What is Fibro Feelings?

My Fibromyalgia Awareness Day started off in a very fibromyalgia type way. The night before I unknowingly ate something bad at dinner. My IBS had horrid cramping, but after a few hours and a cup of chamomile tea I finally felt like I might be able to go to sleep. Of course, this was all happening just as I was beginning my hourly fibromyalgia info tweets, as midnight hit the eastcoast. I went to bed, but then had insomnia for the first three hours.

Sadly, I had no time to sleep in. The Helpful Hubby was participating in a non-profit health event early in the morning and I wanted to send him off. Normally I’d be there supporting him the whole way, but I wanted to make sure I took full advantage of spreading fibromyalgia awareness. Even though I was only at the event for a short amount of time I was able to talk to four people about how it was National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. At registration we talked with a lady who said some of her friends had fibromyalgia. I thanked her for supporting her friends and she said that after she got back from The Gulf War doctors thought she had fibromyalgia herself.

Look at all that purple "cyberg" hair!

Across the crowd I spotted a girl wearing a lot of purple and got excited that it may have been done for fibromyalgia. I complimented her hair, explained about purple being the awareness color and asked if I could take a picture of her hair. She was definitely outdoing my purple! As I was leaving I talked with a couple event volunteers. I shared that I was on the committee for our local Arthritis Walk and about it being National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. One of the ladies said that one of their friends has lupus and they had done the Lupus Walk previously. After that I headed back home to work on awareness through social media.

Another thing I loved about the days surrounding awareness days for fibromyalgia and lupus (May 10th) was the tv mentions. Friday’s Undercover Boss showed a lady who has fibromyalgia. All the medicine she had to take was ruining her teeth and she said she had, “kind of lost [her] smile.” Part of me wonders if she meant that in more ways than one. Friday’s Ellen had Nick Cannon on and he talked about how he had kidney failure and then blood clots from his lupus. He said since his lupus diagnosis, he’s gotten in better shape than he’s ever been in. He also talked about having to quit his morning radio show so he could get more rest. Earlier in the week, Dr. Oz featured a man who started loosing weight and getting fit so he could donate a kidney to his wife. His wife, who has the same blood type, is living with lupus and will one day need a transplant. What great stories!

How was your awareness day?