13/10/2025
Great article in today’s Health and Living section of the Irish Independent on Fibromyalgia featuring Galway local Joanna Cluskey and her story.It is fantastic to see this debilitating condition with so many painful symptoms get more public profile as it affects so many people who so often have to suffer in silence.
“I try to keep it real,” say schoolteacher and influencer Joanna Cluskey. “And whenever I talk about living with fibromyalgia online, I literally get hundreds of messages from women across Ireland.”
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition, characterised by widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness, fatigue and non-restorative sleep.
Difficulty concentrating (brain fog), headaches, migraines, and irritable bowel syndrome are often associated with it.
While there are no figures for the prevalence of the condition here, the health information and quality authority of Ireland states that chronic diseases are a major component of health service activity and expenditure, with 38pc of people over the age of 50 living with a chronic condition, such as fibromyalgia.
Cluskey says she wants to be honest with her followers. “I want people to know that not everything is rosy. I mean, we all have things going on in our lives.”
But she also wants to create awareness of fibromyalgia. “It’s such a misunderstood disease. It’s also a disease that you can’t see and so many people, especially women, are suffering in silence.”
Read more on the Irish Independent website.
