I feel guilty a bout my kids 13 and 15 taking care of me and not being able to do all the fun activities. I am so blessed to have children who seem to understand or at least try to understand what I'm going through. I try to find other activities I can do...like crafts or coloring, watching our favorite shows together, they both still like to snuggle up occassiionally and chat. I'm mad because my kids shouldn't have to help me...at least till they are much older, but they are learning compassion!

Well, I read the first answer them all of the answers getting more and more upset. Until I got to the one written @old movie lover, then I was reading what I was thinking. We women have been fighting for our general rights for many years. When will our families start respecting the women in our families.??? If we are unfortunate to get all of the diseases that we get, why do we have to fight for respect from the very people that should cherish and love each either without judgement.
With every word you women wrote, you could have been writing about Me. I agree with old movie lover, we are not baby sitters, as for the Men in out lives, GET OVER IT!! Just because we are not looking like we are sick, how about believing us, we are sick!! We need all of the energy we have to fight for every ounce of energy we have. Just think of how we would expect our families and friends to act towards us if we had something horrible like cancer. I know we are tired of fighting for our basic rights as an I'll important family member. But, guess what no one else will. So, we huddle here on this wonderful site to help one another. I have found in my life that I needed to grieve over my old life and develop my new life for what I need to sustain ourselves and not take responsibility for how our family members treat each other. Have you taught your families just what and how you suffer with this disease? If you cannot express how YOU feel about your new life, how can they treat you the way you need.

I agree @A MyFibroTeam Member my narcotics have no side effects but taking the pain away

I so grateful for all of your responses. They have helped and uplifted me so much. I need to learn to communicate better and learn to adjust. i love the idea of making a small list that way I know I accomplished at least one thing during the day. I have been REALLY bad about not telling people about my fibromyalgia. I have known something is wrong for years and I wouldn't even tell a dr. I have been married to my husband for 8 years and I just told him a month ago because it just keeps getting worse not better and I finally had to reach out a hand for help which was really hard for me. I have learned that people are more understanding than I thought they would be. I should have told people years ago but the fear of being pitied or looked down upon because a lot of people don't understand this disease. Thank you guys for all of the positive words.

@A MyFibroTeam Member that really put things into prospective. It's horrible that I feel guilty just for feeling. It's not like any of us want this horrible disease. I love your statement "Yes I want to be I can be for my friends ect. but if this is all I can be they need to accept me as I am and not project what they want me to be". I am going to post this on my mirror for me to see every morning. I worry so much about others maybe it's time to worry about me and that way I can get better. Thank you so much for your positive outlook.