“What I’d like people to understand about my chronic pain is that it’s constant, but it’s also actually constantly changing.” -Julia Robbins

What is one thing you wish people understood about your pain?

“My pain level can really vary in a day, so just because I’m able to walk in the morning, and two hours later, I’m not, doesn’t mean I’m faking or looking for attention.” -Alix Van Steenberge

“Fibromyalgia is not mind over matter. It’s pain, it’s real pain and it’s so debilitating sometimes.” -Nadine Juste

“It’s been years since I’ve had a day without pain, and I carry the guilt as a wife and as a mother because of the burden that it’s placed on my family, and that pain itself is as bad, if not worse, than the actual physical pain that I feel.” -Jolene Woolley

“We don’t choose to be this way and it changes our life in so many ways, so I can’t play with my kids, I’m not as active as I used to be.” -Alicia Skerritt

“There are days that I can function like a normal person, but a lot of the times those days as as much a surprise to me as they are to anybody else, and I can’t control that.” -Terri Kahan

“I think people never understand how chronic pain can affect all your activities, including the cerebral ones.” -Ben Marshall

“When I wake up at 1:30 in the afternoon it’s not because I’m lazy, it’s because the pain kept me up all night and I couldn’t sleep.” -Katie Marks

“I have to wake up each and every single day and decide to consciously fight my pain. It doesn’t matter the day of the week, it doesn’t matter the month, I have to fight.” -Kat Harrison