FMA UK Statement on NICE draft guidelines Guidance on chronic pain is to be welcomed but we have concerns with the recent draft guidance and these have been echoed within our community. We have concern about working treatments potentially being withdrawn from patients without replacements. Increased pain, symptom flareup as well as withdrawal symptoms are not what chronic pain patients need. We understand these guidelines have introduced chronic primary pain as opposed to chronic pain. The lack of clarity of what conditions are considered within these categories and where the line is between the two will leave scope for misjudgements. Read more...

Which Mattress? We regularly get asked the question “What mattress is best for fibromyalgia?”. We are all individual in which mattress type will suit us best, and there is no definitive answer to this question. We have done some research among our social media followers & forum members, and hope that this article may serve as a guide. We had 152 responses to our survey. We regularly get asked the question “What mattress is best for fibromyalgia?”. We are all individual in which mattress type will suit us best, and there is no definitive answer to this question. We have done some research among our social media followers & forum members, and hope that this article may serve as a guide. We had 152 responses to our survey. Mattress Types There are 6 main types of mattresses available, and they are listed below in order of popularity according to our survey Memory Foam Mattress Memory foam moulds to the contours of your body, providing enhanced cushioning around tender joints and pressure points, while maintaining full body support. Memory foam also retains heat, which some people find an issue Read more...

RC Vacancy: Scotland We are currently recruiting a volunteer to cover our Regional Coordinator role in the Scotland area. Our Regional Coordinators are our point of contact for new enquiries via email and telephone, provide support to the local Support Groups in the area, and represent FMA UK at events among other tasks. Read more...

The History of Fibromyalgia Living with fibromyalgia is not easy! Any chronic health condition has its challenges of course, but fibromyalgia can be more challenging than most. To explain why, let me explain a bit about the condition and its history. Living with fibromyalgia is not easy! Any chronic health condition has its challenges of course, but fibromyalgia can be more challenging than most. To explain why, let me explain a bit about the condition and its history. Fibromyalgia is a chronic widespread pain condition that takes your independence, liberty and much more. It also impacts your sleep so that you are less able to deal with the pain. Add to this fibrofog where you feel like you could forget your own name and you have a starting point of this condition. Lack of treatments, working treatments being taken away, disbelief from friends’ family and health professionals means that this condition is challenging. We would not wish it on anyone. The condition is thought to affect between 2.9% and 4.7% of the population but with the NHS not recording diagnosis accurately these figures are up for dispute. However, we are now in a period of greater awareness than even 5 or 10 years ago. Read more...

Emma Emmerson: Why I'm raising awareness for my daughter At the age of 18 my daughter Molly was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. For me, this wasn’t too much of a shock as we had fought for 4 years to get a diagnosis of some kind for the constant pain, she was in. For me this was the worst part fighting for a reason behind how she felt. It took so long that it really impacted her mental health and she started to think she was imagining it. So, in some ways it was a relief to get that diagnosis. Then the thought process starts - How will she cope with the constant pain? How will she deal with being so limited in her ability to exercise? How will this affect her career? One thing was certain this wasn’t going away but it wasn’t life limiting so we had a huge positive there to start from. In the last 12 months, Molly has been increasing her exercise little by little in the hope that one day she will be able to ride her horse or attend dance classes again. She chose to continue her accountancy studies which is difficult with the fog but she is fortunate that I have a practice so if she is struggling with the exhaustion, we can work around it. Socialising takes its toll on her and whilst she does go out with her friends you wouldn’t find her in a nightclub at 3am. Read more...