Fibromyalgia Awareness Day: It's Time We Show the World Who We Are! by Keith Sereduck

While there are many ways to help out and show support (wearing purple or a purple ribbon, donating to a charity or organization, joining support groups, hanging posters in public places that allow them) for fibromyalgia, I feel it's time to take a more personal approach and I'm issuing a challenge to anyone fighting this pain disorder. But first, some fibromyalgia facts.

According to the National Fibromyalgia Association (NFA), 10 million people in the U.S. alone have the disorder. While it is incorrectly thought of as only affecting females, it is found in men and children of all ages as well. I am an example. My own fibro story began when I was 12, following a bout with Kawasaki's disease.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is thought of as an invisible illness, a pain you can't see. I'm here to tell you that, invisible or not, it's real. FM is a chronic pain disorder causing widespread pain and tenderness to touch that may occur body wide or drift from place to place. Other symptoms include:

• stiffness
• cramping
• fatigue
• muscle weakness
• light noise and smell sensitivity
• anxiety
• migraines
• mental foggyness
• memory loss 

And many more. While symptoms and severity come and go daily, flareups can also occur without warning and last anywhere from days to weeks, or longer.

My challenge is this: whether you have FM or not, let's see how many shares we can get on this post, how many people we can reach before we finally get noticed. Share it to your friends. Share it on your pages. With 10 million fighters in the U.S. alone, we need to get the word out to a wider audience. We need help. We need people to listen. We need funding. We need a cure.

Second, I challenge you to put a face to this disorder. Comment and tell everyone your story. Post a picture of yourself. We have nothing to hide from and everything to gain. Awareness begins you with. And me. My name is Keith Sereduck and this is my challenge to you.

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