Fibromyalgia: Fact or Fiction Imagine waking up every morning stiff, with every muscle in your body relieved, extremely tired and on the verge of exhaustion. The simple task of showering and getting dressed makes you feel like you need to just lie down for a few minutes and rest. Your legs hurt from briefly walking up the stairs last night on your way to bed, like you ran a marathon in your sleep, and your skin literally hurts from the touch of your clothes as they rub against you. Your blood pressure is high and you can feel pain emanating from every part of your body. You cannot, at all, find your keys as they hang from the key ring in your hand, because the pain and agitation you feel everywhere has clouded your mind. You also have trouble concentrating. Never mind the rest of the day ahead of you, which hasn't even started yet. Now imagine this every day, all day. It seems almost impossible to comprehend something like this on a daily basis, but it's exactly what most people with fibromyalgia describe as a daily feeling. Some are much worse than that. Fibromyalgia is real, it is pain and it exists. Although awareness of fibromyalgia has progressed through advertising, there is much more that can and should be done to bring it to the forefront of the medical field and other organizations as a true diagnosis. Additional research and government funding is desperately needed and requires significant action from our national health agencies and the U.S. government in the form of grants, research, trials, and various drug interactions and testing. Fibromyalgia is not a new disease that just emerged, it has been around for a long time, it just didn't have a name and wasn't recognized for what it really was. It was... center of paper... in the gastrointestinal tract, causing significant stomach cramps. Sleep disturbance or lack of good sleep, usually caused by some form of sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome (RLS) which does not allow the body to fully relax and fall into an uninterrupted deep sleep. Temperature sensitivity, when it's hot, it seems too hot for them or vice versa for cold or cooler weather. It affects sensitivity to loud noises or bright lights, limiting their ability to be in a noisy environment such as a restaurant or even drive a vehicle at night. Cognitive problems with thinking and memory, such as concentration or disorganized thinking. It also causes an inability to stay focused and cognitive recognition, such as seeing a pen on the counter but not being able to say the word pen. This is very common with fibromyalgia and is often called “fibro fog” (Huffington Post).