My goodness, I understand and have experienced that all as well. Honestly, I get so offended when people “joke” that I’m a mooch off off my husband for not working or say things like “ Oh, yeah I have aches sometimes in the morning too”. The public really needs to understand Fibromyalgia more, and general practitioner doctors and NP’s should HAVE to learn about it to practice. We are not all drug seekers, nor is it in our heads. Mine struck me suddenly when I was training for a triathlon! I began waking up feeling like I had been run over by a truck and scraped off the highway and became worse from there. The fatigue alone would be debilitating enough, but the pain…everywhere, everyday plus never feeling as if you’ve slept at all, even with the help of magnesium and melatonin…my goodness how do you describe it so as to make anyone understand when there is nothing to compare it to?

As far as what I do take, it is this: Methylated multivitamins (esp. B complex), zinc and chromium because I am now pre-diabetic, digestive enzymes and probiotics because I no longer digest or process food properly, calcium citrate because I can no longer tolerate dairy and have lost bone mass, high potency vitamin D because I am deficient, *low dose* Naltrexone which has been shown to reduce pain and inflammation, and the melatonin and magnesium before bed to aid sleep. If the pain is unbearable, I take Aleve, but too much ruins GI micro biome and leads to a whole host of problems in turn.
Most days I “power through”, but I won’t pretend it isn’t mentally and emotionally difficult to do so. Sometimes I break down and cry just from being tired of having pain 365 days per year for nearly 13 years now. Even getting hugs from godchildren or being jostled by our dog sends additional waves of pain throughout my body. I must take several breaks while doing house chores and walking up and down stairs has become very painful as well, and that is pain on top of the generalized joint and muscle pain and weakness I, and most with fibro, experience every day. And I am considered to have only moderate symptoms. I’ve known some that are bedridden almost every day.
Health care workers need to understand the frustration, financial stress, emotional toll, marriage strain and self esteem loss that comes with having such a hopeless condition.