When someone you know/love has fibro....

A good friend of mine asked me to include something about things she should know/keep in mind while treating clients who have fibro.  (She's a licensed massage therapist.)  So, here we go (and these, for the most part, will work for anyone, in any line of work).

Things that, *for me*, would be most important would be:

PHYSICAL STUFF

• TEMPERATURE - The temp is a big trigger for me.  55-65 deg F is awful for me.  So if that's typically where your temp is in the office, or if that's what it is outside, see if you can ensure to have a warm blanket or a way to cool it off more, depending on their needs.
• HUMIDITY - The worse for me is when it's cool and damp.  55-65 deg F when it's just rained or is sprinkling.... it's like insta-major flare for me.  So find out about that too, and again see if you can have a blanket or something, or ensure to let them know that your place tends to run cool and humid, so they can personally prepare.
• TRIGGER SPOTS - Especially for you, Shii, trigger spots are an important thing because they are incredibly, intensely, immediately painful.  Common spots are elbows and knees, hips, lower back to either side of the tail bone, chest (upper breastbone area) and like ... basically where the shoulder blades are, but on the front of the body.
• COMFORT POSITIONS - For me, unless there's a ton of padding I cannot lay on my sides.  I have pressure spots on my hips that are excruciatingly painful.  For some women with chronic pain (fibro or otherwise) our breasts can be very sensitive as well.  So maybe keep a pillow around to put under breasts, hips or something to help them stay in position.
• FIDGETING - Because we pretty much always have something that hurts we often need to fidget, switch positions, move our legs, etc to help ease some of that physical tension so just let them know it's okay and after maybe 10 minutes do a quick check-in to see if they are okay continuing in that position.  

EMOTIONAL/MENTAL STUFF

• Honestly, the most important thing is to not make a big deal out of anything.  Keep it simple and straight forward.  Ask questions gently, but make it seem about as important as asking what time it is or if it's still windy outside.  Make it seem like you are asking them the same things you would ask any other client; make it seem like you are not making special changes just for them, just because they have a chronic condition.  
• One other thing is to not get frustrated with us.  (Shii; not that I'd ever think you would!)  We can't help it, we certainly didn't ask for this.  But also show empathy, not pity.  
• OH!  Also, it's very common for those with fibromyalgia to have a mental/personality disorder.  It's typically anxiety and/or depression and many of us also have sleep disorders (usually it's just that we don't sleep well 'cuz we are always uncomfortable or hurting).  It might be good to see if you can kindly find out if they have something like that, just so you know and can be prepared.

MISCELLANEOUS 

• I'd say keep the following around just in case; a heating pad (or one of those pop'em and they heat up guys), an ice pack, a pillow and a blanket.  These would be the easiest things to help with a flare up or a previously unknown trigger spot is hit. 

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That's all I can think of at the moment.  If anyone else reads this who has a chronic condition, PLEASE feel free to comment anything that you could think of, that you'd like someone to know.  Or especially if your experience is different from mine.  I'd like this post to be helpful.

If anyone ends up commenting on here, I will update this post so it's easy to see their experiences and opinions.