There are many people, especially doctors, who claim that fibromyalgia is just a symptom of depression. I’ve had both, and I know the difference quite well. They are very, very different.

Being in pain all the time can certainly lead to depression. That’s just logical. There are, however, people who have fibromyalgia who are not clinically depressed. Depression can also manifest as physical pain, but it is does not meet the criteria for fibromyalgia.

I was treated for depression for years before I developed FMS, though, and I truly believe that if I’d gotten proper treatment for mental health issues in my childhood (post-traumatic stress disorder and all the complications it brought, including major depressive disorder) I probably wouldn’t have developed FMS.

I never have trouble distinguishing between the two, or between either of them and CFS/ME, which I also have. They’re all quite different.

With FMS, the pain causes fatigue, and together they can (but don’t always) have an affect on your emotions. You may feel like doing something, but your body absolutely will not cooperate. There have been times when I’ve been feeling great, gone out to do something I was SO looking forward to — and nearly collapsed in the middle of everything when my body said, “All right, that’s it, no more. Done. Where’s the bed?” (We’ve joked that if I ever manage to get a scooter or electric wheelchair, it will have to have a remote control feature so that Sam can steer me on home when I’ve passed out.)

But serious clinical depression…it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got the physical energy or not. Logic doesn’t matter. Knowing that you’d feel better for having a nice, hot shower is utterly irrelevant. The fact that the telephone ringing is contributing to your headache, and you could make it stop by merely lifting up your arm up pushing a button, is irrelevant, because lifting your arm would take too much damned effort. Yes, somewhere, on some level, you may know that you’ll lose yet more function for not getting up and doing your exercises, but it’s less important than staring at the ceiling, or the pillow, or whatever is in front of your face right now. Not that you really make any kind of conscious value judgment or anything, but the staring has inertia going for it. Even if nothing IS hurting, even if you have all the energy in the world and you could do anything you just don’t care.

Remember that, the next time you hear someone claiming that FMS and depression are the same.

The interview we did is up!
Chronic Pain and Sex: a Couple’s Gentle Battle With Fibromyalgia

I’m pleased with it. There are very few, mostly immaterial inaccuracies.

I intended to post and maybe even try to get a podcast out, but ended up using my energy to do an interview with a reporter. I don’t know when the piece will come out (it wasn’t for awareness day — that was just an amusing coincidence), but I’ll let you know when/if I hear anything.

She also interviewed Sam, since the topic was “fibromyalgia and intimacy.” He’s so wonderful!

I hope all of you had a great day

Edit: THANKS TO KATIE, we found backups of the podcast files we were missing. Thank you Katie!

This is Sam. I am the producer of the Fibrant Living podcast that Cynthia writes and records.

The lack of download links on Fibrant Living #1, #2, and #3 are my fault.

I thought that Libsyn’s archive was in perpetuity, but it wasn’t.

Now that they’ve done spring cleaning at Libsyn, Fibrant Living podcast #1, #2, #3 are all gone. I have no backed up copies of these podcasts. My hard drive crash in the summer last year, coupled with Cynthia’s laptop death, means that we as a family don’t have any extant copies of these podcasts.

If you have these, please let me know. Comment here, or send me email at bearsgrove@gmail.com.

Thank you very much.

Did anyone else see this at PostSecret today?

I was made aware of it by a post to fibromyalgia.¹ Reactions there are fairly negative, because so many of us have had bad experiences with people who think we’re malingering.

I have mixed feelings, though. I don’t exactly share the sentiments expressed in the piece, but I do think it’s good art. I can relate to feeling like pain has been my entire life. It’s familiar. I can’t remember anything else, honestly.

I don’t think I’m “scared to feel better,” though, because I really resent the pain, the fatigue, and especially the brain fog. I’ve tried every treatment to which I’ve been able to get access, without much relief. Pain management is all that helps in any way now.

I have, however, gotten very anxious about trying many things. Too many falls, followed by increased pain and disability, have made me incredibly cautious. Unfortunately, I know that leads to more loss of muscle mass and endurance. I’m working on getting past it. Knowing is half the battle, right?

Talk to me. What do you think about the artwork?