Fibromyalgia Awareness | Information, Tips, Support, Patient Stories

Dedicated to raise awareness about Fibromyalgia and offer online support. Find fibromyalgia information, news, interviews and tips.

NO MORE SUICIDES: Talk when you feel low

REMEMBER TO TALK: We and many support groups are here for you.

The recent news of suicide of Jacqueline Ratcliff and her husband John, UK, has given us goosebumps. We wish it could be undone. We wish things got better for them. We understand a bit what they must be going through.


Don't insult those who commit Suicide
Don't insult those who commit Suicide
Don't insult those who commit Suicide
There are times when people with chronic illnesses like Fibromyalgia feel so low, so helpless that they think of taking such steps. We hope and pray no more suicides happen.

At the same time,  REMEMBER that it is that very moment / days when you need to pull all your courage to fight the thought. You have been fighting the pain and all the symptoms every single day. You have the strength to fight that thought that tends to often overpower us.

TALK to friends and family. Right then.
Talk to a DOCTOR.
Talk to your SUPPORT GROUP.
If there is a Support group in your area, please JOIN.

No one deserves the pain of Fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses. No one deserves to die like this.

Please join us in PRAYING that the souls of Jacqueline Ratcliff and her husband John Rest In Peace.

Also, do read the post: Don't insult those who commit Suicide

The story behind the Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge

The #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge is the brainchild of Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli from India.

The challenge, launched on 5th November 2014, is shaping up due to the efforts of the Fibromyalgia Awareness Facebook support group (https://www.facebook.com/fibromyalgiaawarenesspage) team that includes admins Pete Shields, Beth Brown an Swati Agrawal.
- See more at: http://www.fibromyalgiaawareness.com/2014/11/who-created-fibromyalgia-palm-challenge.html#sthash.hyIDOe7i.dpuf
The #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge is the brainchild of Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli from India.

The challenge, launched on 5th November 2014, is shaping up due to the efforts of the Fibromyalgia Awareness Facebook support group (https://www.facebook.com/fibromyalgiaawarenesspage) team that includes admins Pete Shields, Beth Brown an Swati Agrawal.
- See more at: http://www.fibromyalgiaawareness.com/2014/11/who-created-fibromyalgia-palm-challenge.html#sthash.hyIDOe7i.dpuf
The #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge is the brainchild of Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli from India.

The challenge, launched on 5th November 2014, is shaping up due to the efforts of the Fibromyalgia Awareness Facebook support group (https://www.facebook.com/fibromyalgiaawarenesspage) team that includes admins Pete Shields, Beth Brown an Swati Agrawal. - See more at: http://www.fibromyalgiaawareness.com/2014/11/who-created-fibromyalgia-palm-challenge.html#sthash.m9rW1XvW.dpuf
The #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge is the brainchild of Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli, from India, who runs the Fibromyalgia Awareness Blog and a corresponding Facebook Page.

The challenge, launched on 5th November 2014, is shaping up due to the efforts of the Fibromyalgia Awareness Facebook support group, fibromyalgia warriors worldwide and the people they are tagging.
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It was after the popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge that I thought we should do a similar but easier challenge to raise awareness about fibromyalgia. Around the same time, a few members of my page suggested why not do a similar challenge for fibromyalgia. Yes, it did take me quite some time to conceptualise how to go about it in a manner that the purpose is not lost.

Eventually I came up with #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge and launched it on 5th November 2014 from India.
I decided to focus on the following:
  1. The challenge name must have the term "Fibromyalgia" in it.
  2. It should be easier to take and people who are not comfortable sharing their face photos should not face a problem. Hence, photos of palms instead of videos.
  3. It MUST raise awareness about fibromyalgia. People must read what it is all about before taking the challenge. This is very important for the world to understand the condition.
  4. It should not cause any harm. Hence, people who wished to take the challenge but had ink allergies were suggested writing on a paper / adding text on the computer with their palm
  5. All the photos must appear in one common album to appreciate the efforts of those who took the challenge (Of course, this resulted in backend workload but we are working on it).
THE TEAM


I would like to thank Pete Shields and Beth Brown from US who helped me take it forward. Later, Swati Agrawal from India and Jenny Patriksson from US joined us as an admin to help us with the mammoth amount of work.

A special mention to Virginie Bellamy from France who traced the person who was taking all the credit by creating posters out of our album, removing our logo and promoting the challenge as his idea. She also gave us the idea of translating the challenge in different languages and helped us with French.


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NEXT POST: The challenges faced in the challenge... Coming soon...

Who created the Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge? When?

The #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge is the brainchild of Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli from India.

The challenge, launched on 5th November 2014, is shaping up due to the efforts of the Fibromyalgia Awareness Facebook support group (https://www.facebook.com/fibromyalgiaawarenesspage) team that includes admins Pete Shields, Beth Brown an Swati Agrawal.


The need for this post: It's a shame that some pages and blogs are lifting the idea, replacing our logo from the posters and promoting it as their own idea. People suffering with fibromyalgia have created this challenge and are working day and night to make it big. Credit must be given when due, isn't it?

Also Read:

The story behind the Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge


Do share!

Do join our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fibromyalgiaawarenesspage - See more at: http://www.fibromyalgiaawareness.com/#sthash.TIWeajvG.dpuf
Do share!

Do join our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fibromyalgiaawarenesspage - See more at: http://www.fibromyalgiaawareness.com/#sthash.TIWeajvG.dpuf

The Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge Photo Album

The #fibromyalgiapalmchallenge is gaining momentum with more and more people taking the challenge and tagging their friends everyday.

Here's the link to the album of some of the photos submitted. We aim to include all photos step by step. The mammoth task sure is taking time with several pending photos, but we will ensure that no photo submitted for the Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge is missed.


#fibromyalgiapalmchallenge

Announcing Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge to raise awareness

CLICK A PIC AND BRING ABOUT A CHANGE!

I have created the Fibromyalgia Palm Challenge with a purpose to make the world understand Fibromyalgia  (FMS) and the people suffering from it, and to help people get diagnosed in time. People with this syndrome suffer with everything from 24x7 chronic pain to hypersensitivities, from cognitive dysfunction to inability to lead a normal life, but more importantly, they suffer from lack of awareness. The most painful thing is to explain to people what they are going through. Since, people with this chronic debilitating illness do not look sick, they end up facing lot of indifference and harsh comments.

With this little challenge, I aim to raise awareness on a larger scale. There are no donations involved and the steps are really simple. People taking the challenge just need to read and understand what Fibromyalgia is all about. Not only will it result in a better understanding of the syndrome, it will hopefully bring relief to millions of fibromyalgia patients who are tired of explaining to people what they are going through. 

I hope you join me in this campaign and use your social media presence to help us raise awareness.

How you can help by taking the challenge:
  1. Click your Palm photos with the handwritten text on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, etc.
  2. Tag as many people / companies as possible.
  3. If you know a famous person / celebrity who you think will be willing to take the challenge and tag others, it would be the best thing. We all know how a celebrity can add momentum to a social cause campaign!
  4. Blog about it.
  5. If you are / know a journalist / reporter, please help us get the word out.
  6. Talk about it.
Please take this challenge, it will just take a little bit of your time and you can bring a whole lot of difference!

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