Florence Nightingale is famous for her nursing during the Crimean War, but many don't know she also a disability and spent much of her life bedridden. Was her illness Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or Myalgic Encephalitis?

Disabled Women in History: Florence Nightingale and Fibromyalgia

Florence Nightingale and Fibromyalgia seem like an unusual parring, but May is Fibromyalgia Awareness Month and it’s time to raise awareness of Florences’ Fibromyalgia like symptoms that disabled her for most of her life. She was a hero and inspiration to many women through nursing, but no matter how hard she worked, doctors still said she was crazy because of her illness.

Florence Nightingale was a hero and inspiration to many women through nursing, but no matter how hard she worked, doctors still said she was crazy because of her illness. Click To Tweet

Turkey 1854

Florence stood in the doorway of the Scutari hospital, watching as men bled to death, starved, vomited, and screamed for help. The clothing of the soldiers was swarming with bugs, lice, and fleas; every surface of the building (including the ceilings) was filthy. Rats scampered across the floors and hid under the hospital beds. These men participated in the famed Charge of the Light Brigade and yet there was no medicine, no bandages, and no one to help them besides Florence and her group of 38 nurses.

Florence Nightingale and Fibromyalgia

(1820-1910)

Women in Florence’s social circle in England were expected to stay home, comfort and obey their parents, and eventually, get married. Florence knew her mother and sister depended on her because they would threaten ill-health whenever she dared to want more for herself. She wanted to make her dreams come true, but she had no power over her own body. As she felt the chains of society tighten around her, she fell into severe depression. Florence felt her life was pointless and had no meaning. The coming of a war and her continual persistence would be her escape from this dark hole. Florence Nightingale changed nursing forever with her stubborn insistence to make a difference. This is her story.

"Florence Nightingale

Crimean War erupts and Florence’s life changes forever

The Crimean War began as a spat between Russia and Turkey over control of holy places in Jeruselum. British interests were affected by the increasing Russian power, so soldiers marched off to war in March 1854. The British Army was not prepared. Between June and August, twenty percent of the soldiers died from cholera, diarrhea, and dysentery.

There was no system for dealing with injuries or illnesses. Soldiers waited weeks to be put on a boat and sent to the hospital in Scutari (across the Bosphorus from Constantinople). Not surprisingly, many soldiers did not survive this experience, and Florence decided to take things in hand.

Florence arrived just as the news the famous Charge of the Light Brigade reached Constantinople. The wounded soldiers started pouring into the Scutari hospital. Describing the hospital, one man said it was a “vast field of suffering and misery.”² Men lay all over the floor covered in bugs as they went without medicine, bandages, or food and water.

"Florence Nightingale- If you knew how unreasonably sick people suffer from reasonable causes of distress, you would take more pains about all these things

After the Crimea

Few people realize that it was after the Crimean War that Florence really made a difference. Up to that time hospitals were where you went to die if you didn’t have any other options, but Florence improved the quality of hospitals all around Britain. She wrote a lengthy document about her experience in the Crimea and gave it to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1856. This document formed a Royal Commission to improve the health of the British Army.

Few people realize that it was after the Crimean War that Florence Nightingale really made a difference. Up to that time hospitals were where you went to die, but Florence improved the quality of hospitals all around Britain. Click To Tweet

Florence’s skills in statistics and administration lead to her election as the first woman member of the Royal Statistical Society.  She also wrote a book that is still read today, Notes on Nursing: What it is, and What it is Not as a guide for patient care and healthy hospital environments.

During the Crimean War, Florence fans decided to raise some funds to give to Florence for a nursing school Florence found the idea of a school uninteresting, but in 1860, the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital officially opened.

Florence Nightingale and disability

While in Crimea Florence collapsed on her 35th birthday. Her diagnosis was “Crimean Fever,” and the resulting Sciatica and spondylitis kept her in bed for months.

She was eventually diagnosed as having brucellosis, a disease that is transmitted through milk from infected cows and is similar to tuberculosis. Doctors found this confusing because she shouldn’t have been capable of working insane hours with the disease.

After she returned from the Crimean War she still complained of:

  • loss of appetite
  • unrelenting pain
  • intermittent fever
  • fatigue
  • insomnia
  • irritability
  • nervousness
  • depression
  • sciatica
  • shortness of breath
  • palpitations

There are all sorts of (male) doctors since who have tried to diagnose Florence. Many of them claim she faked her symptoms and was a “malingerer.” Because, as we know, driven and intelligent women who take to their beds always do so because they are lazy (even if they were previously working 20 hours days as Florence did).

It will surprise no one that some people thought she had a mental illness such as bipolar disorder because her moods were up and down. These people disregard that she had severe physical symptoms as well as mental ones. It’s probable that sexism played a part in how her illness was viewed then and now.

If you knew how unreasonably sick people suffer from reasonable causes of distress, you would take more pains about all these things- Florance Nightingale

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Did Florence Nightingale have Fibromyalgia or CFS/ME?

Fibromyalgia Awareness and ME/CFS Awareness Day are on May 12th in honor of Florence’s birthday.  I imagine it’s because, after her return to England, Florence spent the rest of her life bedridden. I found Florence Nightingale’s story eerily similar to those of us with Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME. Florence pushed herself to the brink and then completely collapsed. As we all know, the more you push yourself, the more permanent damage you do to your body.

Fibromyalgia Awareness and ME/CFS Awareness Day are on May 12th in honor of Florence Nightingale's birthday. Click To Tweet

After her attacks, she had to limit the amount of stimulation around her so she didn’t experience sensory overload. She couldn’t listen to music because she found it “nerve-wracking.”  Going on a drive brought too many sensations and left her fatigued and out of breath. She didn’t allow anyone into her room, including her family. Though she organized from her bed, she lived in complete seclusion (sounds like severe ME, doesn’t it?)

More articles in the Disabled Women in History Series:

Barbara Jordan breaking barriers

Rosemary Kennedy and the lobodomy 

Noor Inayat Khan WWII Spy

Chronic pain, Fibromyalgia, and CFS/ME

When a painter came to do Florence’s portrait (against her wishes) he found “a look of searing pain written upon her features².” As her illness continued her family found her more demanding and cranky. Long-term pain does that to people, but few admitted it at the time. Florence herself said:

…the main part of the suffering of a long illness is the morbid mind of a person who has no variety, no amusement, no gratification or change of any kind.²

It all sounds very familiar to those of us with chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and M.E. It’s interesting to see how little had changed over time. It’s clear that Florence suffered as her symptoms left her bedridden for the rest of her life. We’ll probably never know what Florence Nightingale had, but Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, and M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) are all possible.

Florence suffered as her symptoms left her bedridden for the rest of her life. We'll probably never know what Florence Nightingale had, but Fibromyalgia and M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) are both possible. Click To Tweet

 

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Suggested reading: 

Florence Nightingale the Making of an Icon

Nightingales: The extraordinary upbring and curious life of Florence Nightingale

 

 

Sources

  1. Cook, Edward. The Life of Florence Nightingale. Vol. 1 and Vol 2, Macmillian and Co., LIMITED, 1913.

2. Bostridge, Mark. Florence Nightengale: The Making of an Icon. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008

3. Gill, Gillian. Nightingales: the Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale. CNIB, 2006.

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