Things That Go Bump In The Night

We have all heard the phrase..."things that go bump in the night." Weird things, strange things, spooky things...things that make you scream and moan. Frightening, but imagined things.

Fibromyalgia has its own weird and sometimes frightening things that make patients of the disease moan, but these things are not imagined. These are painful and real things.

Fibromyalgia can be caused and aggravated by a lot of "things that go bump in the night (and day)." Anything that startles you, sudden jolts to your body, loud noises, and bright or flashing lights are just a few strange things that can "bump" you from a relative comfort into instant pain.

For me, I can only equate this kind of cause and reaction to when I was in labor. Every ounce of my focus and concentration and energy was zeroed in on the labor pains I was enduring. For a fibro patient, it isn't too far from reality to say that every bit of their energy, focus and concentration is often zeroed in on the aches and pains they are experiencing as a result of their fibromyalgia.

In both of these cases, in labor and with fibro, a sudden ANYthing is a jolt of some type, and not a welcome diversion. Loud noises, jostling of your bed or chair or car, bright lights, flashing signals, startling sounds - all of these things can actually be fibromyalgia-pain triggers; one reason could be because they take the person's focus away from the conscious and subconscious onging effort to manage their existing pain.

Research indicates that a likely cause of fibromyalgia is some type of trauma to the patient which can typically be traced to the onset of their fibro symptoms. Likewise, aggravated symptoms can be linked to aggravating occurrences - loud noise/abdominal pain, etc.

Things that go bump in the night: imagined for most, but very real for fibro patients.

So watch those corners, dim the lights and turn the music down a bit; and maybe even say a little prayer:

For goulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night (and things that cause pain in our friends)
Good Lord, deliver us! (The Cornish and West Country Litany, 1926)