Today, I’m honored to share a guest post from Matthew Collins of FoundHealth.com. Matthew’s interest in social media and our conversations on twitter led him to suggest contributing a post for my readers. It’s our wish that this post increases the awareness of the benefits of sharing experiences through social media.

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Sharing Fibromyalgia Experiences: The Power of Being Social

The road to wellness for people with fibromyalgia is not easy. Hope exists, however, and the social missions of people who have experienced fibromyalgia offer promising models for others.

As you are likely aware, fibromyalgia is highly complex and can occur for different reasons in different people. The complexity of this condition along with the difficulty of coping with pain, developing a treatment regimen, and overcoming its debilitating factors pose major challenges.

Fortunately, shared stories of recovery and rebuilding wellness from the debilitating factors of fibromyalgia provide hope for others. These stories are an invaluable source for building strategies based on what has and has not worked for others.

The Social Advantage

People with fibromyalgia need not feel alone. With the benefit of learning from those who’ve been there, people currently suffering debilitating pain of fibromyalgia can begin creating treatment strategies to cope with pain, improve symptoms, and maximize well-being.

For example, The DOs and DON’Ts of Fibromyalgia provide a clearly articulated list to guide daily activities. Along with the book, FibroWHYalgia, more experiences and successful recovery stories are readily available as resources for health.

Social Outlets
There are a variety of options for accessing social support for fibromyalgia including in-person groups, and social media networking. Fortunately, online resources are abundant for locating social communities that meet your needs.

In-person support provides rich social interactions and is a high-quality source for establishing long-term friendships and bonds. A simple search for fibromyalgia on the website MeetUp, provides over 100 results for in-person social groups in local areas. There might be a Fibromyalgia MeetUp in your area!

Social media exponentially expands the availability of social resources related to fibromyalgia. Facebook, for example has vast communities such as the FibroWHYalgia community and Fibromyalgia Network. A search for ‘#fibromyalgia’ on Twitter results in resources such as people to follow and recent articles to read.

Finally, FoundHealth is a website dedicated to providing informative resources and community for individual experiences with health challenges such as fibromyalgia. The FoundHealth community features 12 integrative health treatments for fibromyalgia, and FoundHealth welcomes you to share your personal experiences related to fibromyalgia treatments.

The empathy and support of shared experiences empowers everyone in their quest toward greater well-being. Everyone with fibromyalgia can be an inspiration and a resource. Your story is vital. If you or someone you know has fibromyalgia, share with us: How have you developed supportive relationships on your path to wellness?