If anyone tells you that your social life will not change after a fibromyalgia diagnosis, run! Seriously, nothing will ever be the same. Every relationship you have will change in some manner. Here are some of the ways fibromyalgia turns social butterflies into hermit crabs!
Fibromyalgia turned this social butterfly into a hermit crab!
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*Disclosure: I am NOT a medical professional and am NOT issuing medical advice. Everything stated is my own experience and personal opinions. This post includes affiliate links. Meaning that at no additional cost to you, I receive a commission when you make a purchase through my links.
When your body is consumed with pain from the top of your head to the ends of your toes, the last thing you want to do is to meet a friend for coffee or spend an evening out on the town.
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Socially Awkward
Until I was able to gain control over my pain, holding a conversation was difficult. Brain fog stole my words and jumbled my thoughts. Prescription medications clouded my brain and increased the intensity of fibro fog. While I have experienced significant improvements in the past seven years, I still experience occasional foggy-brained moments.
It sucks to forget your words. You become self-conscience and worry about saying the wrong word, the complete opposite of what you meant, and/or annoying people by not being able to finish your sentence.
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How pain brain stole my words.
Fibromyalgia Kills Social Lives
Conversations weren’t the only reason I stopped socializing, physical pain put the kibosh on the majority of my plans.
It’s not that I didn’t want to meet a friend for a cup of coffee. Instead, it was having to get dressed, to wear shoes and not slippers, to forgo pain medication in order to drive, the stress of wondering how long I could sit upright, the worry of will the seating be comfortable, and knowing that I would return home with a pain level that would send the average person to the emergency room.
It was knowing that if I strayed from my simple routine, my family would be the ones to suffer.
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The result of an outing was needing hours and more typically days to recover from. This meant not being able to prepare meals or pick up clutter around the house.
Expert Advice
Another reason your social life will suffer is because of you! You will get tired of being told to get better or listening to the “expert” opinions of those who have never been chronically ill.
You will tire of being pitied and if not careful, resentful of those who do not live with chronic pain. And last but not least, feeling like you have to continuously prove and explain your illness to others is exhausting!
Expect friends and family to:
- Call and come around less.
- Say “Let’s get together when you’re better”
- Get bored with you being sick.
- Have absolutely no understanding of what you are living with.
- Doubt your diagnosis.
- Continuously try to heal you.
- Watch and observe your every move.
- Make you feel guilty for not being able to do what you used to.
While I expected people who were not close to me to react this way, I was surprised by the number of what I had thought were close friends and family.
By now you probably need to hear some good news! The good news is, even before you find a way to get your pain under control, there are ways to deal with everything mentioned above. I share how I dealt with what others thought, my own insecurities, and improved my social life, plus how to apply what I did to your life in my eBook Make Pain Your Bitch: How to Dominate Your Chronic Life.
The Rest of the Story
The cost of living with fibromyalgia goes beyond finances. Nothing I read at the time of my diagnosis could have prepared me for the high cost of living with fibromyalgia.
Click below to read the rest of the series
