Living With Fibro

I'm in my early 30's and have been dealing with health issues my whole life, starting with some immune system issues which triggered the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome and/or fibromyalgia before I was even halfway through elementary school.

I was diagnosed with CFS at age 8 and told I most likely had it for at least two or three years already. By age 10 I was dealing with the first sure signs of fibromyalgia. By middle school I had to sit out in phys ed class. In high school I had to give up riding my bike. The last year of high school I started using a cane so I could stand and walk closer to what would be normal.

All that time I was slowly losing those elements of normal life I tried desperately to hang in to I was getting called lazy, a faker, a wimp. I even had doctors, specialists even, dismissing me and telling me there was nothing stopping me from doing what I wanted to do.

Stubborn only gets a person so far. As upbeat as I've been able to be in the past all I can see now is losing more and more. I see hesitance to get into a relationship because I know enough about what I have to know it can greatly interfere with certain aspects of one. I see fear to remain single because I can't work enough hours to support myself on my own.

And I see no mystery as to why so many with fibromyalgia wind up with depression.