Today's post expanding on my #bio and #Introduction:

I am #disabled.

I have a chronic pain disorder called #fibromyalgia. #Fibro is similar to #MECFS, and is characterised by fatigue and altered sleep, memory and mood.
Widespread muscle pain and tenderness are the most common symptoms.

The way that it manifests for me is pain in around my joints, particularly my shoulders, wrists, and hands, and my knees and feet. Most days I have a background pain level of about 3/10, and my flare-ups pop up to a pain level of about 6-8/10.

I also have back issues that stem from the years I spent as a nurse - I have compressed discs in my cervical spine, in my lumbar-sacral spine, and a zygapophyseal joint around T7 that keeps dislocating.

I'm in pain most days, but I think worse than the pain is the utter exhaustion from dealing with it constantly. I also get frustrated because I used to have a very strong and capable body, and now there's so much that I just can't do.

I'm also #MentallyIll - I have #cptsd, #ocd, #agoraphobia, #anxiety, and some other bits and pieces of cluster-b disorders.

I'm #autistic and have #adhd, my #autism is #SelfDiagnosed at the moment but my psychologist agrees with my assessment, my adhd was diagnosed by a psychiatrist only last year (I'm 48 - if you want to talk about late diagnosis, let me know).

There are other things I deal with like #diabetes and #migraines, but the fibro and spinal injuries are the main ones.

(..continues next post)