Beyond the diagnosis: Fighting the stigma

So, here's the thing. Normally, when I write an entry, I have this previous image of how it may turn out and I usually have gone back and forth about the topic and the way I want to portray it. As for this piece, I have no idea how it will result because I don't know if it's an honest reflexion or the consequence of a high fever and lots of medications. Let me explain. For the past 5 days I've been home to a wonderful bacteria that has taken my larynx and joints as hostages, swelling and infesting them up and giving me what is best known as laryngitis and reactive arthritis. That, plus the flu-like symptoms which have woken up the best assets of fibromyalgia and asthma, have really made of the past week a very difficult one health-wise. For that, I haven't been able to get out of bed which has really brighten up my holiday spirit, that was previously non existent. As part of this crappy week, there has been a lot of sleepless nights: It wasn't just courtesy of ...

Hoy me despido del que pensé que sería el último año de mi vida. Hoy le digo adiós al 2016, hoy vivo un día que juré, en mil momentos, que no lograría verlo en vida. 2016, fuiste mi Everest. Fuiste mi enemigo número 1. Fuiste una cadena de eventos, que no me atrevo a decir que fueron desafortunados, pero que me cambiaron la vida. Te odie, te detesté, intenté escapar de todas las formas posibles, exceptuando claramente la muerte (Porque soy una gallina o porque Dios es muy grande, o las dos). Internet y las noticias tampoco te ayudaban, fuiste un año extrañísimo y francamente fuiste un año sorprendente en términos de elecciones, de violencia, de maldad, de premios Oscar (tal vez Leonardo DiCaprio fue de las pocas personas que pueden decir que el 2016 fue un gran año). Y sigo viva... Creo que la vida, las tradiciones, han puesto mucha cargo en los años y especialmente en los fines de año. Hay como esta carga mística que dice que el 31 de Diciembre, cuando el reloj marque las 12, s...

Dear people who've told me fibromyalgia doesn't exist for the past 4 years: Hello there. First of all, merry christmas and a happy new year. I hope your life is doing fine, and I wish that you are enjoying the seasons' celebrations. As for me, I'm writing this after a very tough episode of fibromyalgia, and I'm in a rush to type this letter as I don't want to forget any detail of what I felt the past days. I know I'm no doctor, I'm just a simple psychology student who was her life ahead and still got a lot to learn. Still, I'm trying to talk about those topics in which I have experience, and therefore, I feel my experience is valid and true. As for that, I may not be able to explain to you what is fibromyalgia. It's new and unknown in the medical world (as far as I've heard) and there is still A LOT of research needed to be done. I've heard it's a muscular thing, a nervous system thing, a psicosomatic thing, a genetic thing... For m...