Living, coping and restructuring with Fibromyalgia : a narrative analysis

Fibromyalgia is a functional somatic syndrome that is characterised by widespread pain and sensitivity throughout various sites on the body (Fayaz et al., 2016). The aim of the present study was to explore how individuals with Fibromyalgia integrate the illness into their personal biographies, develop coping strategies, and restructure their biographies. A narrative analysis was conducted on data collected from semi-structured interviews, with four key themes emerging from the data: 1) Confusion and attempts to defy pain 2) Biographical disruption in the search for a diagnosis 3) Diagnosis leads to becoming an ‘illness expert’ 4) Accepting the illness does not mean giving in. The narrative explores how the biographical disruption caused by Fibromyalgia forces six female Fibromyalgia patients to reconsider their identity in light of new limitations, adapt, and develop new areas of the self. Participants who were able to successfully adapt were able to discover life enrichment despite the presence of Fibromyalgia. Acceptance, illness understanding, and identity reconstruction were key factors in enabling participants to cope with Fibromyalgia. Thus, this study expands current knowledge on how patients with Fibromyalgia reconstruct their biographies