Raising Awareness in September

September is a busy month for awareness of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) and other chronic, invisible and painful conditions.

UK Fibro Awareness Week runs from the 8th to 14th September. Fibro support groups around the UK are planning a variety of activities, including:

On Monday 8th September, the West Berks ME & Fibro Group is having an Open Meeting with refreshments, information stands and an opportunity to meet with group members and chat before a talk on Fibro and how it can be treated by Daniel Austen, Clinic Manager for Prof John E Davies of the private UK FM/ME Clinics and the NHS FM Clinic at Guy's & St. Thomas' Hospital, London. Daniel Austen is a member of FibroAction's Professional Advisory Board and a Fibro sufferer himself. For more information, click here.

On Friday 12th September, Jeanne Hambleton, of the blog FMS Global News and FaMily magazine, is organising a dinner & fun evening in aid of Fibro awareness and research. The Folly Pogs Dinner and Fun evening will take place at the Chichester Park Hotel, West Sussex, UK and the evening will include dinner, cabaret, comedy and charity auction. For more information, click here.

Even if you have nothing yet planned, there's still time to arrange something to celebrate UK Fibro Awareness Week and raise awareness of Fibro.

• Hold a coffee morning and have it announced on local radio.
• Ask your local paper if they will do an article on Fibromyalgia Syndrome for UK Fibro Awareness Week.
• If you have a blog, raise awareness by blogging about Fibro during the Awareness Week.
• Write to or go and see your MP and ask them to question your local NHS trust as to why specialist services for Fibro are not provided.
• Ask your MP to attend the next meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fibromyalgia and ask them to get your MEP to sign the declaration on Fibro being presented to the European Commission in September.
• You could also write to your MEP yourself.
• Even just asking your GP to read the updated information on Fibro now available on the NHS Direct, NHS Online and NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries (formerly PRODIGY) websites will help raise awareness.
• Or, for ultimate ease, buy a FibroAction t-shirt, hat or tote bag at the FibroAction Spreadshirt Shop and raise awareness simply by getting about! T-shirt slogans include: 'With Fibro even a butterfly touch could hurt' and 'Fibro sucks!'.

If you are organising anything for UK Fibro Awareness Week, then FibroAction wants to know! Email details of your event or activity to the admin team at info@fibroaction.org.

Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week runs from the 8th to 14th September as well. It is an American event but much of the week's activity is carried out online, with international participation not only possible, but encouraged. A number of people will be guest blogging over at the Invisible Illness Blog in the run-up to and during Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. This week, FibroAction founder Lindsey Middlemiss takes a turn, choosing the topic of ‘Do You Think of Yourself as Sick?’ discussing whether, with a chronic invisible illness, you think of yourself as sick, disabled, or just someone who happens to have health issues. Check it out at the Invisible Illness Blog.

September is also National Pain Awareness Month in the USA and whilst this is not a UK event, you can can still do your bit. The Chronic Pain Policy Coalition, of which FibroAction is a member, is leading a movement to develop an improved strategy for the prevention, treatment and management of chronic pain and its associated conditions. Part of this is their campaign to make pain the 5th vital sign in the UK. You can help by "signing" their online petition here - wouldn't you want your pain levels to be amongst the first things checked when you go into hospital?