Fibro and me

[paris1511]

I've just turned 32 and have been suffering with fibro officially for the last 10 years, I'm a mum of 2 girls. I was working as a carer for 2 years but they sacked me because of my sickness days due to my fibro being in so much pain and unable to move, as you can imagine it's not done my mental health any good. It all just feels like life is against me!

[Cazza2612]

I completely understand what you’re going through, my situation was fairly similar to yours and it really does have an effect on your mental health. I have bouts of depression and low mood at times and find it very difficult to pick myself up sometimes.

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2013 but feel I have probably had this since my late teens.

I had a great job which I loved and had no intention of leaving. My job was as a nanny to two wee girls who I absolutely loved and still do now. The mother was an oncologist and the father a consultant. As I loved my job so much I continued my job for 2 years after my diagnosis when my pain and illness became too much due to the added complications of a really bad case of tonsillitis which on top of fibromyalgia completely floored me and my GP signed me off for a month. As I was going to be off for this length of time I felt it only fair to tell the parents about my diagnosis which then turned out to me losing my job as the parents needed reliable childcare as they had no on hand family to help out. I did totally understand why this was there decision as when you work as a nanny you must be totally reliable and flexible which is just the nature of the job. I was disappointed that there was no empathy or understanding based on the careers they both had so my job was then finished and they got another nanny to take over.

The girls were very young when I started caring for them and they absolutely loved spending time with me as I did them. The older girl was 15 months at the start of the job and younger one wasn’t born at that point. I cared for the second child from the day she was born, from the tiny age of 4 hours old. So as you can imagine I was devastated to have to leave my wee babies 👶🏼 👶🏼.

The other thing I have found is lack of understanding and support from good friends. My best friend of 25 years decided she didn’t want to know me anymore because of my illness which I just couldn’t get over because we were so close and I would have done absolutely anything for her and I just couldn’t understand why she turned on me like this. In the end she became really nasty towards me and really showed her true colours. I now have a circle of good friends who don’t judge me some of who have fibromyalgia and some who don’t. I also have the most amazing family support who I couldn’t do without.

I still struggle a bit without being able to work. The reason is not financial, I just loved my job.

Hope you have good support around you.

💕Cazza

[Bambi60]

So sorry to hear your circumstances. I wonder if Citizens Advice might be able to check if your redundancy is legal - I had a similar firing due to asthma! I recognise you may not want to take this further and it's stressful for you now - on top of fibromyalgia - wish you well. Take care

[Stace30]

Hi lovely, totally relate I’m 35 and some days it’s never ended 🤗