Fibrant Living is intended to help people with fibromyalgia or other chronic illnesses who want to live a vibrant, joyful life despite their diagnoses to find reliable resources and advice from health professionals and others in similar circumstances. While health professionals may find some of the information here of interest in terms of relating to their patients, patients are the intended audience.
Fibrant Living, as a site and a podcast, came about because many things happened. I (Cynthia) and my daughter (Katie) both have experience with chronic illnesses. I was able to be part of a wonderful study Stanford University’s School of Medicine did on Healthier Living with Arthritis and Fibromyalgia in March through May 2006. I moved too far away from the only active local support group I’ve found to attend their meetings at the end of 2005. I hadn’t been able to get any new episodes of the other two podcasts I’ve found about fibromyalgia (which have different focuses than this one) for some weeks. Sam had volunteered to produce the podcast for me, which was a major gift and got me past my technical fears.
I read something nearly every day that I want to share with others who have FMS, but that would bore most of the readers of my normal LiveJournal or blog. Many people with FMS don’t have a lot of energy for reading, but could manage to listen to a brief podcast. So I decided to do both: a blog with brief entries about the news items I find; and a brief weekly podcast to share coping techniques.
Nothing here is intended to be medical advice. If quoting medical professionals, I will clearly cite my sources so that you may check them. I have no medical training and do not claim to be a health professional of any sort. Please do not substitute anything you read or hear on Fibrant Living for consultation with your physician or other health professionals. I do, however, encourage you to take the information you find hear to them for discussion, and use the first-hand accounts to complement their advice. I have applied for HON certification and will always endeavor to abide by the HONcode.
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