Welcome!

The obligatory first post!

Yesterday, I was officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia, by a rheumatologist. My general physician had already suspected it, along with chronic fatigue syndrome, so I wasn’t surprised. I’d been battling worsening chronic pain and fatigue for about 4 years now, but I’d only been pressing for a diagnosis for the last 6 months.

I’m a 31-year-old girl with degrees in science. I’m a happy newlywed with a loving supportive partner. I have a history of asthma since infancy, GERD since adolescence, and was born with spina bifida occulta at L4 and L5, which has given me arthritis in the spine and spondylilothesis, as well as constant numbness and tingling in my legs. I came down with mono 4 years ago, and it seems that my problems with fibro and CFS started then, if I had to pick a trigger.

Oh, and one more thing: I’m fat.

My recent fight for confirmation of a diagnosis and a demand for treatment and an attitude that is NOT “suck it up, buttercup” has really made me see that doctors are inherently fat-phobic, and truly believe that fat people and their fatness are to blame for their conditions, and if they’d just lose weight, then all their problems will disappear.

The trouble with this is that it’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since the average fat person is never going to lose weight (or if they do, they’re going to put it back on soon after losing it), and the average fibromyalgia/cfs condition is never going to disappear, then the fat person is never going to get better. Correlation does not imply causation.

So, here’s the start of a little blog about dealing with fibromyalgia as a fat person.

Tags: fibromyalgia, history