Talking with my dad this weekend about fibromyalgia, he kept going back to the idea of fibro as being sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If people expect to feel a certain way, they do.  I don’t agree, but definitely acknowledge that there is a psychological component to this and any disease.  If symptoms are focused on, they become more intense.  People with cardiac arrhythmias become aware of their heart beating, something most people are completely unconscious of.  It’s the same with fibro.  The more you’re aware of the pain, the more the pain is enhanced.  There’s another psychological component to fibromyalgia, however, that may be a little more particular to that condition.

One of the few things that people with fibro or studying fibro agree on is that psychological stress enhances symptoms.  It would be interesting to see a study on whether people with fibro tend to “eat” stress instead of express it.  I know I do.  Yep, sometimes it comes out in a bit of a rant, but usually serious stress and disappointment just get sucked right in and nestles down.  It’s not that I don’t come to terms with it, but I don’t express it.  At the same time, my son has called me a drama queen… so there is a little bit of a paradox.  But there is no doubt that when extreme emotions build, the body falls apart.  Disappointment hit me last night.  No, I’m not going to air this bit of laundry despite my life-as-an-open-book policy, but I am going to track to see if it triggers an attack.  May as well use the unfortunate opportunity for a bit of research, right?