: : As I explained in my earlier message, I have to work. My employer is pretty patient so I am lucky.
: : How do you feel good? I used to be a person who would be up at 5:30, 6:00 and have a lot of energy.
: : Always been a morning person. Now I'm too exhausted to do anything. I have to force myself
: : to get ready for work. It seems I have to talk myself into doing everything. Everything takes too
: : much effort. This ends up in my feeling guilty for not accomplishing anything. Any advice? Cheryl, Why can't you get ssi or ssd and or workers comp??? It is a law in the us that if you are hurt on the job that you are entitled to workers comp benefits of 66% of your gross wages, so why won't the pay you?? I filed for ssi and ssd and i recieved them based on my fibro, i fought the system for four years before i recieved them, but i did get all the back wages , benefits from them once i won my case in a hearing before the judge, people with fibro that are unable to work anymore need to really fight hard and dont' give up after a few denials , it is their system and they try to make us deter away from continuing on with further filing of ssi and ssd, those are our benefits that we all worked hard and long for, and we paid in for these benefits and deserve them and have a right to be compensated when we are unable to preform the jobs that we were doing,and if we aren't able to do that particular job and are able to still work, then they want to help train us in vocational training, but if you are disabled and unable to continue to work, then by all means file for ssi and get the benefits that you have coming to you, i know it is a very stressful and quite degrading feeling when you are continually turned down by their board of review, but keep on it and remain strong willed enough to get what you have coming to you , instead of starving and wondering where you are going to get enough money to get you through the month, and wonder what you can do, and how to exist while waiting for them to drag you thru all the red tape and B. S. that they put you thru, and all the doc appt's they make you go to, at their expense of course, they are trying to deter people from filing and getting any benefits and dont' make it easy to get them, but we have to set a presidence to all of the handicapped people that need these benefits just to survive, and keep them from hurting themselves further, we all have to help one another by filing when we are down. Sheri aka graghost

: Kathy,
: You will have to accept your limitations and learn creative ways to work around them. There is no cure for what we have and everyone responds differently to treatment. For example, human growth hormone has done wonders for me but it had no effect on Dr. Alpert. Some people do well on malic acid and magnesium and it has no effect on others. MSM is helpful to some people with FMS.5-HTP works well on ~ 80% of people with FMS. There is no "magic bullet" that works for all of us. Feeling guilty for physical limitations will only make you feel worse. You must try very hard to keep a positive attitude and, believe me, it won't always work. I had FMS for 49 years and worked as a biochemist. Life was a struggle but, somehow, I managed. Then, I had an accident and lost partial use of my right arm and shoulder that eventually led to me losing my job at the University (where I had the accident). I was denied disabilty, Workers's Comp and Unemployment Compensation. I am now paying $700 per month for medical insurance and the only income I have is from a business I created on the Internet. So I know your fear of not being able to work. At 52, I don't know what my future holds. Trust me, I am not happy and cheerful every day but I am thankful for what I have and I know that, somehow, I'll make it and you will too.

: Cheryl