A typical day in my life

5:30am  My alarm goes off and is snoozed several times without me even prising my eyes open.
6:20-6:30am  I realise I really do have to get up if I want to hope to get the train so I prise my eyes open, give the cat a cuddle and haul myself out of bed. I am one of the lucky ones so far, it is not that difficult for me to get out of bed, I am stiff and often ache but it doesn't take me hours to get my body moving like it does with a lot of people with Fibro. The main problem is that no matter how well I appear to sleep I wake up already tired so getting motivated to get out of bed is difficult.
6:30-6:40am  I dash into the bathroom and have a hurried shower. By the time I have finished my shower I am exhausted. Not just tired. People often say they are tired or exhausted but this is nothing like the exhaustion faced by those with Fibromyalgia. My energy for the day is totally spent and yet I still have a whole day of work to face and possibly band or meetings after that. At least I now know that it is the Fibro that is causing it. For years I have tried to tell doctors and family how tired I am but get told to exercise, to get to bed earlier or various other unhelpful things. When you face that sort of exhaustion you know a bit of exercise or getting to bed earlier is not likely to make any difference. I have to drag my body back to the bedroom and drag my clothes on and constantly resist the temptation to just fall back into bed and sleep again. And on top of that I have pain to cope with.
6:50am  I stagger down the stairs - my knees are generally stiff in the mornings so getting down the stairs is an obstacle course, my knees lock and my legs wobble like jelly sometimes and I have the feeling I will pitch forward straight down them if I am not careful but also I am late so I am hurrying, not a good combination!
7:00am  Leave the house for the walk to the train station. It's about a 5 minute walk but I usually end up jogging some of it as I've usually left late. I can't jog very far as it starts to make the fronts of my legs burn and my knees hurt but a little bit is usually enough to ensure I get the train.
7:07am  Train leaves.
8:00-8:15am  Switch trains, so a wait on a draughty platform, possibly having to stand - further stress to the knees.
8:25am  Get off the second train and have to climb stairs up and over the lines and down the stairs again. By the time I have climbed the stairs my legs feel like I have run a marathon. There are only about 28 of them but they make my legs so tired! Across the top then the usual problem of getting down the stairs again and with so many people streaming down the stairs there is no guarantee that I can get near the handrail to grab if I should start to fall. Then a wait for a bus and a 3-5 minute walk from the bus stop to the office.
8:40am-5:30pm  Work. This is difficult because I am constantly tired, I find things distracting, my concentration levels have been terrible since we moved offices (I now find out due to the Fibro) and sometimes I just can't understand what people are asking me to do. By lunchtime I'm a zombie with tiredness, food revives me a little. I spend most of the day plugged in to the radio or CDs to keep out outside noises of other people on the phone etc. as they get on my nerves (another symptom of the Fibro but also of the depression as it enables me to cut myself off from everyone). I also have pain in my back, neck, knees, ankle and the knuckles of my right hand as the day progresses. Some are there when I wake, some appear during the day and others intensify as the day progresses.
5:37-7:00pm  The reverse of the morning journey. By this time I am dropping with tiredness. I sit when I can but trains and platforms are crowded so sometimes I have to stand. Sometimes I get dirty looks for not giving up my seat to people with children or elderly people but I know my knees and ankle will be extremely painful if I stand. With no outward obvious problem people just judge you.
7:00pm  The train gets in. Generally my other half is there to pick me up but if not there is a strenuous trek home, less than 10mins but with a steep hill at the beginning and when I am already tired and in pain it is a hard slog for me.
Once I get home I am knackered and don't want to do anything. There is no energy left for cleaning, ironing, putting clothes away, changing the bed sheets or any of the other miriad things that I know I should do. I change into my pyjamas or jogging bottoms at the first opportunity as my work clothes are starting to feel confining and uncomfortable by this time. I often have a lie down for half an hour to ease the back and knee pain. I'm lucky that my other half does all the cooking so I get called when tea is ready and we eat then watch a bit of TV and then fall into bed. Except on Tuesdays when I get the train an hour earlier and we rush out as soon as we've eaten to pick up members of the band and get to rehearsal by 7:30pm. One and a half hours later we quite often visit the pub for a drink before home and bed ready for it all to start again the next day!