Fibromyalgia is a debilitating illness that causes pain and fatigue By Victoria Munro
Members of Fibro London East at their anniversary dinner (credit: Rani Powers)
A support group for local sufferers of fibromyalgia has celebrated its first anniversary.
Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that causes pain and extreme tiredness, rendering many sufferers unable to work or even leave the house.
Rani Power, first diagnosed two decades ago, created Fibro London East to offer support and companionship for her fellow sufferers late last year.
After months meeting only on Zoom, thanks to a subscription paid for by Star of India, the group celebrated its first anniversary at Gunes restaurant in Walthamstow.
Rani said: “It affects my life in every single way – I’m very tired, I have pain all over my body – but it’s not something you can see. We all look like normal people.
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“It’s quite upsetting for most people in the group that people don’t understand because we all look fine, if you saw us tomorrow you would say there’s nothing wrong with us.
“Many times we’re not even able to leave the house so, when we meet up, people really love it because we are all quite isolated.”
Fibro London East exists with the support of the Waltham Forest Social Prescribing service. Sharon Hanooman from the service said it was “very pleased to see how the group has developed, growing from strength to strength”.
She added: “Congratulations FLE for reaching your first year anniversary and we hope you continue for many years to come!”
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