Tag: fibromyalgia

Pain Chronicles: Two Generations of Fibromyalgia

Post author By Caroline McDonagh-Darwin
Post date 16 March 2022
1 Comment on Pain Chronicles: Two Generations of Fibromyalgia

Pain Chronicles is a monthly(-ish) column from Caroline McDonagh-Darwin about coming to terms with living with a chronic illness. It will include funny stories and brutal honesty, with some thrown-in chats with her mum Shaz, and other friends too, along the way.

Not long after I graduated from university, I was at my GP looking for an answer for what was causing my pain. It had started five years or so earlier, just in my knees at the time, but it had become increasingly more widespread.

The young GP looked at my history, asked me some questions, and ordered some blood tests, just to be certain. Then he asked me a very simple question: “What do you know about fibromyalgia?”

Tags diagnosis, fibromyalgia, generations

all Columns Pain Chronicles

Pain Chronicles: What a Massive Pain

Post author By Caroline McDonagh-Darwin
Post date 8 January 2022
2 Comments on Pain Chronicles: What a Massive Pain

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you may be aware that I broke my ankle in November. I think I may have mentioned it once or twice. With a bit of luck, by the time you’re reading this, I’ll be pretty much back to “normal”.

I know I’m on my way back to “normal” because my regular pain is starting to come back to me. My usual fibromyalgia problem areas are my shoulders, my lower back and hips, as well as overall fatigue. Of course, other parts of my body tend to get worried they’re missing out and jump in on the action, so you never really can tell what’ll hurt, but they’re the primary problem areas. The other night, my lower back hurt more in bed than my foot did.

Tags broken bones, Co-morbidity, fibromyalgia, pain

all Columns Pain Chronicles

Pain Chronicles: Right Now, I Need the Sunflower

Post author By Caroline McDonagh-Darwin
Post date 6 July 2021
1 Comment on Pain Chronicles: Right Now, I Need the Sunflower

Pain Chronicles is a monthly(-ish) column from Caroline McDonagh-Darwin about coming to terms with living with a chronic illness. It will include funny stories and brutal honesty, with some thrown in chats with her mum Shaz, and other friends too, along the way.

When mask wearing became mandatory in July last year, I was mostly still not leaving the house. We’re a high risk family, and I felt the government were too hasty in unlocking everything.

When I did have to pop to the shops, I’d don a reusable mask (trying to combat waste) and more often than not I’d only just finish my shopping before having to run outside to fresh air to stave off a panic attack. Face shields were slightly better, although they did elicit some funny looks, and there was still an issue with allodynia where the sponge rested on my forehead.

Tags back to normal, covid-19, fibromyalgia, heat intolerance, hidden disability, invisible disability, mask exempt, mask wearing, masks, pain chronicles, sunflower, sunflower scheme

all Columns Essays opinion Pain Chronicles

Pain Chronicles: Rosie Jones and Straddling the Intersection

Post author By Caroline McDonagh-Darwin
Post date 29 April 2021
No Comments on Pain Chronicles: Rosie Jones and Straddling the Intersection

Pain Chronicles is a new monthly(-ish) column from Caroline McDonagh-Darwin about coming to terms with living with a chronic illness. It will include funny stories and brutal honesty, with some thrown in chats with her mum Shaz, and other friends too, along the way.

Rosie Jones and I have a few things in common. We’re both Northern. We’re both pricks. We both have gigantic tits. And we’re both disabled lesbians.

And when I saw her walk on to the set of The Russell Howard Show and said she couldn’t process those ideas, she could only fit one “different” thing in her life, and therefore she believed she wasn’t gay, I understood where she was coming from. Sort of.

Tags fibromyalgia, intersectionality, lgbtqia, rosie jones