50 Inspiring Fibromyalgia Quotes For Creating Awareness

Inform yourself and increase your empathy levels with our fibromyalgia quotes. 

Do you or someone you know have fibromyalgia or another invisible illness?

These fibromyalgia quotes will help you learn more about it, its symptoms, and ways to manage it.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes musculoskeletal pain and other uncomfortable symptoms. 

Scientists and researchers suggest that fibromyalgia increases pain sensations by impacting how our brains process pain signals. 

Below are some common symptoms of fibromyalgia:

• Fatigue
• Lack of sleep
• Mood issues 
• Memory problems

How do people manage fibromyalgia pain?

Acute fibromyalgia symptoms are trigged after physical trauma, infection, surgery, or significant psychological stress. 

Chronic fibromyalgia symptoms gradually accumulate over time without a specific trigger. 

Unfortunately, women are much more likely to develop fibromyalgia than men. 

People with the disorder complain of tension headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, and joint pain. 

The symptoms of fibromyalgia lead many people to assume it is an autoimmune disease; however, it is not. 

One thing fibromyalgia has in common with autoimmune diseases is that we currently do not have a cure. 

Doctors recommend exercise, relaxation, and stress reduction to help manage the disease. 

Many doctors agree that inflammation within the body triggers symptoms. 

People managing fibromyalgia are encouraged to eat foods that do not inflame the body. 

Sweets, chocolate, artificial sugars, oils, and other processed foods cause inflammation. 

It is beneficial for people with fibromyalgia to avoid these foods and replace them with whole foods that soothe the body and decrease inflammation. 

Foods full of water, such as vegetables and fruits, are excellent for decreasing inflammation. 

What causes fibromyalgia?

Unfortunately, the causes of fibromyalgia are unknown. 

However, researchers suggest that there are several factors involved. 

Some doctors link the disease to physical trauma, and others relate it to genetics.

Still, there are schools of thought that believe the disease occurs spontaneously. 

Many researchers are studying how the disease impacts the central nervous system. 

They believe the key to unlocking the cure lies in research on the brain and nervous system. 

Other scientific research suggests that our genes can regulate how we tolerate pain. 

Some theories say that people with fibromyalgia may not have a gene that causes a stronger reaction to pain than an average person’s reaction. 

Is a Fibromyalgia cure on the horizon?

Every day, scientists get closer and closer to understanding fibromyalgia. 

We do not have a cure for the disease, but we know a lot about managing the symptoms. 

Women are much more likely to develop the disease than men, so more research has studied how the condition impacts women. 

For more exciting content, check out our fibromyalgia quotes below.

Short fibromyalgia quotes about pain management 

Fibromyalgia can be chronic and complex, but it is possible to manage. 

1. “I only get one life, and I will not let fibromyalgia take the joy from living it.” — Morgan Freeman

2. “I get so irritated with people who don’t believe fibromyalgia is real.” — Lady Gaga

3. “Furthermore, fibromyalgia is 5–10 times more common than rheumatoid arthritis.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

4. “If you struggle with fibromyalgia or another form of chronic pain, make sure to give yourself the care you need.” — Lady Gaga

5. “Fibro-fog is a symptom of fibromyalgia involving an inability to think clearly or difficulties in concentrating.” — Sarzi-Puttini, P., Giorgi, V., Marotto, D. et al. Fibromyalgia, Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 645–660 (2020)

Fibromyalgia quotes to help you better understand the disease

6. “Deep sleep in fibromyalgia shows a choppy pattern that is interrupted by frequent micro awakenings.” — Ginevra Liptan, M.D., The FibroManual

7. “Fibromyalgia development may be exacerbated by extrinsic factors such as trauma, infection, and stress.”  — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

8. “Fibromyalgia severity and progression or improvement can be evaluated by means of a plethora of composite tests.” — Sarzi-Puttini, P., Giorgi, V., Marotto, D. et al. Fibromyalgia, Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 645–660 (2020)

9. “Fibromyalgia is a fairly common syndrome in the general population, reaching a prevalence of 2–3% worldwide.” — Sarzi-Puttini, P., Giorgi, V., Marotto, D. et al. Fibromyalgia, Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 645–660 (2020)

10. “Globally speaking, there was little difference [in annual fees]: $12,000 for fibromyalgia and $14,700 for rheumatoid arthritis.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

Fibromyalgia quotes to spread awareness

Learning about the health of others can increase empathy; these quotes shed light on what it’s like for those with a fibromyalgia diagnosis. 

11. “What can potentially lead to more stress is how difficult it is to get a diagnosis for fibromyalgia.” — Lady Gaga

12. “Fibromyalgia is the third most frequent musculoskeletal condition, and its prevalence increases with age.” — Sarzi-Puttini, P., Giorgi, V., Marotto, D. et al. Fibromyalgia, Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 645–660 (2020)

13. “On the other hand, fibromyalgia is more costly in other areas, such as imaging, medical biology, and physiotherapy.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

14. “The concept of fibromyalgia has progressed to achieve a certain consensus regarding the definition of the condition.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

15. “Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and functional symptoms.” — Sarzi-Puttini, P., Giorgi, V., Marotto, D. et al. Fibromyalgia, Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 645–660 (2020)

Learn more about what fibromyalgia does

16. “In fibromyalgia, all treatments are geared toward helping people sleep better. If we can improve their sleep, patients will get better.” — Steven Berney, M.D., Living With Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue

17. “Fibromyalgia is part of a group of chronic hypersensitivity syndromes of central origin, with a very wide range of means of expression.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

18. “Not only is it normal, but it is also healthy to mourn the loss of the old life that fibromyalgia took from you while rejoicing that you still have a life.” — Troy Wagstaff, Fibro Champions Blog

19. “Not only can fibromyalgia cause depression or anxiety in some people, the NFMCPA explains, but stress can also make these symptoms feel even worse.” — Jordan Bissell, Lifestyle

20. “The etiopathogenesis, diagnostic criteria and classification criteria of fibromyalgia are still debated and, consequently, so are the strategies for treating this condition.” — Sarzi-Puttini, P., Giorgi, V., Marotto, D. et al. Fibromyalgia, Nat Rev Rheumatol 16, 645–660 (2020)

The best fibromyalgia quotes about staying strong

Fibromyalgia is an expensive disease to treat and takes a mental and physical toll on the patient. 

21. “We present here a model of fibromyalgia that integrates current psychosocial and neurophysiological observations.” — Pinto, A.M., Geenen, R., Wager, T.D. et al. Emotion regulation and the salience network, Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 44–60 (2023)

22. “Fibromyalgia (FM) has been characterized by widespread chronic pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, and polysymptomatic complaints.” — Ghavidel-Parsa, B., Naeimi, A., Gharibpoor, F. et al. Effect of vitamin B6 on pain, disease severity, and psychological profile of fibromyalgia patients; a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 23, 664 (2022)

23. “In fibromyalgia, normal sleep patterns are disrupted, and sleep is of very poor quality: light, choppy, and lacking the normal periods of “delta wave” or deep sleep.” — Ginevra Liptan, M.D., The FibroManual

24. “Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and other symptoms, and has a substantial socioeconomic impact.” — Pinto, A.M., Geenen, R., Wager, T.D. et al. Emotion regulation and the salience network, Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 44–60 (2023)

25. “Fibromyalgia (FM) is associated with sympathetically dominant dysautonomia, but the connection between dysautonomia and FM symptoms is unclear.” — Zetterman, T., Markkula, R., Miettinen, T. et al. Heart rate variability responses to cognitive stress in fibromyalgia are characterized by inadequate autonomous system stress responses, Sci Rep 13, 700 (2023)

Fibromyalgia quotes from texts about the disease

26. “Since there are no specific tests to confirm that someone has fibromyalgia, it can often take quite a long time for a physician to recognize and diagnose the condition in a patient.” — Jordan Bissell, Lifestyle 

27. “The costs of fibromyalgia are widely underestimated. A study carried out in the United States compared over one year all the costs associated with fibromyalgia with rheumatoid arthritis.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

28. “While we found that attenuated autonomic responses to cognitive stress correlate with anxiety and depressive mood in fibromyalgia patients, there are several limitations to be considered.” — Zetterman, T., Markkula, R., Miettinen, T. et al. Heart rate variability responses to cognitive stress in fibromyalgia are characterized by inadequate autonomous system stress responses, Sci Rep 13, 700 (2023)

29. “Although rheumatoid arthritis is a condition with potential joint destruction and deformation, which is not the case in fibromyalgia, there are significantly more days off work for fibromyalgia, with an equivalent degree of invalidity.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

30. “Resilience is the process of adjusting successfully in the face of adversity, trauma, threats, or severe stress, such as serious health problems. It was suggested that fibromyalgia patients have low resilience. This study aimed to assess the impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia.” — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

Fibromyalgia quotes and sayings about life 

Fibromyalgia is a complex condition to manage. Patients, doctors, and researchers are all looking toward a future with a cure. 

31. “Along with common symptoms like fatigue, sleep problems, and stiffness, fibromyalgia also has connections to mental health issues as well as physical ones.” — Jordan Bissell, Lifestyle 

32. “Current biomedical and psychosocial treatments are unsatisfactory for many patients, and treatment progress has been hindered by the lack of a clear understanding of the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia.” — Pinto, A.M., Geenen, R., Wager, T.D. et al. Emotion regulation and the salience network, Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 44–60 (2023)

33. “This proposed integrative model, which we term the Fibromyalgia: Imbalance of Threat and Soothing Systems (FITSS) model, should be viewed as a working hypothesis with limited supporting evidence available.” — Pinto, A.M., Geenen, R., Wager, T.D. et al. Emotion regulation and the salience network, Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 44–60 (2023)

34. “​​The typical fibromyalgia profile can be described in just a few words. The patient is a young woman who has suffered from pain, in an intense manner, all over, for several months or years and without any diagnosis being made.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

35. “Fibromyalgia thus has a high annual cost because of its medical nomadism, the requests for multiple and often unnecessary examinations, and finally in the search for a wide range of treatments which are added on despite their poor efficacy.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

Living with fibromyalgia

36. “By definition, it’s a diagnosis of exclusion,” he told the outlet. “The physician looks for other sources for their chronic fatigue, for their chronic muscle pain, sleep disturbance, and mood disorder before they assign a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.” — Todd Sitzman, MD

37. “As for Gaga, her chronic pain is known as fibromyalgia. According to the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA), about 10 million Americans have fibromyalgia, and the condition affects women much more than men, “with a ratio of about 8 to 2, women over men,” the organization states.” — Jordan Bissell, Lifestyle 

38. “Fibromyalgia is a very common condition. Its concept was discussed for many years before being as well-defined as it is now. The first false idea was to believe that it was a new condition. Back in the nineteenth century, there were already descriptions that were perfectly typical of fibromyalgia.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

39. “In summary, it is possible to define fibromyalgia as a cognitive disorder of cortical integration of chronic pain, with amplification of painful and sensory nociception, decrease in the threshold for the perception of pain, and persistence of a stimulus that maintains the process in chronicity.” — Yves Maugers, Fibromyalgia and Associated Disorders

40. “We propose that an imbalance in emotion regulation, reflected by an overactive ‘threat’ system and underactive ‘soothing’ system, might keep the ‘salience network’ in continuous alert mode, and this hyperactivation, in conjunction with other mechanisms, contributes to fibromyalgia.” — Pinto, A.M., Geenen, R., Wager, T.D. et al. Emotion regulation and the salience network, Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 44–60 (2023)

Fibromyalgia quotes about resilience to help you keep going

Resilience is a vital aspect of managing fibromyalgia. 

41. “Resilience significantly impacts the severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia.”  — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

42. “So, enhancing and improving resilience must be considered in the management protocols of fibromyalgia patients.”  — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

43. “We found that patients with fibromyalgia had a significantly lower resilience and higher prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities.”  — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

44. “Also, fibromyalgia patients with high disease severity had a significantly lower resilience and a higher percentage of psychiatric problems than those with a better disease state.”  — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

45. “Given the role of vitamin B6 on pronociceptive/antinociceptive neurotransmitters balance, metabolic reactions, and inflammation, it is important to clarify the effect of vitamin B6 on pain and psychological disturbance in fibromyalgia.” — Ghavidel-Parsa, B., Naeimi, A., Gharibpoor, F. et al. Effect of vitamin B6 on pain, disease severity, and psychological profile of fibromyalgia patients; a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 23, 664 (2022)

Fibromyalgia quotes to give you strength

46. “So when Lady Gaga opened up about living with fibromyalgia in a new interview for her cover of Vogue’s October 2018 issue, I loved her even more for continuing this extremely important conversation about what it’s like to live with chronic pain.” — Jordan Bissell, Lifestyle 

47. “But after the release of the Netflix documentary, Gaga turned to her Twitter audience of Little Monsters to explain what she’d been dealing with during filming, fibromyalgia; and to express her hope that others who may be dealing with similar issues will one day find the support they not only need but deserve.” — Jordan Bissell, Lifestyle 

48. “Studies consistently show that patients with fibromyalgia don’t spend much time in deep sleep, and the deep sleep they do get is interrupted by fast wakeful brain waves (alpha waves) that are normally only seen in the awake brain, a phenomenon called alpha-wave intrusion.” — Ginevra Liptan, M.D., The FibroManual

49. “The cause of alpha intrusion seems to be the stress response system, which in a healthy person is quiet at night, but in fibromyalgia remains continually active. The brain won’t allow itself to fully sink into deep sleep because it’s trying to remain awake in order to fight off a threat by “sleeping with one eye open.” — Ginevra Liptan, M.D., The FibroManual

50. “Fibromyalgia, also known as fibromyalgia syndrome, is one of the most prevalent causes of widespread chronic pain. It is characterized by a complex polysymptomatology that includes tiredness, sleep difficulties, cognitive impairment, and functional disabilities in addition to pain.”  — Ismail, Z.N.E., Hefny, M.A. & Hendi, A.E. Impact of resilience on disease severity and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with fibromyalgia. Egypt Rheumatol Rehabil 49, 37 (2022)

Fibromyalgia is a multifaceted disease

The nature of fibromyalgia is complex and impacts different aspects of our biology. 

The disease causes intense physical pain. 

However, psychological symptoms and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression can manifest in patients suffering from the disease. 

Lady Gaga is one of the most well-known people with fibromyalgia.  

During her journey of pain management, she has expressed the challenges of not only getting a correct diagnosis but the difficulty of dealing with an uninformed public. 

Many people are unfamiliar with fibromyalgia, and their empathy levels decrease when they are ignorant. 

Some people do not even believe fibromyalgia is a disease. 

Lady Gage notes, “I get so irritated with people who don’t believe fibromyalgia is real.”

Morgan Freeman is another well-known individual with suffers from fibromyalgia. 

His outlook is positive and hopeful. 

Regarding his diagnosis, he shared, “I only get one life, and I will not let fibromyalgia take the joy from living it.”

What is your favorite fibromyalgia quote?

Please, be sure to let us know in the comment section below.