It is never good to say “my illness is worse than yours” or “I feel worse than you” , because for each one, his illness is his personal calvary.
In the case of those who suffer from fibromyalgia, whether primary or secondary, mild, moderate or severe , the symptoms for each person may become intolerable, because when it comes to chronic pain, the pain scale is subjective, since the threshold of tolerance to pain is particular to each person.
Therefore, a person with mild or moderate fibromyalgia may feel that they are dying of pain, as much or more than a person with severe fibromyalgia. It is important to have these concepts clear, and although we are sure that some cases may be more serious than others, never make comparisons between our discomforts and the discomforts of others, because this could help you feel worse with justification, but nevertheless, it does not help feel better the other person.
Primary fibromyalgia is one that occurs by itself, while secondary fibromyalgia is one that accompanies another disease, usually autoimmune or chronic pain. It seems clear that the second case sounds worse, since there is discomfort and pain from 2 or 3 different conditions, which imposes more stress on our body and our psyche. But, again, everything is subjective.
For example, a person with mild to moderate primary fibromyalgia with a highly stressful job who has to work more than the usual 8 hours daily may feel as bad or worse than a person with severe secondary fibromyalgia. more some type of arthropathy and / or herniated discs, but that does not work nor has anyone who attends her at home.
They see him? It is very subjective and particular to each case.But whatever the case, although pain is difficult to handle, at least we are healthy in other areas of our body and we are not leaving this world.
Even those of us who suffer from a certain degree of cognitive deficit , we remain ourselves, we can think lucidly about the important things in life, we can hold a conversation with other people and maintain our identity as human beings, intact. We are in the here and now .
Our mind does not wander without control.I mention all this, because I recently saw the movie Still Alice , which is about a 50-year-old woman who starts suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s , which made me reflect on the quality of life of a person with Alzheimer’s versus the quality of life. life of a person with chronic pain diseases and / or central sensitivity, and although I am aware that my opinions may bother some people, I would like to express them anyway.
Just to understand that I know what I’m talking about, apart from a moderate-severe Fibromyalgia, I have psoriatic arthritis, 2 herniated discs between the lumbar and sacral vertebrae that produces neuropathic pain in both legs and a permanent rectification of my neck, among other things.
Although it is true I am pensioned due to disability and I do not have the level of stress I had when I was working, I am also stressed by the different problems that daily accompany our lives, apart from the fact that I do not have much help at home.However, when I saw this movie I could not help thinking that I preferred to be as I am, to have Alzheimer’s early onset .
I was very impressed to see how the person she was, so bright and intelligent, completely vanished, as she was losing control of herself, until eventually, even losing control of her own thoughts. It is terrible to think that something like this could happen to someone, and I felt so blessed , because whatever my days are, some more miserable than others, my mind is still mine and I keep it unharmed and unaltered; and even if I have to suffer terrible pains and spend my days in bed, from it I can talk about what I want, ask for what I need, say what I feel or ask for help, things that we take for granted, but that are beyond the reach of a person with a disease like that.
That’s why we should never say “my illness is worse than yours”, because although fibromyalgia is terrible and can become incapacitating, there will always be worse things. And that’s why my blog is called ” Fibromyalgia is not the end of Life “.
