From The American Pain Foundation:

September provides a unique opportunity to highlight the work organizations and individuals do all year to improve pain treatment, raise awareness, dispel tragic myths and spark much needed change in order for people to get the pain care they deserve.

The first ever National Day of Action for Pain Awareness will be held on Saturday, September 26th, 2009.   On this day, we hope you and your community will join together, share your stories, take pictures, and show the country that together we can make a difference.

This charge is being led by APF’s Power Over Pain Action Network (POPAN). Please visit www.popactionnetwork.org to learn more about the network, the leaders in your state, and visit the Events page to get involved in or post activities happening near you!

Get involved. Sign the petition. Become an advocate for the elimination of the undertreatment of pain. Click on the events page and browse the 40 events scheduled across the country or check out their Action Toolkit and schedule your own event.

If getting involved with the American Pain Foundation is not right for you, how about participating in the Virtual Conference over at Invisible Illness Week? National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is September 14 – September 18.

From Lisa Copen, founder of Rest Ministries and creator behind National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week:

Regardless of where one’s spiritual ties are, there is an fundamental human desire to feel understood, to feel like those you love have some idea about what you are going through. One of the most difficult adjustments to illness is that you feel life is passing you by and no one around you even realizes it. We hope through our conference we can provide a place where people find the true source of being validated in their pain, how to live joyfully despite their illness, and of course, we want to increase awareness about how many suffer silently. Like our theme says, ‘A Little Help Gives a Lot of Hope.’ It really does.

In her continuing effort to make a difference Lisa has scheduled four speakers per day giving special presentations and taking calls from you on the phone for an interactive, encouraging, and educational forum that will leave you feeling refreshed and hopeful that chronic illness doesn’t have to define who you are!

But wait, there’s more…

My 30 Things About Me post was another way I am participating in all of the activities Lisa organized and promoted for Invisible Illness Awareness week. And on Monday September 14, my blog post will also be dedicated to increasing awareness of invisible illness. Do you have a blog? Would you like to participate? Sign up at Bloggers Unite and commit yourself to the cause.

Isn’t it encouraging to learn about these efforts to improve our chronic pain and our shine a light on our invisible illness? Even if you are not capable of getting personally involved, take comfort in knowing there is a movement toward progress and change.

I started a discussion by asking how I could encourage some of our members who never come out to attend a meeting. I’m not sure if we ever answered that question, but we all agreed that Fibromyalgia and chronic illness can be very isolating if you let it. I have many thoughts on the issue, but the one I want to focus on here is how fortunate we are in this day and age because of the internet. There are huge communities of people online making connections they never would have were it not for their computers. So today, on Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, I thought it would be fun to share with you how some of my fellow bloggers acknowledged the significance of the day on their blogs.

Time thief posted a great educational article on Fibromyalgia at this time – this space. Very well done!

Over at Chronic Babe the Editrix is asking her readers today “Are you well-read? Well-informed? Do you keep up on research? Read the latest journals?” And if you answer no to any of those questions she steers you in the right direction with information, suggestions and resources. 

Michelle at Rhetoric Aesthetic reflects on her own anniversary with FM “in hopes of raising awareness, overcoming stereotypes, and celebrating the good that has come.”

Living It, Loving It reminds us this year’s theme is “Fibromyalgia Affects Everyone” and the goal this year is to emphasize the sweeping effects of the disease. She also has a great list of resources to check out.

The retro housewife shares how Fibromyalgia turned her into the person she is today – brave, strong and GREEN. Learn how she became an environmentalist to help eliminate the toxic chemicals that many believe cause/contribute to Fibromyalgia.

In honor of Fibromyalgia Awareness Day, Fab Fibro Friends decided to blog about her life with fibro.

Sheri at Prospering Over Fibromyalgia lit a candle for us all and asked that we pass it on.

Life as We Know It wants everyone to understand chronic fatigue syndrome is a physical, not psychological condition.

Fibro Helper Gin has a tea schedule where she plans to dispel the myth that “all Fibromyalgia patients are fat, white, American suburban housewives looking for attention.”

Sherril put together a great catalog of various events going on today and Fibromyalgia resources in general. Check it out at The ICI Experience.

Rochelle uses Fibromyalgia Awareness Day as a platform to share her personal Fibromyalgia story on her blog Learning to Trust.

The above is just a small sampling of what is out there. I would LOVE it if you have a blogger you would like to add to this list. Just leave a link to your/her/his blog in the comments section.

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