I now have access to my health records - through a new online option your Medical Centre can set you up for!!!  It is quite handy if you have ongoing prescriptions!  I had a look back and funnily realized well before I was diagnosed with Fibro (about 2-3 years before) I was in the Doctors for costochondritis!!!  So - I read a bit further, this is a condition all on its own.  However I continue to get told it is just part of Fibro... since I now know it is a condition on its own, and Fibro sufferers quite often get it, I treat it with anti-inflams and it has improved slightly.  

Lately I have been sore.  I have been thinking that it takes a lot of effort to have chronic pain.    It isn't an easy thing to have.  I have been reading an unrelated book but it is all about the brain and I read how we know so very little about our brain and its functions but are doing our best to figure it out - we being the scientists and in all areas 'neuro, psych, and so forth'.  

What I read that I think is very important for chronic pain sufferers, or for anyone, including people who are addicts, mentally unstable, etc is that we all process everything differently.  You with Fibro will be able to handle it differently than me with Fibro, and I don't mean symptomatically either, I mean mentally.  Why?  We all come from different places, different upbringing, different situations.  Which programs us to react differently.  You may know a Fibro person who just says 'get over it, I am', or another who says they can't even face the day... and those 2 people may have the same pain, but how they respond to it is very different.  Their pain thresh hold may be different, their mindfulness may be different.  So what I am trying to say is that we, as chronic sufferers should be way more patient and mindful of those who suffer any affliction, because we understand that no one can tell you, or judge you, or make you deal with this in any way but your own way.  

So I read a quote today I thought was so very relevant "Today I enjoy every minute of whatever I am doing".  Why not?  If you focus on the enjoyment of what you are doing, will it not distract you from your pain?  Will you feel better for reading that you are not alone in your journey with Fibro or any other pain and suffering you endure?  Maybe you have a coffee beside you as you read, and damn that coffee smells so good, and it tastes good, and you really enjoy the caffeine kick ( I know I do) or the roasty bean flavour!  Or you hear the birds chirping outside your window.  Maybe you smile now because of this tiny thought?  Or you are looking out the window... maybe it is autumn, and the leaves are turning an amazing fire red, and bright orange, or it is spring and the flowers are blooming, maybe sunshine yellow daffodils?  What a small joy to have for the day.  

Everyone experiences pain differently. No matter your affliction, your symptoms, your disease, your pain is yours, so don't ever think you are less because of it, or useless, or pointless or anything, it is how we deal with it that counts.  You count!  Think in mini-seconds I reckon, don't think of next week, or even tomorrow - think of the seconds in front of you and how you can try to enjoy every minute of whatever you are doing.

Be strong!