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The number of people diagnosed with Fibromyalgia is astonishing: with estimates of five million in the Unites States alone, a good many of them women. While research is ongoing in helping fibromyalgia sufferers, there is no test to prove its existence and no one treatment that helps those who have been diagnosed. Commonly coexisting conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus and autoimmune disorders with crossover symptoms can delay accurate diagnosis for years, adding further stress to this already painful condition. With medications and other treatments giving marginal relief at best, remissions unpredictable and complete recovery statistically low, the devastating effect on one’s ability to work, socialize, and function normally make the physical impact of the disease only part of this overwhelming condition.

The frustrating and mysterious nature of fibromyalgia can make it tempting to get sucked into a whirlpool of negativity. Mounting losses and the fading ability to live a normal life creates fertile ground for fear, worry and doubt in ourselves. Negative beliefs lingering in the background of our consciousness can become magnified. Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?

I’m not good enough the way I am.

There is something fundamentally wrong with me.

I’m a weak person.

I’ve done something wrong to create this condition.

As our experience with fibromyalgia triggers thoughts and feelings, we judge them as good or bad, adding more thoughts that create a vortex of negative beliefs spinning us around in a never-ending cycle of negativity. While this is understandable when we’ve gone from an active, productive person to someone who can barely get out of bed, it’s important for our emotional and mental well-being to hold those thoughts up to the light of truth.

Perceiving our personal experience of fibromyalgia we may think; I’m weak, I should be able to do more, there is something wrong with me. Are any of those thoughts absolutely, fundamentally true? Questioning those thoughts, and finding one small reason that disproves them can give us tremendous freedom and relief.

For example, is it true that some sort of personal weakness causes fibromyalgia? Could it be more true that those living with this diagnosis are incredibly strong, doing their best while living with this devastating disease? Is it true you’ve done something wrong to create this condition? Could it be truer that you are just one among millions who as part of the human condition find themselves contending with the challenges of a chronic illness like fibromyalgia? It’s a rare human being who has so perfectly mastered themselves that they have a body that never succumbs to illness.

We may not even realize we have stressful thoughts since they often hover just out of our conscious awareness. The next time you’re feeling down on yourself because of fibromyalgia, see if you can catch the underlying thought. Become an observer of your own mind and carry a small journal, jotting down your thoughts several times a day. After a few weeks read your journal and notice any painful thoughts. Are you telling a story about yourself that may not be true? Those thoughts are the signposts pointing directly to your path of mental and emotional healing.

We can start healing those thoughts by being kind to ourselves. How would you feel towards someone you love, preferably a child, struggling with a difficult illness? Try to give yourself the same unconditional love, compassion and support. Discover small things to be grateful for and make a practice of being consciously thankful. Take a few minutes each day to shift your focus to what you do have, and what you can do, and for a few minutes set aside thoughts about what you lack and the abilities you have lost.

Painful thinking saps precious energy reserves and triggers elevated stress levels that work against us, something we can’t afford with a chronic condition. We may feel an overwhelming loss of control living with fibromyalgia, but we always have the power to increase our feelings of well-being, which begin as a state of mind. By becoming creators of better feeling thoughts, we create a sense of well-being in spite of the physical presence of fibromyalgia.

The Buddha said there was no enemy more harmful to us than our own unguarded thoughts. It’s not likely any of us will reach Buddha status, but we can become aware of painful thoughts we’re asking ourselves to believe; thoughts that harm our minds as much as fibromyalgia harms our body. By reaching for truer thoughts that feel better, even just a little, we can create well-being and the conditions for healing that every one of us deserves.
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Ihab Salloum