FM-CP Advocate March 2013

The National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA) is excited to announce a new focus this year for May 12 Fibromyalgia Awareness Day event materials.  Events to “Make Fibromyalgia Visible” held for several years have been successful in helping people with fibromyalgia talk with other people with fibromyalgia.  The new campaign aims to engage people outside of the fibromyalgia community to support and spread awareness for FM recognition to the general public.  With this broader focus, the NFMCPA added a new element:  “ CARE" & Make Fibromyalgia Visible

• C - Contribute
• A-  Advocate
• R - Research
• E - Educate

1 in 3 Americans – nearly 116 million people – suffer from some type of chronic pain.  If you are living with chronic pain – such as back pain, arthritis, headaches, fibromyalgia or a host of other conditions, it is important to know how to use over the counter and prescription medications.

Acetaminophen is an ingredient in over 600 different medicines, including many pain relievers used to treat chronic pain conditions. It is also found in fever reducers and sleep aids as well as cough, cold and allergy medicines.  When used as directed, it is safe and effective.  But taking more than directed is an overdose and can lead to liver damage.

The Know Your Dose Campaign is a program of the Acetaminophen Awareness Coalition. It contains valuable information concerning how to read labels and offers guidelines for taking medications containing this medication.  For your well being please click here to visit their website and learn more about how to safely and effectively take these medications.

I read dozens of fibromyalgia focused internet forums. Fibro facebook pages, newsletters and magazines - I read it all. Overwhelmingly, the answer that fibro fighters seek most is What Really Works? What will make me better?

I can't tell you. Neither can anyone on any forum. Most likely, neither can your doctors and care providers. They can make suggestions and there is evidence to support literally hundreds of options as being effective for some. But nothing is guaranteed to work for everyone. This is the harsh reality of fibromyalgia.

Your symptoms - what you feel, how it changes, the frequency and severity of your pain, how your symptoms interact, what trigger's a flare-up and how you respond to different treatments - combined this will be unique to you. Understanding this reality is fundamental to accepting why self-management is so important. Self-management boils down to answering the question accurately. What really works - for me? 
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Pain patients and their families submitted riveting testimony to an FDA panel asking the agency to not place more hurdles in their path to receiving proper pain care: “She is in excruciating pain every minute of every day of her life for the pst twenty years. [The pain was caused] by a butcher of a doctor who drilled a pin through her radial nerve during a routine operation to fix a broken wrist.  He left the pin in, despite her pleading of pain for six weeks.  To take the pain pills away from her would lead to her death from suicide because the pain would be unbearable.” 

In January a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted to impose stricter controls on prescription drugs such as vidodin, which contain hydrocodone an opioid pain reliever. The new rules restricts doctors from prescribing more than a month’s supply of any hydrocodone drugs and prevents refills without new doctor visits.  Such prescriptions can no longer be phone, faxed or emailed and physicians assistants and nurse practitioners wouldn’t be permitted to prescribe the medication in the states where they have limited prescription powers.

The FDA will probably accept the panel’s decision, changing the rules for some 47 million patients (including people with fibromyalgia) who receive prescriptions for hydrocodone-containing products.

To read the entire TIME article and learn more click here

Do you dream of a life free of pain for yourself or a loved one?  Do you believe that you deserve a better quality of life?  Do you have hope that someone can effectively lead the way when it comes to sharing the needs of the fibromyalgia patient?

Nineteen participants, chosen from across the United States and Mexico for their dedication and passion to helping others, met in Washington, D. C. this past November to become  advocates for  people with fibromyalgia and chronic pain illnesses. They  attended workshop classes designed to teach leadership and media skills and facilitating support groups in their communities. 

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