Fibromyalgia is a non-progressive chronic pain condition and it’s believed one in twenty people might be affected by it. That’s huge! So it’s perhaps surprising that, until seven years ago, I’d never heard of it. Nicola, a new friend of mine, had recently been diagnosed with it and, not too long afterwards, another friend/work colleague shared that she also had fibro. I knew then that, at some point, I would include a character with this condition in one of my books.
I undertake a lot of research for all of my books to ensure that any information I present – whether it’s about caring for hedgehogs, being an RNLI volunteer or having a particular health condition – is accurate and authentic. I’m so grateful to Nicola and Carol for generously giving their time while I ran quizzed them on every aspect of what fibromyalgia means to them starting from what happened to make them seek a diagnosis through to how it affects their everyday life. Nicola also kindly gave the book a sensitivity read.
The big thing that came out from these conversations – and further research – is that fibro affects people so differently. There’s an enormous list of symptoms and not everybody experiences all of them. For those they do experience, the severity can be significantly different.
I chose to focus on the most common symptoms – chronic pain, fatigue and brain fog – and have explained in the acknowledgements that main character Tabby’s experience of fibromyalgia may differ to the experiences that a reader with fibro (or someone they know) may have.
Fibromyalgia is known as an ‘invisible illness’ which means that it isn’t outwardly visible to others – something which can results in comments such as, ‘But you don’t look ill.’ That doesn’t mean that the person isn’t in pain. They might be fighting a battle to hide their pain or this could be a good or better day for them where they are able to be out and about, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?
And that brings me onto another point. The unpredictability of fibro flare-ups really struck me. Both Nicola and Carol talked about this and it came out strongly in my further research. Doing too much and/or stress could trigger a flare-up – but not always. Equally, a person could do all the ‘right’ things and they’d still be hit by one. It makes forward-planning really difficult.
In Christmas at the Cat Café, Tabby’s boyfriend Leon was meant to be running the business with her but he checks out, leaving her to open the café alone. A major change of plans like this would be a challenge for anyone but, for someone with a chronic illness, it’s even more significant. Tabby was relying on Leon to step up and take charge on the bad days, so how can she possibly run the Castle Street Cat Café without him? You’ll just have to read the book to find the answer to that!
For more information…
Fibromyalgia Action UK: https://www.fmauk.org
Fibromyalgia Research UK: https://www.fibromyalgiaresearchuk.com
The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino (used in the book and a great way to understand a chronic pain condition): https://lymphoma-action.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/2020-05/Spoon%20theory%20by%20Christine%20Miserandino.pdf
Big hugs
Jessica xx