting that everyone with fibromyalgia symptoms has bipolar but to consider the possibility that in some cases, there could be an underlying mental health condition.