“In the end, I had to accept this is my pain,” Ali tells me. “And I was the only one who could deal with it. I decided to strengthen my back with Pilates and swimming. Massage, especially with heat, helps too.”
Jemma hit upon a more radical treatment. “I searched the Web and found a theory that a build-up of phosphate in the body can cause acute pain,” she tells me. “So I went to an osteopath who detected loads of lumps he said were phosphate. Then I started taking a medicine called guaifenesin (it’s a constituent of some cough medicines), which is supposed to help excrete it. I’m sure it’s working. My osteopath says there’s less lumps. I’m up and about and in far less pain now.”
For all the fuzziness that surrounds FM, the pain associated with it is all too sharp for the thousands of women if affects.
Perhaps by sharing experiences and becoming a loud voice that forces doctors to listen, then—just maybe—this pain can be collectively relieved.
