Wow, JSC, those are powerful pics!!! Especially #53 - It gave me chills! My hubby’s dad (in his 70’s) was recently diagnosed with FMS. People (and doctors!) need to realize it is NOT a women’s disease! 
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The one I hate “ohhh you look awful…” and I want to say 'Yea and I needed to be told I look the way I feel too, thanks for that. You think it looks bad?? You should come have a look from this side." But often I just smile and apologise for looking like shit (as if I have some sort of magic control over it all.)
Merl from the Modsupport Team
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I spose I was asking for it… or were you? 
Seems the memes are going on in theme-bouts, hope that’s OK.
Things we’d love to say to others, but don’t, and probably never will…
#69
Fibromyalgia-Bow - Looks can be deceiving
#70
You don’t look sick they all say.
Walk in my shoes, if only for a day.
I promise– I don’t choose to live this way,
This illness you can’t see, it’s slowly robbing me of me,
I’m only a piece of my former self.
The rest it seems– has been put on the shelf.
I can no longer walk, run, or play.
If I can get out of bed, I’m having a good day!
I get up sleepy, it lasts all day, I go to bed, still feeling the same way.
This pain in my body, Never goes away!
My brain is– in a fog. My memory – is weak. My legs– they are crawling. I’m so tired but I just can’t sleep.
Simple tasks you say, to mop and sweep will take all day! And my poor body… Oh it will pay.
I’m cranky, sad, and depressed. Hell some days I can’t even get dressed.
My arms weigh a ton and my legs even more, my belly hurts badly and my back is so sore. My poor family, they deserve so much more.
This is my life sad and in pain. It makes me so mad! It’s driving me insane!
So, I don’t look sick you say… I promise, I’ll trade you any day.
CML 08/2014
#71
Oh, what’s that you say?
I don’t ‘look’ sick?
Well… You don’t ‘look’ stupid, but…
#72
‘You don’t look sick’.
I know.
I am just that awesome that I can look this way and be chronically ill.
#73
Not all disabilities look like this (wheelchair figure). Some disabilities look like this (normal man figure)
#74
I do not look sick
and you do not look stupid - looks can be deceiving
#75
“You don’t look sick.”
“Sorry, please, tell me, what does sick look like. I’ll make sure to try and get it right next time!”
#76
How We Feel (Emoticons) - How We Look (Women)
#77 - saving my favourite on this topic till last:
The most powerful words you can say to someone with any invisible illness is….
I BELIEVE YOU
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JSC, Thank you for these. They are wonderful & powerful. 
And the one that says “Well, you don’t look stupid, but…” histerical! 
Merl, sometimes you really crack me up! 
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One more:
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I love that, TJ. Thank you! 
Merl, you inspired me to search for memes round about this…
Instead I found some other, “different” sites…
The points made here are similar to the memes of this thread:
“I’m not sick, I have fibromyalgia!” - a short, OK read, on the note of this thread.
#82
13 Photos That Show What Fibromyalgia Really Looks Like: Just real ‘normal’ photos of people with fibro, no exaggeration, a bit of the story around each photo.
#83
Choreographed to music, I think there are a few more of the photos here
#84
10 Drawings That Depict What Fibromyalgia Pain Feels Like: good visualizations of how we feel inside, not for others, like most depictions:
A blog which critically discusses scientific fibro-studies, the latest topics being THE MISNOMER OF PAIN SENSITIVITY, TAME THE BEAST”: DOES THIS METAPHOR REALLY WORK? Why Pain Cannot Be Learned and Unlearned, FIBROMYALGIA AND NEUROINFLAMMATION: SHALL THE TWAIN EVER MEET?, IS CHRONIC PAIN REALLY A DISEASE?]
Then there’s some that came up cos duckduckgo “thought” I was looking for something like fibro is fake.
“Fibromyalgia is not a diagnosis, it’s a dangerous fad.” A lot of the arguments on this page aren’t completely wrong, I think, but put so provocatively that it can be & is misused, can put you in a bad mood (so watch out) and thus seems to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
A good, constructive response to it is on her last contact page (but also a misuse-response): I agree, but now what?? < gypsy0805 >: “I am curious to know what you suggest beyond rejecting the diagnosis and going about one’s life when there’s obviously something going on.”
https://forums.craigslist.org/?forumID=3362
Original page
http://fibromyass.com
Trying to keep myself from going into this in depth, might do so and summarize that somewhere here
“Top five reasons fibromyalgia is best fake disease” uses a deliberately sarcastic hook to show the impact of fibro on us.
And the sociopsychological aspect:
Study Shows: You look too good to be sick
“less attractive people with a visible disability are perceived as being in more pain/ being more disabled, than attractive people. So, go out and grab yourself a cane and start using it, especially at the doctor’s office. Oh, and whatever you do, don’t put on make-up when heading to the doctor.
Seriously, I know this advice sucks. But, often for us make-up really is a mask to hide how we really feel. And, there are times (and the doctor is definitely one of those) where we need to be as transparent about how bad we feel as we possibly can.”
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#85 - have I overdone it, haven’t I, have I, haven’t I, have I… 
One of the worst chronic illness feelings: when you know you’ve overdone it but all you can do is wait for it to hit you and agonizingly wonder just how bad it’s going to be this time.
But let’s be careful with this: Why dramatise if it isn’t here yet? - Why not take it step for step? - Why not enjoy having done so much, and still being okay!? - Why not think about something else instead of waiting for it or asking myself what the future has in store? - Why not do something about it in time to prevent the whole brunt of it?
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I can really relate to that meme. When I was an Oncology nurse, patients who had previously had chemo, and had significant nausea and vomiting, would expect to be terribly sick getting chemo again. They would have great anxiety. This was called anticipatory nausea and vomiting. Even though the likelihood of nausea and vomiting was low. When I was on prednisone a couple weeks ago, I felt good. After I finished taking my last pill, I wondered how long it would be until the horrific symptoms of fibro would return. When five days went by with no flare, I sort of had this verbal dialogue ruminating in my head. “ Will it happen tomorrow or just maybe, I won’t have a flare for months”. I had anticipatory pain. I get it. I went 9 days feeling somewhat normal! That is the longest I have ever gone without having a flare. From being diagnosed July 2018, I have had a flare every week. In fact, over the past year, I have flares multiple times a week. I literally can only live minute by minute. Sometimes hour by hour. It feels like fibromyalgia follows me. When I turn around, it hides. It follows me everywhere and lingers for a short time until it jumps out of nowhere with a vengeance. It rarely gives me advanced notice. I like these memes. I don’t feel as alone. But I also can look at the pictures and see how I feel. I wonder if there is a way to print some of these memes on an 8x10 piece of paper. That would be cool.
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Thx! You mean several I guess? “You” could copy & resize them into a doc and print that. Or I could, in no time. If so: How many? 12 small? 4 bigger? Which ones? (Anything topics apart from what we’ve already posted?). I’d upload it here as an image, for you to click on, and then click on “download” (under the image) and then print that download.
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Hi, JCS.
With me, if I overdo one day, I go to bed exhausted and wake up the next morning feeling like a bus hit me. Instead of dreading it, I try to learn my limits, but that’s not always easy. I agree that “worrying” over it, isn’t good. Worry and stress can also bring on flares! You make a good point (as always!).
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Hi JayCS! You’re awesome! Yes, there are several memes I would like to print out. The one that’s outlined in orange and is very long by CML 08/2014, the I Believe You one, the Someone has it worse by Sarah Beth McClure, the one with the hand holding the clock and the woman with the rope tied around her neck. Thank you for doing this JCS!!!
Here they are, Freedom, I hope I’ve arranged them how you need it. I’ve used the paper size “US Letter” - is that right? Anything you need changed now is even easier - negative time ;-).
These are the #62 #70 #77 #81 #85. Anyone else? (Numbers is easiest.)
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Thank you JCS! I will say more hopefully tomorrow. Not having a good day today. 
Freedom
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Feel better, dear Freedom!
Thank you, JCS, for having a servant’s heart toward each of us! You’re the BEST!
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Hi, JCS! I went back and read this part of your post, and I know that you are right about this. I’ve been trying to do more of my shoulder exercises on the days my body will stand it. I know this will help me in the long run. My pain mgmt doc tells me I MUST take the time to exercise & make my body stronger!
You want to hear something really weird? I told my pain doc that the shoulder doc said I have a problem that will probably require surgery in a couple of years. My pain management doc said - “Do NOT have shoulder surgery. I don’t care what anyone tells you - The pain is coming from your neck!” (There are only 2 cervical discs - at the top of my neck- that aren’t fused.) I really hate it when the doctors disagree- But, I do not want shoulder surgery if I can get by without it, so I’ll listen to my pain doc for now and keep getting injections and doing my exercises. (The last injection didn’t help for long…sigh…)
I hope you’re doing well, JSC (I haven’t read your pain blog yet - going there in a minute). I know you are having your struggles, like the rest of us! The freezing temps here have made my arthritis flare terribly, so I’ve been MIA a few days. But it is good to be back!!!
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Hi JayCS! How are you doing? I want to thank you again for getting those memes for me. That was really nice! As you can tell, I’m not great with technology but I do enjoy learning. So…JCS, how do I print them out? Can I use my printer? Am I able to print each one individually? I think you said you live in England? Are you getting a lot of snow? I live in Illinois and we’re supposed to get 8 to 12 inches of snow by tomorrow. This is not normal. It’s been quite snowy this winter. Brrrrrrrr!
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And great to have you back 
I put my priority on work, so I haven’t been able to read & write quite so much/quickly.
Hmm, hating when doctors disagree… Praps that’s one additional reason why people often don’t get 2nd opinions! 
Of course it’s confusing if you (thought you) were fine believing the first doc as the halfgod s/he isn’t. But actually I then often (try to) glee over it. It empowers me and helps me use them as my servants. I’m the one who’s in charge (as some docs nowadays say too, like - also - my pain mgmt doc, altho she cdn’t help me much). And I have helped myself much more than all my 45 docs together, even tho I wdn’t’ve wanted to miss one single one of them, despite the additional pain some of them caused me or just giving me stories to tell…
Of course it’s very sensible advice to try self-help, i.e. exercises, to the full. Praps the threat of the surgery is ‘helping’ you really to overcome temptation and do them to the full whenever you are able. Good cop, bad cop, good doc, bad doc: what a perfect couple (Try saying that quickly LOL)
Hi Freedom, thx for asking: energy is staying up, getting a handle on work, ozone seems to be helping as well as the 3h/wk physio & twist-stretching all the time continually improving… It snowed here in Germany a week ago, about 16 inches, first time in 10 years - I love rallye-cycling thru snow, and it was well possible now my energy’s up, really good exercise! My mum in England was disappointed that she got hardly any
Hope you’re better again too…
To print any image here you 1. click on it, 2. click on the blue word “download” at the bottom right of it, 3. opt for “save” if you want to keep it too, or “open”, 4. open the image directly or indirectly, 5. click on “print” in the menu of the program. 6. resize in the print dialogue if necessary. 7. OK.
If small ones are enough, you could use the ones I assembled on the one page and then cut them apart if necessary.
If you want each on a full page, you just click on each of the single images in the thread that you want, same procedure. In that case they will come out fuzzy though.
If you want them bigger, but not too fuzzy, I could quickly spread you out the 5 images on 2 pages.
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