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Sponsored by the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA), Fibromyalgia Awareness Day (Saturday, May 12th) is an annual event dedicated to raising awareness of this complex chronic pain disorder.   Fibromyalgia (FM) affects an estimated 10 million people in the US, 75-90 percent of whom are women—but it can also occur in men and children.

The 2012 theme for Fibromyalgia Awareness Day is “Make Fibromyalgia Visible.”  There are several ways you can help do this:

• Join a Walk to CURE FM event (Logan, UT, or Philadelphia, PA).
• Sign the “Pledge to Care” as a caregiver, friend or provider.
• Sponsor a “Light of Hope” candle in honor of a loved one with FM.
• Add your photo to the NFMCPA’s Faces of Courage Wall.
• Sign this Change.org petition started by a PatientsLikeMe member.

You can also take a moment to brush up on this often-misunderstood condition, which is characterized by pain or aching in the muscles (myalgia) and multiple points of tenderness (trigger points).  With more than 23,000 patients, the fibromyalgia community at PatientsLikeMe is a great place to gain knowledge.  Some of the most commonly reported symptoms in our community include muscle and joint pain, brain fog, pain in the lower back and balance problems.

What are our members doing to cope?  Commonly reported treatments include selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSNRIs) such as Duloxetine (Cymbalta) and Venlafaxine (Effexor); analgesic and anti-convulsant medications such as Pregabalin (Lyrica) and Gabapentin (Neurontin); and muscle relaxants such as Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril) and Carisoprodol (Soma).  Click on each treatment name to see how patients evaluate the effectiveness, side effects, cost and more.

For more insight into living with the “constant, widespread pain” of fibromyalgia, check out this video made by a recently diagnosed patient. And if you’re a PatientsLikeMe member, don’t miss the forum tag Life with Fibromyalgia.

At the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association, this year’s Fibromyalgia Awareness Day is themed CURE FM (Campaign for Understanding, Research & Education of Fibromyalgia), and many of our members are working to do just that.

Beginning as early as January, our fibromyalgia members have worked together to order t-shirts, send letters to TV shows and spread the word about fibromyalgia through their online social networks.

So what’s fibromyalgia really like? The best way to find out is from patients directly. Since we opened our doors to fibromyalgia patients in November 2008, we’ve had 13,826 fibromyalgia patients join our community and share their real-world experiences with this chronic pain disorder, which is characterized by pain or aching in the muscles as well as multiple points of tenderness.

Among other things, patients with fibromyalgia have reported that:

• The most prevalent symptoms include pain, fatigue and memory problems
• The most widely used prescription drugs are Duloxetine (Cymbalta), Pregabalin (Lyrica), Tramadol (Ultram), Gabapentin and Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril)
• The most common lifestyle modifications are rest, physical activity and exercise as tolerated and hot showers

They also share practical tips for living with this debilitating condition in our forum every day. Some of the most popular topics in the fibromyalgia forum room include sleep issues, pain, research, coping and support.

Here are some recent forum comments about the disease’s effects:

• “Sometimes I wonder who I am. It is like all the pain and problems define me. The pain controls my life.” –Fibromyalgia patient, age 50
• “Being sick has permeated so much of my life that it comes up in almost every conversation I have.” –Fibromyalgia patient, age 33

To learn more about living with fibromyalgia, you can also explore individual patient profiles to see what people are saying about their symptoms, treatments and quality of life.  Get to know one of our fibromyalgia patients today.