You don’t have to be experts, but learn enough to treat us properly. If we say our pain is a 10, we are thinking death would be a relief from the torturous pain. We’re in pain everyday and develop a high pain tolerance. If we come see you, we are in very bad pain. We also feel pain 5 times as much as normies. We don’t know if we are that sick, that injured, or if it’s “just” the Fibromyalgia. Your job is to figure it out, not judge us. Cardiac docs, when we come in thinking it’s a heart attack and you rule out heart attack, don’t jump to acid reflux and stay there. When we say we’ve had that in the past and this isn’t that, believe us. We know our body’s and symptoms better than most people. Please consider. Costochondritis, Esophagual Spasms and trigger point pain, which are all common amongst FMS sufferers. Ortho docs, don’t tell us that we can’t be in that much pain based on an xray. Believe us and do the MRI, the amount of inflammation will shock you, and then you will understand the pain. Neurologists, please don’t send us home with a concussion telling us we will be better in a few days, as most people are. We won’t be. Anything with the brain is worse for us. Put us on bed rest and sensory deprivation to let that brain heal. Sending us back to work ends up causing us a couple years of post-concussion syndrome. Gastro docs, know that many (not all) FMS sufferers have gluten and sugar sensitivities, and IBS.

Again, we don’t need you to be experts, but you should know enough about how FMS affects issues in your area of specialty. We deserve proper treatment, the same as everybody else.