Lady Gaga has a documentary coming out on Netflix this month which features her battle with chronic illness. This week she announced that she has fibromyalgia.
When I hear of anybody with fibromyalgia, I feel for them. As somebody who experiences the pain and hardships on a daily basis I can empathise how bad their battles may be. Fibromyalgia can affect everybody differently, and can affect your life differently from a day to day basis. This makes it hard to treat, hard to manage.
I am interested in watching the documentary being released later this month. I think it will be interesting to see how fibromyalgia is portrayed on the film. I recently watched a television programme that had fibromyalgia featured and I do not think it was featured well. It started off well but did not show the multiple battles, or different treatment types that may work. It made treatment seem like a “one size fits all” idea, and that is definitely not the case. It would be great if there was a treatment out there that would definitely work for everybody however that is not the case.
Lady Gaga works hard for her performances. She does a lot of singing and dancing. I worry that people will see that she has fibromyalgia and still performs so could potentially alienate people who suffer from it. I know for a fact that there is no way that I could put on a show like Lady Gaga! I can’t even go shopping for twenty minutes without crying. I can’t even shower without having a lie down afterwards. Already, I get told things like ‘[insert name here] has fibromyalgia and they can [insert activity here].’ I can already hear Lady Gaga being used as a potential example – “Lady Gaga has fibromyalgia and she can still work/perform.” It can be hard for people to see how debilitating fibromyalgia can be, especially when it is an invisible illness. Also, Lady Gaga will have access to different, and potentially more, treatments to try.
That being said, a famous person speaking out about fibromyalgia will definitely spread awareness. Her announcement has started so many conversations and that is very important. It has put fibromyalgia in the spotlight and shared information about it to people who may not have heard of it. For some people, it has brought about hope. It is a reminder that they are not alone in their battles.
Fibromyalgia does not discriminate, it affects people from all walks of life.
Feeling Through Life 