Starting Young

Most people, particularly women, are diagnosed with fibromyalgia between the ages of 30 and 50. For those who are younger than that, the diagnosis can have a significantly different affect on their lives, than for older people. Why is this so? I asked Kristy about this. She was in her twenties when she was first diagnosed.

Kristy was diagnosed, out of the blue,  in 2005, "I was 24 years old. I was working with small children and in March of 2004, I was injured -- or so I thought. I was unable to go back to work. I thought I’d take six weeks off and I’d be fine. Six weeks turned into twelve weeks turned into my doctor saying you are not okay to go back to work and you need to start looking at disability options. It wasn’t until I was sent to Strong Allergy Immunology that I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia."

Although the pattern sounds similar to other fibro diagnosis, the difference is in her youth. Kristy went to college so she could have a good career. She worked very hard, "I’m still in debt from going to college. Accepting that I wasn’t going to be able to follow through with a career was panic number one. I didn’t really have a chance to get into the workforce."

When Kristy attended fibro meetings, she couldn't relate. Not only was her career side-tracked, but what about family? "Everyone else already had a family. Who even wanted to date a girl with fibromyalgia? Other people already had children. I didn’t know if that was something that was ever going to be in my future. That was tough.

People would come to the fibromyalgia meetings and say, 'Oh I have such a hard time going to work and then coming home and cooking for my children.' and I’m thinking I can’t relate to that at all. I don’t have a job, and there are no children to care for. I can’t make dinner for myself.

I was very lucky that I found somebody. I found a boyfriend that was willing to accept me as I was. But I’ve also seen relationships break up for middle-aged people with fibromyalgia."

Kristy believes it is different for younger people. "Most of the people I have talked to seem to have gotten fibromyalgia after they accomplished all of these things. I got it before I even got to start."