I am an Animal,Psychic and Earth Empath and always have been as far back as I can remember but, I have not always known how to deal with it correctly in a positive manner. Those who are Empathic certainly are prone to chronic illnesses to include Fibro, CFS and other autoimmune diseases. Personality-wise we do tend to put others well being and health before our own ( I'm a nurse ) thereby absorbing others illnesses and energy allowing them to become our own...causing illness,disease and emotional distress. Not everyone who has Fibro or whatever is an Empath but, I would guess many of us are to some degree and if we do not learn how to effectively deal with this 'energy' from others , then we are going to get physically sick or in the least exacerbate what ales us already. I have been studying with a seasoned Empath the past 2 years on how to better control my "gift",lol :-)

I am somewhat of an empath. I would feel better if I thought my pain was at least for some reason...sometimes I do feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. for almost 8 years I've been unable to work due to my pain and depression. The depression is not about my life, it's about all the world's problems. I feel my energy and life being sucked out of me when I'm dealing with someone who is ill or has issues. it's exhausting, I've had people tell me I need to protect myself against it, or it will make me worse. I can't help that I love and care for people, strangers or not.

I literally just read this article minutes before seeing your post. Now I'm going to do what you said you did and google them together. I just said to my fiance, "I haven't even read a fibro article this accurate to my life. Every point was true. Good luck to you. Now I'm interested...

http://liveboldandbloom.com/08/self-improvement...

Here's an interesting article and description about empaths: http://themindunleashed.org/2013/10/30-traits-o...

I used to read tarot and have a lot of friends who felt they were empathic that now have fibro or other chronic illnesses. Anything is possible. For me the anxiety is too high and I'm too foggy to assume I'm empathic. But I used to think that I was.