but you don't look sick

I gave up trying to convince people a long time ago. I have lung and heart problems and bad knees. I cannot exercise much, so I have gained a lot of weight (the depression didn't help either). I have had people make comments if I use a electric cart while shopping. All they see is "fat". I see them as "fat-heads". Believe in yourself. Stop giving other people's opinions enough importance to hurt you. I understand that when the person that doesn't understand is someone close it is different. Usually a clinical discussion, leaving out as much emotion as I can, works for me, but if it doesn't, I relegate it to "their problem" status and do what I can without them. Hope this helps a little. Good luck and may God bless all sufferers!

I am also a fibromyalgia sufferer. I even had one doctor tell me that fibromyalgia is something that women make up in their heads. Never mind 1 out of 10 people with it are men. I'll just say that was the last time I ever saw that doctor. The following is the wallpaper on my computer: WARNING! I have fibromyalgia, and if I hear one more person say but you don't look sick, everyone gets tired, you're just getting older, if you'd get out more, if you would get more exercise, or offer me any unsolicited medical advice whatsoever, I will NOT be responsible for my actions.

I have been off work for 3 months now and I have an injury to my arm. However, it is something to do with the muscles or nerves and it doesn't look injured. It hurts extremely bad, but some of my co-workers think that I am "milking" it so I don't have to work. However, that is not the case. If they lived with the pain that I am in, they would have a totally different outlook. Never judge soemone by the way that they look is my opinion.

Send them go a good website about it. I get sick of trying to explain rosacea to people, thanks to the idiot commercials, they think everyone has it mild and that you just put medicine on and it goes away. The medicine(s) doesn't work for some people. I get it so that I have a burning sensation in my face. Nobody gets it, even when I tell them it feels like a match is burning my face. My friend had itching, but I didn't. She called me up one day and said she had it so badly, she thought she was going to go out of her mind or itch her face off. It's a very individual disease. Most people alchohol makes it worse, but not everybody. Most people the sun can make it worse, but not everybody. Tomatoes make it worse for me, but my friend, it was chocolate that made it worse for her. It can affect your eyes, but for years, that was news to the Doctors. There is a rosacea society and they have a site online, so I send them there. If they care they're read it, if they don't then they shouldn't be wasting our time. We have a problem or problems that require enough of our time as it is with going to Drs., medications, and such. Stress makes rosacea worse-usually. Many people can have a temp of 101 and still not look sick. People who look sick are generally light skinned and become flushed or really white, or sweating when it's cold inside. What do looks have to do with it? My rosacea will turn my face blood red under certain conditions and people think I'm sick. My face is just on fire, but other than that, I feel healthy.

I honestly don't know that there is a way to convince people of what you are going through without presenting them with a doctor's note and then explaining the issues that your disease forces you to overcome. I'm lucky in that my back isn't constantly bothering me, but the times that I go through a flair up with it, I don't know how I am going to be able to get through the day. It is a very difficult thing to deal with. And for you with your fibro, I don't know how you are able to do it either.

I've had lots of people really struggle with understanding my chronic conditions. I've not only got Fibromyalgia, but I've also got Meniere's Disease. I'm a student, and these unfortunately can interfere with my ability to study. I just had a professor who was completely uninterested in trying to understand what these conditions do to me, and what the stress of her reaction does to me too. I am going to echo what so many have said before me. You can explain it all you want some people just won't get it and don't want to. My mom also has fibromyalgia and Still's Disease, and unfortunately we've got family members who think she's exaggerating all the pain she's going through. They've pretty much fallen out of our lives due to this conflict. It's sad, but true. Even with medical proof, people just don't understand what these conditions can do to your body. I wouldn't wish my conditions on others, but it would be nice if they could understand what it's like to live with it every day.

That is something that people need to learn about. Not many people know anything about fibromyalgia. Education here is key. This is not something you can "see" on somebody but it is a pain nobody should have to have.

You just tell them, I guess. Either they will understand or they won't...

Cher, You can explain till you are blue in the face and never get through to them. Those that care about you know what you are going through. And if they don't then you must move on. You know what is wrong and how you feel. That is all that matters. Leenie