According to the Mayo Clinic, fibromyalgia is "a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues." Many people have never heard of it and many doctors refuse to even diagnose it. This is something that we need to change.

Do you know what pain is? You may think so. How about being in pain every day? Every minute? Every second?

That is what fibromyalgia is. I have heard it described as feeling like your entire body being a giant bruise, to having lightning bolts shooting throughout you, to feeling like you have a million bee stings covering your skin. You are tired all the time from pain, and sleeping is often the only reprieve you get from it. Many people who have fibromyalgia also have other conditions, such as immune disorders or depression. Could you live your normal life with this condition? Could you go to school, to work, or raise a family?

Take a minute to imagine.

My mother is my rock. That's her, on the right. She has fibromyalgia and yes, I know she doesn't look sick. If she had a dollar for every time she heard that she would have enough money to not worry about buying the medicine she needs. She developed fibromyalgia while she was teaching and it forced her to stop the profession she loved. She fought for years to get on disability and eventually won. There are now medicines for her condition, but none of them work for her. She still perseveres.

My mother has taught me to fight even when its against yourself and your own body. We often hear variations of "So, if you can do this one day, why can't you do this [i.e. work] all days?" This really shows a fundamental misunderstanding of fibromyalgia. Some days she can leave the house and do what she needs to, but others she can barely get out of bed. It's a trade-off. She knows that the "good" days come at the cost of the "bad" and she even plans accordingly. It hurts me to know that she plans to go out with me only to know that she will only be down the entire next day- even two - but that is the way her condition works.

I am writing this on May 12, which is National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. It has been a bad day for mom, and it hit her hard because we had plans. I want her to know that it's OK. I know how hard it is for her. As a caretaker, my mindset has become to "go with the flow" and I think that is the only mindset you can have when dealing with a disability. Because that's what fibromyalgia is -- a disability. It's just invisible. But that doesn't make it any less important. I hope that this month people with fibromyalgia and other invisible disabilities will speak about their lives and disabilities to erase the stigma. I will always be here to defend my mom from anyone who wants to talk down to her or tell her that its all in her head. I would invite you to spend a day in her shoes.

Anyone who know my mom will be familiar with her strength. She would not be the same person without her disability, but I don't think I would either. I can barely remember a time when she hasn't been fighting pain every day. But even still, she has raised me with compassion and grace.

Now that I am tasting chronic pain with my migraines, she is the only person able to understand my frustration. Sometimes our not being able to leave the house is OK simply because the other person is there and in the same situation. She has given me more perspective and peace in the last year than I can begin to understand. Every day I wish she wasn't in pain, but my mother is perfect. If anything, I hope the message from this is that disabilities are not weaknesses. They are painful and those who have them may feel weak at times, but they are carried by only the strongest of people.