Women and Fibromyalgia

Barbara Keddy, BSc.N., M.A., Ph.D., Professor Emerita, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Contact: bkeddy@dal.ca

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I have lived with fibromyalgia for about 40 years. I live in a coastal city in Eastern Canada subjected to dampness and difficult weather conditions which aggravate fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. I experience chronic pain and like most women who are often not believed I wonder at the audacity of those who think that since fibromyalgia is not visible it does not exist. Ah! But I no longer believe that fibromyalgia is totally hopeless and I am currently working on a program that is helping me understand the nature of my pain and how best to increase my mobility and turn my life around. It is an on-going journey, a work in progress.

For much of my professional career I had been interested in issues pertaining to women and health. Several years ago I therefore began a research study which I had a close personal interest in exploring, given my own history. The project involved interviewing women who had also lived, as I had, with the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia for many years.

The result is a book Women and Fibromyalgia: Living with an Invisible Dis-ease , published by iUniverse, which can be ordered through any bookstore.