Did Frida have Fibro?

At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.

- Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo de Rivera (1907- 1954) was a Mexican artist.  She suffered lifelong health problems, many of which derived from a 1925 vehicle accident. There is thinking she might have had Fibromyalgia as some of her self-portraits, depict the emotional effects of her pain.

If you read even a very small part of her biography you will understand that there were many traumas that caused Frida's physical pain. She experienced life-long severe pain but she would not be diagnosed with fibromyalgia even today in my opinion. She had too many other specific causes of her pain. If she went to the emergency department of any hospital, these days, they would not be diagnosing fibromyalgia as she had enough traumas to explain her pain. What do you think?

Read on to find out more the pain aspects of her pain.

Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait, The Broken Column, 1944.
Collection of Dolores Olmedo,
Mexico City.
Photo courtesy of petrus.agricola

On September 17, 1925, Kahlo was riding in a bus that collided with a trolley car. She suffered serious injuries as a result of the accident, including a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. Also, an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, compromising her reproductive capacity.
The accident left her in a great deal of pain while she spent three months recovering in a full body cast. Although she recovered from her injuries and eventually regained her ability to walk, she had relapses of extreme pain for the remainder of her life. The pain was intense and often left her confined to a hospital or bedridden for months at a time. She had as many as thirty-five operations as a result of the accident, mainly on her back, her right leg, and her right foot. The injuries also prevented Kahlo from having a child because of the medical complications and permanent damage. Though she conceived three times, all her pregnancies had to be terminated. Frida Festival

Can you imagine enduring all of this? I personally think the trauma of her accident and subsequent medical procedures caused the pain she endured but many people, with chronic pain of many kinds, like to use her as their strong mentor because of her bravery in taking her pain and transforming it into paintings. She presented herself as an image of strength and defiance in her public life and she will always be glorified for this.

Self Portrait Very Ugly 1933
oil on canvas

After her death and still now even more Frida is seen as a strong symbol of strength and endurance for many minority groups... not just those living with physical chronic pain, like fibromyalgia, but also those living with emotional pain such as loss of all kinds and the grief that it brings. She did not shy away from the pain of her life but embraced it.

I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.  Frida Kahlo. 

See a list of her pain related quotes taken from her diaries here 

FRIDA KAHLO PAIN FACTS

She contracted the poliomyelitis virus at the age of 6.

She was bullied as a child for having one leg thinner, weaker and shorter than the other (due to polio).

In 1925, aged 18, Frida Kahlo was in a tram crash which caused multiple traumas – her spine was injured in several places, her foot and leg broken and her pelvis badly damaged by a piece of the metal handrail and she was confined to bed for 3 months. 

An X-ray examination taken 1 year after the accident revealed a number of displaced vertebrae. She was re-admitted to hospital and for several months wore plaster corsets that considerably restricted her mobility.

This tram accident prevented Frida from being able to have children and she endured failed pregnancies, numerous miscarriages and at least three therapeutic terminations.

She underwent more than 30 surgeries on her spinal column in attempts to relieve her back pain.

She became addicted to pain medications and alcohol.

From 1934 onwards, several unsuccessful operations on her foot and leg were performed that eventually led to gangrene and amputation of the leg below the knee in 1953.

REFERENCES: 
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait by Carlos Fuentes
Frida Kahlo 1907-1954: Pain and Passion by Andrea Kettenmann
The History Show on RTE Radio 1, Sunday 17 April 2011
Smithsonian Magazine

Neurological Deficits in the Life and Works of Frida Kahlo