Typically I don't write a lot about having fibromyalgia. I have it, I hurt all the time, and there isn't much I can do about it. I've tried various medications to help with the pain but nothing really works and I don't want to get hooked on opioid pain meds (not that my doctor ever gives them to me) or muscle relaxers so I just live with it. I think the medical marijuana will help with this issue, but I am so used to being in pain that if I do get relief I won't really know what to do. Pain is just a normal part of my life because of fibromyalgia.
What is fibromyalgia anyway? Mayo Clinic says: "Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals. Symptoms sometimes begin after a physical trauma, surgery, infection or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time with no single triggering event. Women are more likely to develop fibromyalgia than are men. Many people who have fibromyalgia also have tension headaches, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety and depression." My nurse practitioner explained it by saying I feel pain longer and more intensely than someone without FM. I over feel. I guess that goes with my overthinking.
Fibromyalgia affects the nervous and muscular systems, so consequently the ocular nerves and muscles are obviously affected. Blurred or impaired vision, difficulty driving at night, dry eyes, eye pain, light sensitivity, shift to focus issues, and potential blindness in extreme cases are part of the complications that FM sufferers could expect. Because nervous system deterioration can occur in FM, it only makes sense that it would effect vision as well as so many other areas in the body.
One of the biggest problems I am having, aside from pain, is poor night vision. I just cannot drive at night anymore, even though I had that fancy cataract surgery years ago and my special eyes aren't so special anymore. I'm not sure if it's more that I cannot really see because my vision is changing, the glare at night from other lights is too much, or if it's something else that really causes the issue, but once it starts getting dark, I'm done for. It's terrible in the winter months when the time changes because that means I'm home by 5pm and never to venture outside again until daybreak unless I have a driver. Honestly, I never even knew that this could be because of my FM until recently.
What's to be done? Nothing really. Managing symptoms as best you can which usually means medications. Medications don't always work and can sometimes bring about side effects that only add to the already existing problems. And medications don't exist for night blindness. Easy and careful exercise can help with pain and stiffness, but if you have severe fatigue and you are hurting it is more than difficult to get motivated enough to actually try it. I like to do yoga and it does help a lot, but it is physically hard for me to get up and actually go do so I can't benefit from it as often as I would like and probably need. Really, we can only do what we can do and manage the best we can no matter what that looks like. Everyone is different and everyone has a different comfort level in what they can do at any given time. That's the nature of the unpredictable chronic and invisible illness called Fibromyalgia. It's more than pain, more than brain fog, but still not enough for doctors to fully understand and be able to treat effectively.
Comments
Post a Comment