By Amy Schaeffer
Nick Demos, Tony Award-winning producer and filmmaker, has a mission: he wants to bring the diagnosis, treatment and consequences of fibromyalgia to the world’s consciousness. He is personally affected by fibromyalgia: his mother, a woman living with fibromyalgia, has found lack of pain relief, social ramifications, and few answers. He is on a mission to discover the experiences of other people living with Fibromyalgia, including people typically do not think of having chronic painful syndrome, including a young athlete. He says that it is important to bring fibromyalgia to the forefront in the hope of getting answers.
“We asked every person interviewed for this movie,” What is fibromyalgia? “The answer is never coherent, and for those who do not, there is a lack of urgency to find the answer.”
According to Demos, their findings so far indicate that those with fibromyalgia are subject to a broken health care system, and that demographics such as access to education and socioeconomic factors come into play, according to the national pain report. In his film, he talks to people of different backgrounds, ethnicities and socio-economic groups, but discovers common themes for all participants, he says.
“Diseases that no one sees, more so, diseases that could trigger or be activated by all these other conditions that are really fatal. Fibromyalgia still has to be the center of attention because it does not kill you, in the technical sense. But those in the Fibromyalgia community will tell you how this syndrome can worsen if they do not receive the empathy, lifestyle education, and community support already received by all their deadly counterparts. It remains a controversial subject, although millions demonstrate that the disease is real and unbridled. ”
The film is scheduled to be released in 2017 and will be introduced in several films next year, says Demos. So far, the film has been totally based on donations, usually from fibromyalgia patients or groups that are organized to achieve awareness of fibromyalgia. The syndrome has been referred to as an “evasive disease,” according to chronic pain in the body. It is characterized by chronic pain, full body, headaches, sleep disorders and mood swings. Fatigue associated with fibromyalgia can be debilitating as well as, and leads to difficulty distinguishing Fibromyalgia from chronic fatigue syndrome.
It is not a disease that causes deformities or threatens life through physical means, although patients suffering from Fibromyalgia and other chronic painful disorders may be more likely to commit suicide. People living with Fibromyalgia describe precipitation as severe: relationship difficulties, difficulty in doing many jobs, financial instability, and depressed mood. Although no one knows the exact cause of fibromyalgia, some researchers believe it is due to the levels of chemicals in the brain and that may be genetic, as seems to work in families. Women are more likely to be affected, although the syndrome can also affect men.
Although treatments are available, such as Lyrica and Cymbalta, no medication seems to be the answer for everyone, and it can take a lot of time and trial and error to find out which drugs work for patients and what doses they require. Self-care is an important part of treating Fibromyalgia symptoms, such as getting enough rest, eating nutritious foods, and avoiding circumstances that cause undue stress or emotional energy. This can be a challenge for many people due to the obligations of life and the symptoms surrounding the disorder itself.
Many people who have the disorder feel isolated and misunderstood because the syndrome is invisible to others and is not well understood by anyone, including many doctors. Demos hopes his film can educate people and bring awareness to this debilitating syndrome.source
